Archived decisions

    HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

    Decision Report :

    Decision Maker:

    Cabinet

    Date of Decision:

    23 February 2009

    Decision Title:

    Review of relationship with voluntary and community sector - update

    Decision Reference:

    501

    Report From:

    Chief Executive's Department

    Contact name:

    Jane Goodwin

    Paddy Hillary

    Tel:

    7789/7391

    Email:

    [email protected]

    [email protected]

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    1) Summary of Decision Area:

      1.1. This report updates Cabinet on progress and outcomes of the review of the County Council's relationship with voluntary and community organisations (VCS or the Third Sector)

    2) Issues Covered in Report:

      2.1. The areas for improvement identified for the review were:
      - improve value for money for grants made for VCS infrastructure funding
      - improve management of contracts and grants support including an approach to
      asset transfer
      - improve the strategic relationship between the VCS and the County Council
      - improve the VCS capacity to deliver public services

      2.2. Key outcomes for the review and for the proposed strategy are:
      - Improved efficiency and value for money in the processes for working with the VCS
      - a clear framework for the County Council's strategic relationship with the VCS (Third Sector)
      - Increased capacity in the sector to deliver public services and support the County Council's move to improve efficiency .

    3) Recommendations:

      It is recommended that:

      3.1. Cabinet endorses the work so far undertaken as part of the review

      3.2. Cabinet approves the development of a VCS (Third Sector) strategy.

    MAIN REPORT

4) Contextual Information:

    4.1 CPA recommended that "The Council should review and update its relationship with the voluntary and community sector across its services, including the operation of the Compact. In particular it should help to develop the capacity and capability of the sector"

      Cabinet & CMT agreed a project to look at the relationship with the VCS and recommend ways to improve working relationships.

      The Government has set out clear expectations that the `third sector' should be a key partner to local government in creating strong and sustainable communities.

    4.2 The County Council has been developing its relationship with the voluntary & community sector (also referred to as the Third Sector) over the past few years. In 2002 there was a best value review which focussed mainly on the grant giving process and resulted in a number of actions to improve one of which was the development of the grants database and web pages. The Compact was agreed and signed by the Leader in 2002. Since then a number of good practice codes have been developed and agreed. This should form the basis for an open and trustworthy relationship. However this review has found that there is a need to refresh the approach and processes and restate the importance of the relationship in light of the recent national and local developments.

    4.3 The review established that the financial commitment regarding grants

      and contracts with the Voluntary & Community Sector: In 2007/08 the total spend across all departments was:

     

      £

      Grants (all services)

      6,622,187

      Contracts

      85,000,000

      Other (in kind)

      645,307

      Total

      92,199,800

      All grants over £15,000 have been subject to value for money review. This work identified that these grants contribute significantly to the wellbeing of Hampshire residents and that the aims and objectives of each of the voluntary organisations are very much aligned to the corporate objectives of the County Council. There are also opportunities to provide improved value for money through more cooperation between the organisations and stronger performance measures.

      The larger amount is through a range of contracts with a number of Council departments. These have been secured through rigorous tendering processes in accordance with the latest procurement rules which secure the most cost effective delivery of services. Services delivered through these contracts include:

        · Social care for adults e.g. meals on wheels, lunch clubs, services for people with learning difficulties;

        · Social care for children e.g. respite care, play schemes, breakfast & after school clubs, foster care, family support through Homestart

        · Community transport e.g. Dial-a-ride, Call and Go bus

    4.4 The relationship is more than a financial one although when finances are uncertain e.g. short term or delayed decisions on funding, then the relationship can founder due to insecurity of future especially for small voluntary organisations. Due to recent changes to the EU Procurement rules the Council has revised the approach and this has impacted on the way some contracts are secured. This has also had an impact on the Council's ability to `favour' 3rd sector providers but there is the opportunity to pay due regard to `social factors'. The procurement development team has developed helpful guidelines and each department needs to understand these guidelines.

    4.5 This sector undertakes a wide variety of tasks and functions and covers a full cross section of society. Their impact is very varied: they engage with large scale projects, supporting schools, the environment, police and health care services; they provide specialist self-help and expert advice and support; they run community events, sports, culture and arts projects; they also provide localised residents support and activism. They can be geographic, special interest, single purpose or a combination and are well placed to reach out to diverse communities thereby enhancing community cohesion. See appendix C for further details.

    4.6 There is representation on the Hampshire Senate and Local Area Agreement Executive. Priority H of the LAA is led by Community Action Hampshire and aims to ensure that the community has a voice. These representatives have been voted by the Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium as a way of ensuring a more representative voice. This approach is in its early stage and requires support to be effective in cascading information to and from the wider network. Similar steps to improve representation are developing across Adult Services and Children's services.

    4.7 The Office of the Third Sector is producing increased guidance documents and there are a number of other sources of information to assist understanding of ways to work with the VCS and to build relationships for the future. However this requires staff time to absorb, analyse and adapt the information into pragmatic guidance and support.

