Personalisation and Supported Housing

05 March 2010

Personalisation and Supported Housing:

Look Ahead Housing and Care, in conjunction with Tower Hamlets Local Authority have published one of the first reports on the idea of personalising services and giving tenants control of budgets in supported housing. Choice, control and independence: Personalising block contracts in supported housing can be found on the Department of Health Care Networks.

• Download ‘Choice, control and independence’

Third Sector Summit with Conservative Shadow Ministers

05 March 2010

Third Sector Summit with Conservative Shadow Ministers:

NAVCA, ACEVO, Community Alliance, Social Enterprise Coalition, and NCVO are holding a joint, high level Conservative Summit with Shadow Ministers to discuss the contribution third sector organisations can make to the delivery of public services. This follows a letter from 250 ACEVO members to the Chancellor setting out ways in which real reforms to public services could lead to better outcomes and savings for Government.

The Conservatives have now agreed to a Summit on the 18 March in London. Nick Hurd and his colleagues Francis Maude, Andrew Lansley, Oliver Letwin, Philip Hammond, Nick Gibb, Andrew Selous, Maria Miller and Alan Duncan have all agreed to take part. George Osborne will be making a special announcement at the conclusion of the Summit. For more information and to book your place for £90 visit www.acevo.org.uk/conservatives complete the booking form or email events@acevo.org.uk

Podcast: Alison Seabrooke from Community Development Foundation discusses participation and democracy

04 March 2010

Podcast: Alison Seabrooke from Community Development Foundation discusses participation and democracy:

Alison Seabrooke, from the Community Development Foundation, and Kate Housden, Improving Local Partnerships Manager at NAVCA, discuss engaging people in local decision making. They discuss the Take Part programme, addressing the democratic deficit and links between participative democracy and formal democratic roles. They also talk about the all party commitment to engaging local people in decision making and ensuring that it is embedded after the election and not just political rhetoric.

• Download the podcast interview (mp3, 3.2MB)
• More information on NAVCA’s democracy days (part of the Take Part programme)

 
4 March 2010

OTS/IDeA Recession Session

04 March 2010

OTS/IDeA Recession Session:

The Office of the Third Sector and IDeA are holding an online conference on the third sector and the recession on IDeA’s online third sector community of practice between 10 and 12 March. It will include an online presentation and Q and A by Neil Cleeveley (NAVCA’s Director of Policy and Communications) on 11 March.

Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector will be opening the conference on 10 March. To take part you will need to join the community by logging on to www.communities.idea.gov.uk/welcome.do and searching for ‘third sector’.

NAVCA encourages our members to take part - this is work that promotes the role of our members in helping the local third sector through the recession and into recovery.

Important news for providers of low value Welfare to Work training

03 March 2010

Important news for providers of low value Welfare to Work training:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is changing the way it procures Low Value Provision (LVP) for Welfare to Work related training. To bid for and supply LVP, providers will need to complete an online application form, including details of the types of training on offer and where it can be delivered.

See the DWP website for more details.

BIG Chat - your chance to question the Chair of the Big Lottery Fund

03 March 2010

BIG Chat - your chance to question the Chair of the Big Lottery Fund:

On 16 March between 1pm and 3pm, the Chair of Big Lottery Fund, Sir Clive Booth, will be taking part in a live web chat. You can send your questions to BIG for Sir Clive to answer online between now and 16 March. www.bigchat.org.uk

The role of local support and development organisations in supporting the third sector to reduce re-offending

03 March 2010

The role of local support and development organisations in supporting the third sector to reduce re-offending:

NAVCA has commissioned The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University to investigate the ways in which local support and development organisations help front-line organisations to reduce re-offending by ex-prisoners.

A short questionnaire has been produced for NAVCA member organisations.

The results of the survey will help NAVCA to build up a picture of current activity and shape the work programme for 2010/11.

The survey closes on 19 March.

Invitation to Tender: Delivery of training - contracts for public services

01 March 2010

Invitation to Tender: Delivery of training - contracts for public services:

We wish to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced contractor to deliver high quality training on contracts.

