Dear Tony, 
If you have not seen them already, you might want to have a look through 
the needs assessment template and the instructions that go with it (on the 
Student Finance Practitioner website, disabled students allowance, filed under 
the date 8/6/09):
http://practitioners.studentfinanceengland.co.uk/portal/page?
_pageid=133,4210339&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

From these documents it is my understanding that the needs assessment 
report has in it two comparative quotations for NMH(p25 of the ‘Completing’ 
instructions) and the ‘best value’ is used  in costing section of the needs 
assessment (see section D2 of the report templates) . This means the DSA 
assessor can use a supplier other than the HEI’s existing arrangement as 
the ‘best value’. The assessor might think that the HEI is the best first point 
of contact for the student and the logical ‘best value’ would be the HEI’s 
existing arrangement. Note that in the ‘Completing’ instructions, the assessor 
is encouraged to contact the HEI disability adviser to communicate re:NMH, 
(so the disability adviser could perhaps explain why the HEI’s choice of agency 
represented ‘best value’, thus influencing the actions of the assessor.)

It also means the student could choose not to use the agency preferred by 
the HEI, and the DSA needs assessment would represent a source of 
information about a viable alternative. In order to provide a realistic 
alternative, the assessor needs access to information about a range of 
possible suppliers in the locality (a topic raised recently on this list). 

I have not seen anything that indicates that the SLC will tell the student 
which supplier to use – the SLC’s discourse of customer 
uses ‘student/customer choice’ as a rationale for the multiple quotations in 
equipment and NMH. So why would any organisation determine which supplier 
the student uses? There is no indication that the student would be compelled 
to use either of the two suppliers from whom the quotations are obtained, 
which means that the important part of the needs assessment report is the 
description of the need for the service, 

Amanda Kent
DSA needs assessor








On Tue, 9 Jun 2009 11:57:25 +0100, Tony Catt <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

>Hi there, 
> 
>Does anybody know what the implications would be now as many institutions 
have an agency that they work with to provide support workers?  Does this 
mean that potentially the SLC could chose another supplier?
> 
>Kind regards and best wishes
> 
>Mr Tony Catt, BA (Hons), HND, MNADP
>Disability Support Officer
>University of Chester
>Parkgate Road
>Chester
>CH1 4BJ 
>E: [log in to unmask]
>Monday @ Warrington located in room WMA007 
>T: 01925 534286
>Tuesday to Friday
>@ Chester located in room CBK113 
>T: 01244 511550
> 
>
>EFQM Recognised for Excellence 5 Star
> 
>
>
>
>From: Marie Norris [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: 09 June 2009 10:49
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: FW: NMH - 2 quotes
> 
>Hi there all,
>Please see below for info.
>Best wishes, Marie
>From: Janis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 09 June 2009 09:46
>To:
>Subject: NMH - 2 quotes
>Dear Colleagues,
>Non Medical Helpers – 2 Quotes
>There has been a number of queries received by QAG with regards to the 
number of Non-Medical Helpers quotes required for DSA applications this year. 
>We have received clarification from the SLC that they require two NMH 
quotes for all students who are entering Higher Education for the 09/10 
academic year who are being processed by SLC for their DSA Allowance.
>Should you have any queries with regards to the NMH quotes, please direct 
your queries to Elaine Urquhart or Chris Dunlop whose emails are included in 
this communication.
>Best wishes 
>DSA-QAG
>Central Administration Unit,
>Centrum House
>2nd Floor
>38 Queen Street
>Glasgow 
>G1 3DX
>Tel:               0141 548 8006
>Fax:              0141 548 8001
>Email:          [log in to unmask]
>Website:   http://www.dsa-qag.org.uk
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