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The emerging policy environment for the voluntary

and community sector

Matthew Jackson, Head of Research

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What i CLES?

Independent charity

Economic development and well-being

Publishers:

Established 1986Planners, sociologists, geographers, local government, environmental scientists, economists

Hybrid; research, consultancy, members

Leading UK member org for research into Economic development

About CLES

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Objectives

To understand new policy and how it is different

To understand where the voluntary and community sector fits in the emerging policy agenda

To explore barriers to tendering

To discuss how these barriers can be overcome

Today

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Programme

10.00-10.40 – the changing policy environment (Matthew)

10.40-11.00 – the challenges for the sector and barriers to tendering

11.00 – 11.10 – break

11.10 -11.40 – sector specific changes

Priscilla Nkwenti, Black Health Agency

Neil Walbran, GMCVO

11.40-12.00 – overcoming barriers to tendering

Today

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The changing policy environment

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A focus upon special initiatives

Regional spheres of strategy and delivery

A rhetoric of social equality, inclusion and torrent down

Lots of money around

Focus upon sustainability

Public sector managerialism and a target culture

How we have done policy in last ten years?

Policy approaches of last ten years

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Regeneration and Local Economic Development

Grants AND contracts

Efficiencies AND effectiveness

Place shaping and stewardship

Outputs and targets

Public sector driven and top-down delivery

Tackling social exclusion, inequality and poverty

Primary healthcare

Right to welfare

How we have done policy in last ten years?

Policy themes of last ten years

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‘Creative disruption’,

So much bureaucracy, embedded, long standing mismanagement and approaches to public service behaviours

Need to disrupt and clear away

From this new energy and creativity will emerge

‘Service pluralism’,

No public service the preserve of the ‘public’ sector

Many forms of delivery

‘Differential capacity’

It is not the states role to get involved in differences in society

Coalition critique

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A focus upon making efficiencies through joined up working

Strip back of bureaucratic public sector – new geographies of strategy and delivery

A rhetoric of value for money and trickle down

Reduction in public sector spend – greater emphasis on private sector to create growth

Short term change

A focus on payment by results and demonstrating outcomes

Things are already changingEmerging policy approaches

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Economic growth

Contracts, procurement and commissioning

Cost-saving

Co-production

Outcomes and payment by results

Service pluralism and cross-sector delivery

Job creation

Preventative healthcare and well-being

Welfare reform

How we have done policy in last ten years?Emerging policy themes

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Localism andBig Society

Comprehensive Spending Review

Overlapping and entwined!

Policy context

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Theme 1: new freedoms and flexibilities for local government

Theme 2: new rights and powers for communities and individuals

Theme 3: reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective

Theme 4: reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally

How we have done policy in last ten years?Localism Act

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Social action: a call for people to give up their time, effort and money to support local causes as part of a new culture of voluntarism and philanthropy

Public service reform: state intervention has extended too far and public services need to be opened up to alternative deliverers, including charities, social enterprises, communities and private companies

Community empowerment: seeks to raise communities’ capacity to work together and take action on the social issues that affect them. Big Society attempts to increase levels of personal responsibility and encourage communities to become more self reliant.

Big Society

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Key policy programmes:

• Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)

• Regional Growth Fund

• Enterprise Zones

• Welfare reform and the Work Programme

• Health Reform and GP commissioning

• Community budgets

Specific policies

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Choice – ‘where possible we will increase choice’

Decentralisation – ‘power should be decentralised to the lowest appropriate level’

Diversity – ‘public services should be open to a range of providers’

Fairness – ‘we will ensure fair access to public services’

Accountability – ‘public services should be accountable to users and taxpayers’

How we have done policy in last ten years?Open Public Services

The challenges for the sector and barriers to tendering

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Policy reforms have come at a cost

New forms of representation are excluding groups

Cuts are damaging capability to deliver big society

Welfare reform is having a negative impact but increasing demand

Policy is harming the most excluded

Equalities focused organisations are in real danger

Disproportionate economic impact

How we have done policy in last ten years?

Challenges – results of our research

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Mainstreaming existing activities

Demonstrating outcomes

Organisational sustainability

The payment by results culture

Government buy-in (centrally and locally)

Supporting the most vulnerable when the policy focuses on middle England

Tendering and competing for contracts

Are there any more?

How we have done policy in last ten years?Challenges – for the VCS

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Public sector procurement cultures

Knowledge of vcs capability

Complex PQQ and ITT documentation

Size and scale of delivery contracts

Organisational capacity to bid and deliver

Demonstrating cost efficiency and effectiveness

Desire and Drive from within the community

Professionalism?

Are there any more?

How we have done policy in last ten years?Barriers to tendering

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Sector specific changes

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Overcoming barriers to tendering

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• How do the VCS overcome the barriers to tendering?

• What support is needed?

• How are the other identified challenges addressed?

Facilitated discussion

Val

ue fo

r m

oney

Market failure

Rationale

Objectives

Inputs (staffing & resources)

Activities

Net outputs

Gross outputs

Outcomes(including Strategic

Added Value)Impact on original

conditions

Additionality adjustments

Economy

Efficiency

Effectiveness

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Measuring impact

The LM3 model

Round 1 – total spend

Round 2 – spend upon (local) suppliers

Round 2 – spend upon (local) direct employees

Round 3 – re-spend of local suppliers upon their own local suppliers and their own local employees

Round 3 – re-spend of direct employees in the local economy

LM3 = Round 1 + Round 2 + Round 3 Round 1

For every £1 invested £x is re-invested within the local economy

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Cost benefit analysis / Social Return on Investment

Aims to capture the social, economic and environmental value of outcomes

Based around a ‘Theory of Change’ – identification, measurement and assessment of outcomes and their financial values (shadow price).

CBA can be forecasted or retrospective:

What value is a project generating / Is a project actually worth doing?

Which delivery option would generate the greatest level of return?

For every £1 invested £x is generated in social, economic and environmental value

Measuring impact

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Questions?

For further information on today’s session:

Matthewjackson@cles.org.uk

Tel: 0161 236 7036