NAVCA has a good track record of delivering training that is tailored to the specific needs of staff of our members and other support and development organisations; practically focussed, up to date, relevant and competitively priced. We wish to deliver a number of one-day introductory training events to staff of local support and development organisations and other third sector organisations on understanding contracts, at various locations throughout England.

• Download the Invitation to Tender (Word, 342KB)

The closing date for proposals is midday on 6 April 2010. For enquiries, please contact Pauline Kimantas on 0114 289 3982 or email pauline.kimantas@navca.org.uk

'All partners must be involved' - learning around EqIAs and LAAs

01 March 2010

'All partners must be involved' - learning around EqIAs and LAAs:

The importance of bringing representatives of all partners together to tackle inequalities through local area agreements (LAAs) and Equalities Impact Assessments (EqIAs) was re-emphasised in a question-and-answer session on the Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) Support Network Community of Practice.

The session looked at

• how a focus on tackling inequalities can be integrated into partnership working
• LAAs and EqIAs in a two-tier context
• considering ‘geographical area’ as an equalities strand in an EqIA
• life beyond LAAs - translating strategy into meaningful policy

The following learning points were recorded:

• Bring together people from all partners involved - at district and county-wide level - so that everyone can share their views, be part of the decision making, and hopefully come to a consensus
• Focus on a small number of top priorities and be mindful of geographic implications
• Agree a straight-forward approach, so that the focus is clearly fixed on reducing inequalities and you don’t end up drowning in paperwork
• Ensure that a robust process is in place for monitoring and progressing actions - whether this be at a more local district level or at a wider county level
• Make regular checks to ensure that your partnership membership from the voluntary and community sector (VCS) helps with objective consideration of equalities issues across the board, and not just from a particular perspective
• Use knowledgeable community sector representatives as ‘critical friends’ to ensure that public sector partners are carrying out EqIAs effectively

The participants were: Martin Garnar, Equalities Officer at Enfield Council; Liz Jones, Head of Partnership Policy, and Alice Coleman, Partnership Policy team, both from Nottingham City Council.

• Read the full report
• Join the Community of Practice

'We need more elected mayors' - NLGN report

01 March 2010

'We need more elected mayors' - NLGN report:

‘We need more elected mayors’ - NLGN report

More powerful directly elected mayors are need for every major city and city region, to develop strong multi-agency partnerships to deliver services more effectively, according to a report from the New Local Government Network.

New Model Mayors: Democracy, Devolution and Direction argues that “strong local leadership and vision is also needed to take bold decisions and citizens need to be better engaged in choices about what can realistically be delivered, particularly with constraints in public spending likely in the coming years.”

In particular, directly elected mayors should have powers to raise local business taxes by up to 4%, enabling them to fund better services for local people. They should also have responsibility for local health, transport and policing services.

The report suggests a two-tier system of ‘platinum level’ mayors for city regions covering several boroughs (like Boris Johnson in Greater London) and ‘gold level’ mayors for other cities.

Shadow Secratary of State for Communities and Local Government Caroline Spelman commented, “Directly elected mayors have the potential to offer cities an exciting new model of leadership, but their role will only be meaningful if we see a radical discharge of powers from Whitehall to the town hall and that means abolishing Labour’s failed tier of regional government,” according to an article in The Times.

• New Model Mayors
• Times article

Improving Local Partnerships Unit - News Updates

01 March 2010

Improving Local Partnerships Unit - News Updates:

Both service delivery and campaigining are “legitimate and vitally important roles for our organisations,” according to advance report in ThirdSector of chief executive Stuart Etherington’s speech to NCVO’s annual conference.

Mr Etherington sees the attempt to to separate the two activities, which is becoming an important political issue as the general election issue draws closer, as “unhelpful”.

He also warns that while voluntary and community sector organisations who are contracted to deliver public services may gain influence in the design and delivery of services, they may also run the risk of simply becoming “a mechanism for delivering a government agenda”.

Mr Etherington will be a keynote speaker at ILP’s conference Whose voice is it anyway? on 11 March in Birmingham.

