Ncvo Public Services Academy
THCVS / NCVO Public Services Academy, April 2016 – proposal
NCVO PUBLIC SERVICES ACADEMY
TOWER HAMleTS
NCVO & TOWER hAMLETS CVS PROPOSED PARTNERSHIP PROJECT
Proposal: 17 February 2016
Summary of the proposed project
Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Service (THCVS) wishes to build a cohort of organisations that have the capability to bid for, win and deliver public service contracts in the area of health and social care, and able to engage strategically through partnership working both within the voluntary sector and with the statutory sector.
NCVO will deliver two days of training in Tower Hamlets that will support the above aim.
Background and context
Voluntary organisations in Tower Hamlets face significant challenges, firstly due to funding cuts: national data indicates that small to medium sized organisations are particularly vulnerable. Locally based voluntary organisations also face the challenges of changes in commissioning structures and increased competition from both within the sector and externally. Members of NCVO have also experienced a lack of capacity and capability in commissioning authorities which hampers good service design and intelligent commissioning.
Tower Hamlets has a large and diverse voluntary sector with approximately 1,500 registered organisations, one of the largest organisations per capita ratios in the country. There are some large and very professional organisations, as well as many much smaller community-based organisations which may lack strong infrastructure and capacity.
The CCG and local health economy in general in Tower Hamlets has a reputation for being innovative (Tower Hamlets is one of the NHS Health Vanguard Sites). However to date most of the integration work has been within the statutory sector; more recently attention is shifting to how to capitalise on community and voluntary capacity.
Historically the sector has tended to be predominantly responsive to statutory agencies, rather than taking a more independent and proactive stance, such as developing its own assessment of needs, and developing service offers and proposing commissioning approaches, as has happened in neighbouring Hackney. There is a vibrant and well-attended VCS Health & Social Care Forum in Tower Hamlets, and the Forum is currently in the process of developing a new three year Health & Wellbeing Strategy.
TH has a special purpose consortium ‘TH3’ Developed by ACEVO and Neil Coulson Associates three years ago. The consortium continues to exist as a corporate body, but has failed to win a contract and its board meets infrequently and currently lacks the development resources needed. TH Voluntary Sector Forum has prioritised re-invigorating TH3 as part of its 3 year Strategy.
Three years ago Cabinet Office commissioned NCVO to develop and deliver a ‘commercial masterclass’ programme, which aimed to prepare the voluntary sector for more commercialised business practices and business relationships. The masterclasses brings high-level expertise from the private sector to support voluntary organisations to excel in bidding and contract delivery, and to survive in today's increasingly competitive market. On the basis of their popularity and extremely positive feedback from delegates, NCVO is now building a Public Services Academy and hopes to test this in Tower Hamlets. No central Government funding is available for this work.
Method – what will be delivered
We will deliver a two-day masterclass style event, the first day focusing on how organisations need to adapt to health & social care commissioning structures, and the second day on the commercial skills needed to succeed.
Target audience
Organisations represented should be delivering health and wellbeing outcomes in Tower Hamlets, either through specialist health & wellbeing based services, or through services that address the wider determinants of health such as arts & culture, employment, housing, crime prevention and victim support. Organisations must be incorporated (e.g. co ltd by guarantee, CIC).
The individual attending must have some experience of commissioning and work in a strategic capacity - CEO, director, business development or similar roles.
Learning outcomes
1. Delegates increase understanding of the processes of appraising & bidding for contracts (learning from private and voluntary sector best practice)
2. Delegates increase understanding of the opportunities for partnership working around commissioning & innovative new models of commissioning.
3. Delegates increase understanding of how this relates to opportunities locally.
4. Delegates are better networked into the local sector, and more able to support each other.
5. Delegates’ personal competencies & skills are enhanced - around selling, influencing, opportunity & risk appraisal, managing bidding processes.
Outline programme
This is subject to discussion with THCVS and further development with the trainers.
Day one – Adapting to the changing commissioning landscape, with Emma Baylin, 19 April 2016
Where are you now?
· Economic and political context
· What can you provide?
· Who's already commissioned to provide these services?
· What are the challenges and barriers to being commissioned by health commissioners?
· NHS Standard Contract
Understanding the new architecture of health
· What opportunities are there to work with health commissioners?
· Who do you need to develop relationships with?
· PHE Evidence into Action and NHS Five Year Forward View – What opportunities might there be for the voluntary sector?
Building a commissioning business case
· Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
· Using health outcomes and open source data to build your business case
· Using your evidence to influence what gets commissioned at a local level
Commissioning processes, models and influencing
· Seeing each other’s perspective (commissioner / provider)
· Commissioning cycle – where and how to influence
· Commissioning models, including new models e.g. alliance contracting, innovation partnerships, consortia (case studies).
Day two – Thinking and behaving more commercially, with David Wood, 26 April 2016
Developing your offer
· What is commissioning?
· What value do you add? (black box exercise)
· The commissioning cycle
· Relationships / the ‘value chain’
· Understanding the market
· Selling
· Mission vs money
Understanding and managing risk
· How is risk managed in a supply chain?
· Categories of risk
· Assessing probability and impact of risk
· Identifying and managing risks
· The numbers tell a story.
Managing a bid
· Elements of a good commercial proposition
· Managing information
· Coordinating the bid
Finance models
· The importance of good financial information, and discerning what is needed by management / board etc.
Governance and performance management
· What do we need to change internally to adapt to new commissioning environment?
Summary / consolidation of learning / next steps
Intellectual property and data protection
The training content and support materials will be jointly owned by NCVO and by THCVS. Save for any pre-existing intellectual property rights owned by any party, any use of the material by any partner should acknowledge such joint ownership.
THCVS will not be able to use the term ‘Public Services Academy’ to describe any training or events it produces in the future, without permission from NCVO.
NCVO and THCVS would like to support the delegates to maximise the benefit of the event, primarily by making online resources and tools available to them, as well as membership of NCVO’s public services network and other relevant networks and forums. Therefore, THCVS ask delegates, at the time of booking, for their permission to share their personal details with NCVO for this purpose.
People
Trainers
DAVID WOOD – High level change management consultant working across private and public sector, most recently with Capita plc, and a background in adult education, most recently co-designed and co-delivered the Cabinet Office / NCVO commercial masterclass across England.
EMMA BAYLIN – 20 years’ experience of working and volunteering in health and community organisations, most recently regional coordinator for Yorkshire & Humber ‘Stronger Connections for Better Health’ project. Recently co-designed and delivered the Cabinet Office / Dept for Health / NCVO health commissioning masterclass across England.
Project manager
LEV PEDRO – Public Service Senior Officer, NCVO. Lev leads NCVO’s capacity building work for the voluntary sector across England on public service delivery, commissioning and consortia. Lev has previously worked a business development manager and health development manager for the ‘CVS’ in Kensington & Chelsea, and in the voluntary sector since 1989.
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