Hertfordshire CC and our three local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) agreed a five-year contract for mental health and specialist learning disability services with Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) in May.

We jointly commission mental health and learning disability services through a commissioning team based in the council, pooling our budgets for child and adolescent mental health services, adult mental health services and services for people with learning disabilities and residents with dementia. This is a total budget of well over £300m, covering a population of around 1.2 million people. Our joint commissioning team has been in place for more than 15 years.