• ThirdSector article
• ‘To campaign or not to campaign’ - three different perspectives
• Whose voice is it anyway? conference

Procurement Helpdesk for providers and commissioners of Primary Care Trust services

01 March 2010

Procurement Helpdesk for providers and commissioners of Primary Care Trust services:

A reminder that there is now a procurement helpdesk (procurement@help.pcconline.info) on the PCC website which may be used to ask questions and seek advice on procurement issues arising from system management policies and in particular the PCT Procurement Guide.

Queries will be answered in 10 days.

Recommendations published from Cabinet Office Advisor on Third Sector Innovation

01 March 2010

Recommendations published from Cabinet Office Advisor on Third Sector Innovation:

Rt Hon Anne McGuire MP was appointed by government as the Cabinet Office’s Advisor on Third Sector Innovation in November 2008.

She has been considering the third sector’s role in the design and delivery of more personalised public services and has now published her first report and recommendations entitled ‘The Role of Third Sector Innovation: Personalisation of health and social care and services to reduce reoffending’. NAVCA fed into this work and responded to the call for evidence.

The report includes examples and recommendations in 3 sections:

1. Working towards real choice - The report mentions the early role that third sector organisations can make in helping people truly understand their choices. This ‘pre-choice’ role enables people to be empowered to make a true choice according to the report.
2. Exercising real choice - The report sees this as more than opening up the market to multiple providers. Individuals should have a strong voice in designing options and services should be tailored to their needs. The role of brokerage is crucial the report says.
3. The importance of the third sector and government working together to discuss personalisation.

The full report is available via the Cabinet Office website.

Event - Advocating Intelligent Commissioning: London

25 February 2010

Event - Advocating Intelligent Commissioning: London:

Do you…

• work for a local support and development organisation in the London area?
• support local organisation involved in service delivery?
• work with your loca authority or primary care trust on commissioning?
• want to advocate intelligent commissioning in order to achieve better services?

What the day covers:

• Good practice in commissioning processes
• Sharing local experience and knowledge
• A chance to network and find out what other local support and development organisations in the region are involved with

You will hear from The Institute of Public Care about the public sector perspective of commissioning, learn from other organisations about their experience of advocating intelligent commissioning and discuss how you can better advocate good practice in commissioning public services.

Seminar aims: By the end of the seminar you will

• be familiar with principles and concepts of good practice in commissioning public services;
• have a greater knowledge and understanding of how the principles and concepts translate into practice;
• know about some of the arguments, tools and resources available for advocating ‘intelligent commissioning’.

Overall outcome
You will be better equipped to champion good practice in the commissioning of public services.

Cost & booking information

NAVCA member - £40, Third sector organisation - £55, Public body/other - £130

Event flyer and booking form (PDF, 650KB)

Please note: These seminars are being held throughout the nine regions in 2010. Further dates and venues will be announced in due course.

NAVCA constitutional mailing February 2010

25 February 2010

NAVCA constitutional mailing February 2010:

The recent constitutional mailing asks you to nominate to NAVCA Trustee Board for 2010. This year nominations are required for two Trustee Board places.

This information was sent to your nominated representative and to your Chief Officer.

What does the nominated representative have to do now?

• Complete the nomination form(s) if you wish to nominate someone for the position of Trusteefor NAVCA 2010/11 and attach a statement of not more than 200 words written about or by the nominee.
• Ask your nominee to complete the Declaration form
• Return all of the above to NAVCA by 30 April 2010. Any nominations received after this date will not be put forward for election.
  

What does a member have to do if they do not have a nominated representative?

The member needs to complete the nominated representative form and return to the Resources Team at NAVCA if they do not currently have a nominated representative or if the nominated representative has changed.

To ensure your right to nominate to the Chair and Trustee Board for 2010 please complete and return the nominated representative form 31 March 2010 to resources@navca.org.uk

It is the responsibility of members to notify NAVCA if their nominated representative changes.

All the necessary forms and background information are below for you to download.

