Commissioning with the Third Sector
Notes and Presentations from the Voluntary Value event, The CREATE Centre, Bristol on 22 July 2010
Presentation Simon Charters, South West Forum
Presentation Christine Vine, ESF – Competitiveness Area, Working with the Voluntary Sector
Presentation David Draycott, Agenda for Skills & Competitivness
And the commissioning survey says… good progress, further improvements needed
There’s a lot of talk about the commissioning of public services to the Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. In February 2010, the Bristol ChangeUp Consortium surveyed third sector experiences of being commissioned and presented its findings to Bristol City Council and other commissioners. Mark Hubbard, Compact Liaison Officer, describes the key findings and what happens next.
In February, the Bristol City Council’s Select Committee on Third Sector Commissioning asked the Bristol ChangeUp consortium to undertake a survey. The committee required up-to-date, Bristol-based information about the relationship between public sector commissioners and VCSE sector organisations so that it could draw up proposals to help improve commissioning relationships.
This research focussed on the VCSE sector’s experience of Bristol City Council’s commissioning. The findings are also relevant in the VCSE sector’s relationships with other public sector bodies, including Avon & Somerset Constabulary, Avon Fire & Rescue Service and Bristol NHS.
"We were keen as elected members, to sit alongside voluntary sector infrastructure organisations and hear together about the experience of commissioning in Bristol. We have learned about concerns and support needs, and the worries from smaller third sector organisations that they might be getting left behind. We have also heard Best Practice from Croydon and Birmingham Council, and from NAVCA, and their stories echoed those we heard from the Change-up survey. We are now drawing up recommendations to take to Council, and look forward to presenting these to a wider audience."
Councillor Helen Holland (Leader of the Labour group of Bristol City councillors), Chair of Select Committee on Third Sector Commissioning
Key findings
Good progress has been made by some parts of BCC whose commissioning practice has been positively acknowledged by some respondents to the survey.
The majority of respondents described their organisations as ‘social enterprises’ and had annual turnovers greater than £100,000. This means that the voice of smaller, less resourced organisations was not heard in the survey – an important fact in considering the survey results.
Many organisations felt confident about delivering services and over half of the respondents were already contracted or had service level agreements. This is clear evidence that some organisations are engaging successfully in commissioning processes.
There are, however, several causes for concern. One third of the respondents, for example, reported that they had not bid in any commissioning processes and they cited their reasons as: unclear information, poor match of service specification with ‘charitable’ work, low expectation of success.
Of those that had bid in commissioning processes, most described the experiences as ‘not good’, citing the following themes: short deadlines, especially time needed to form consortia and the complexity and inconsistency of processes.
What happens now?
The Report presents a set of recommendations (including the following) for
Decision-makers:
- Commissioning needs city-wide strategic ownership
- Additional research needed to understand small VCSE organisations’ experience and readiness for commissioning
- Publicise commissioning/procurement/grant-funding opportunities in one place
Commissioners:
- Incorporate all principles of Intelligent Commissioning into all BCC commissioning practice
- Enable more time in commissioning processes for the formation of consortia
Third sector organisations:
- Review ‘commissioning’ in strategic planning processes
- Engage with commissioning processes
- Infrastructure organisations respond to VCSE sector’s support needs
The select committee has heard evidence from many sources and is working on its final report. That report will go through several BCC processes prior to its consideration by the full Council in September and, after their endorsement, will be turned into an action plan.
If you would like a copy of the Report or questions/comments about commissioning, please contact Mark Hubbard (mark@voscur.org) or download.
