National Tutoring Programme - Next Stage

The purpose of this Notice is to notify the market that the Department is currently investigating options and seeking market input on the provision of tutoring services across England.

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) has been setup to provide targeted support for children and young people. It aims to deliver high quality tutoring services to schools to support disadvantaged pupils, including those impacted by COVID-19. The Department is assessing the duration of the next stage of the NTP Programme, which will build on the first phase, harnessing tutoring to accelerate pupil progress.

The Department is seeking advice and information from the market in order to help inform the delivery options available for the next stage of the NTP. A questionnaire for interested suppliers to complete is available on request by emailing: [email protected]

Any subsequent tender will be advertised via both OJEU and Contracts Finder and will be managed via the Department's Jaggaer e-Procurement platform. Suppliers who are not already registered on Jaggaer will need to register their company details in order to access this tender opportunity.

This Notice is for information only, and the department reserves the right not to enter a formal procurement process and not award contract(s). The information contained in this notice, including information relating to the nature and scope of the authority requirements, the service classification of this requirement of the list of CPV codes, is only indicative of the authority's current thinking and is neither exhaustive nor binding. The authority reserves the right at its absolute discretion to amend it at the time of issue of any further notices or at any other time.

This Notice is not a binding statement of intent; it outlines the Authority's intention to engage with the supply market on an open and formal basis to develop potential options for this scheme if that is what is decided.

Additional information: There is extensive evidence showing that tutoring is one of the most effective tools to support learning. School disruption from COVID-19 is impacting the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children. However, access to tutoring in England is highly unequal and heavily skewed towards families who can afford it. The department is seeking information and advice on delivery options for the next stage of the National Tutoring Programme. This programme aims to address the impact of COVID-19 on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, by creating a national supply of high-quality tutoring which schools can draw down upon nationally.

The Department envisages two main strands of support across England:

- A Tuition Partners strand, which enables schools to buy in subsidised, high quality face-to-face and online tutoring for their disadvantaged pupils from an approved list of providers. - An Academic Mentors strand, which supports schools in the most disadvantaged areas to employ in-school mentors to provide intensive support to their pupils.

This may be a multi-year programme that will support pupils during the period of post-pandemic recovery and support a well-functioning market of high-quality tutoring provision across the country.

To ensure success, the Department is seeking a national supplier or a consortium of suppliers to lead the delivery of the next stage of the National Tutoring Programme, from Autumn 2021. Successful supplier/s will be required to work within a set of standards, that are being designed for year 1 provision and whose development will be part of the mobilisation of the new Phase 2 national supplier/s.

The Department recognises that a national supplier/s will probably need to build their capacity and partnerships over the term of the programme. We are therefore proposing to create the flexibility for a national supplier/s to add new Tutoring partners once they are appointed.

In order to help further inform the options available for the delivery of the next stage of the NTP, the Department is seeking market input to this process via a questionnaire, which we encourage all interested suppliers to complete. This is available on request by emailing: [email protected] Responses to the questionnaire should be submitted no later than 1st December 2020. Early responses would be welcome.

Subsequent to the responses received to the questions presented in the Questionnaire, the Department may engage further with those suppliers and seek further information and engagement. Any such opportunities will be advertised as appropriate via OJEU and Contracts Finder.

Please note that the advertised value of this PIN is subject to Spending Review confirmation and approval of the next phase of the announced £350m National Tutoring Programme (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time)