• Elections for NAVCA Trustee Board 2010 nomination form plus guidance (Word 241KB)
• Expectations of NAVCA Trustee Board members (Word 104KB)
• Nominated Representative form (form and guidance) (Word 109KB)

Marmot and the third sector: addressing health inequalities together

23 February 2010

Marmot and the third sector: addressing health inequalities together:

The event has been organised by the Department of Health’s Strategic Partners (including NAVCA).

The event will:

• Raise awareness among the third sector of the health inequalities challenge
• Disseminate findings and recommendations from the Marmot Report
• Identify some of the cross cutting issues of particular relevance to the sector
• Provide a forum to develop understanding of the role of the Third Sector in addressing health inequalities
• Help third sector organisations understand how the Marmot Report can support their work.

CWDC and NAVCA promote a better way of working, all together

23 February 2010

CWDC and NAVCA promote a better way of working, all together:

NAVCA is working alongside the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) in their promotion a range of tools to help everyone involved with children and young people to work better together.

This is the initial phase of the CWDC’s new campaign to promote a more joined up way of working.

• Find out more about “ All together, a better way of working” via the CWDC website

• Find out more about NAVCA’s work with CWDC

'£20 billion savings from Total Place pilots' - Denham

23 February 2010

'£20 billion savings from Total Place pilots' - Denham:

The Total Place pilot has shown that local areas could save more than £20 billion of public money by cutting out duplication, waste and bureaucracy - this is the conclusion reached by John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, after reading the thirteen pilot areas’ reports.

The Guardian newspaper quotes him as saying that “An average saving of around 5-6% just through better use of assets across the pilot suggests that this could potentially save in the region of £20bn nationally.”

“Total Place is helping identify where blockages exist which prevent change across the board, overcoming the long-standing professional, cultural and funding barriers which have historically proved a big stumbling block to reform.

“It means a much more open debate about the best way to provide services locally. Rather than services protecting their own territory and budgets, it means switching resources between different providers.”

Mr Denham pointed out again that Total Place is not about savings per se, but about delivering better outcomes for local people: “This cuts out duplication, waste and bureaucracy, saving professionals’ time and services’ money - running into millions of pounds - which can be reinvested. But it also improves people’s experience, so they get a genuinely seamless service.”

• Guardian report
• Local Government Chronicle article

Invitation to Tender: Advocating Intelligent Commissioning Publications

22 February 2010

Invitation to Tender: Advocating Intelligent Commissioning Publications:

We are inviting proposals for two publications about intelligent commissioning. The working title is ‘Principles into Practice - Advocating Intelligent Commissioning’.

1. A report that illustrates and provides insight into the work that LIOs do to influence local commissioning strategies and practices. The report will include advice and recommendations.
2. A set of individual case studies (approximately 6) that provide more in depth illustrations of some of the examples identified in the report.

The case studies and report must link together to form a coherent product and work as individual stand-alone documents. It is essential that each case study can be read individually, and that they collectively illustrate in depth the main points from the main report.

There is a maximum of £10,000 available for this work, including VAT.

• Download the Invitation to Tender document (Word, 115KB)

The deadline for submission of proposals is midday on 19 March 2010.

If you would like to discuss this invitation to tender please contact Pauline Kimantas, Local Commissioning and Procurement Manager.

Charity Builder Podcast, with Simon Wright of Tennyson Insurance

22 February 2010

Charity Builder Podcast, with Simon Wright of Tennyson Insurance:

Simon Wright and Barney Mynott, NAVCA’s Policy and Communications Manager, discuss Charity Builder.

Launched last year, Charity Builder is an interactive web service that you can provide free of charge to your members. Charity Builder promotes compliance and simplifies administrative tasks. Rather than just signposting advice, uniquely this service interacts with the user to create tailor-made documents such as staff contracts, handbooks and essential policies.

In the podcast Simon talks about ways NAVCA members can maximise the benefit they get from Charity Builder - including increasing memberships, as local voluntary groups and community organisations can only access the site through a NAVCA member.

• Download the podcast (MP3, 4.45MB)
• Listen to the podcast on iPadio
• Visit the Charity Builder website