      Some common themes arose from interviews undertaken as part of the review with both sectors making similar comments although with different emphasis. These can be summarised as follows:

      1. Lack of mutual respect and trust

      2. Lack of clarity of roles, responsibilities and accountability

      3. Challenge to provide appropriate representative mechanisms

      4. Inconsistent approach to commissioning across different HCC Departments

      5. Compact inconsistently applied and needs reviewing to see if fit for
      purpose.

    1) Key Issues:

    1.1. Need to improve value for money

    1.2. Need to improve management of grants and contracts including reviewing Compact compliance and implementation.

    1.3. Need to improve strategic relationship including representation issues

    1.4. Need to build capacity in sector to deliver public services.

    2) Value for money:

    2.1. Value for money reviews have been carried out in relation to the Councils of Voluntary Service (including Community Action Hampshire) and some of the key grants made from the P&R grants budget

    2.2. Agreement on a series of performance measures and in particular on arrangements for volunteering support are being discussed.

    2.3. The results and recommendations of these reports have been taken into account as part of this review and reported to the Executive Member for P&R (29 January 2009)

    3) Grants and Contracts (procurement & commissioning) including asset transfer:

    3.1. Work is underway to review the County Council procurement processes to ensure that VCS is recognised, good practice developed in line with the Compact code and that there is a consistency of approach across the County Council.

    3.2. A grants officers group has been formed to develop good practice and maintain the grants database and to ensure consistency of approach.

    3.3. The County Council policy on asset transfer was agreed by Cabinet in July 2008.

    4) Strategic relationship:

    4.1. Discussions on the development of a strategy for working with the sector are underway. Work includes a working group of Members, officers and liaison with the sector through the Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium. A draft strategy will be brought to Cabinet in April for approval for consultation.

    4.2. The strategy aims to set out a clear framework for the relationship and will identify clear measurable outcomes. Key features of the strategy will be:

        · Clarification of the different and mutual roles in the community

        · Identifying ways to enable the sector to become an effective partner in helping to deliver the aims of the County Council , the Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement,

        · To ensure transparency of funding and,

        · Responding to changes in national policy including a review of the Compact process.

    5) Capacity building:

    5.1. As part of the strategy development, as well as the other issues mentioned above, the review aims to look at the potential value to the County Council of working more closely with VCs organisations to deliver specific services where this can achieve efficiencies and improvements in services.

    5.2. The needs of the sector in terms of capacity building for this will be reviewed and the strategy will look at what the County Council response can be to help build capacity.

    6) Outline of Options:

    6.1. Option 1:

    a) Agree the recommendations

    6.2. Option 2:

    a) not agree

    7) Option Analysis / Comparison:

    7.1. By agreeing the recommendations the Council will signal its' strategic commitment to improving relationships with the Third sector. A strategy will set out the Council's standards clearly for both Council Members & Officer and members of third sector organisations. This will assist the Council to further develop improved public services and enable the third sector to thrive.

    7.2. By not agreeing the recommendations there is the potential for a deterioration in the relationship which is likely to have a negative impact on the ability of the Council to deliver fair services to the community. Continued inconsistency has the potential to damage the reputation of the Council.

    8) Conclusions:

    8.1. The County Council recognises the value of working with voluntary and community organisations and the contribution they make to help the County Council deliver its aims and objectives. The role of the County Council in supporting and helping to build capacity in the sector is essential in providing an environment for a thriving third sector which is one of the targets set within the Local Area Agreement.

    8.2. The work of the review has helped to clarify and improve the County Council processes for working with the VCS and this will help to develop a robust strategy for taking the relationship to the next level and building capacity in the sector to deliver for the County Council and its other partners.

    9) Recommendations:

    Please see Executive Summary for recommendations.

    CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

    LINKS TO THE CORPORATE STRATEGY

    Yes

    No

    Hampshire safer and more secure for all

    Corporate Business plan link no (if appropriate)

    Maximising well-being

    Corporate Business plan link no (if appropriate)

    Enhancing our quality of place

    Corporate Business plan link no (if appropriate)

    OR

    This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because:

    OTHER SIGNIFICANT LINKS:

    Links to Previous member decisions:

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    Ref

    Date

         
         
         

    Direct Links to Specific Legislation or Government Directives

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    Date

       
       
       

    Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

     

      The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. (NB: the list excludes published works and any documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.)

     

      Document

      Location

       
       
       
       

    IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

    1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

      a) This report does have a potentially high impact on different equality groups. The definition "Third" sector includes faith organisations and the work with the Interfaith Network will support the Council to ensure their views are `heard'. Voluntary and Community organisations are in a good position n to understand local diversity issues and as such can assist the Council to reach out.

      b) The Diverse Networks project has already begun to build capacity in the local Councils for Voluntary Services to enable them to better understand and respond to the needs of diverse groups. It will be important as the strategy develops to ensure that this becomes an increasingly integral part.

    2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

      a) By improving the relationship with the third sector this will have a positive impact on community cohesion and thereby on crime & disorder.

    3. Climate Change:

      a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

        · By promoting a more joined up way of working with partners there will be a reduction in duplication of meetings and therefore less travel across the County area.

      b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

        · At this stage it is difficult to identify and proposals, however as the strategy develops this will be considered.