UT/2023/000021 - [2024] UKUT 00334 (TCC)

Mr Sands’ evidence exhibited the following sample agreements in respect of the three services in issue that were entered into between the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS (“SSOTP”) (one of the trusts which was merged with the other to form the Trust) following the tender process undertaken by the relevant local authority:

They are all lengthy documents, described as contracts, containing multiple annexes and appendices incorporating, in the case of health visiting and sexual health, reference to schedules of further particular and general conditions adapted from NHS template documents.

Each agreement specifies the relevant services, payment (amount and timing), and agreement duration as summarised below:

Both parties made submissions on various aspects of the contracts, including on the attractiveness of certain terms to private operators, or their ability to comply with such terms as compared with NHS bodies. Mr Sands’ evidence covered similar points, including pointing out the predominance of NHS bodies as service providers, albeit mentioning some examples of private operators in other areas. Mr Sands’ evidence also covered the following broad themes, namely that (1) the Trust was not performing the relevant services for profit (2). The health visiting and sexual health services were statutory services which had to be provided and could not “not be provided, or go out of business” (3) the Trust’s financial record was one of running mainly at a deficit (4) the wider health impacts of providing the specified health services to the public and (5) the current trend was towards arrangements under s75 of the 2006 Act agreements involving a more collaborative approach and no tender. We address these points in further detail as appropriate in our discussion of the relevant issues.