Planning and Partnerships Panel
4 December 2006
Background Note to the Presentation by Herts Council for Voluntary Service Group
What is the Voluntary & Community Sector?
There are an estimated 12,000 or so Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) organisations in Herts. The VCS is made up of a continuum of different types of organisations ranging from traditional registered charities, unregistered associations, community associations, not-for-profit organisations to social enterprises. Essentially this sector can be spilt into those that deliver front line services and those who exist to support the growth and development of front line organisations. Many VCS or so called Third Sector organisations work with and provide services to the marginalised and disadvantaged in Hertfordshire’s communities and as such are in a good position to articulate and support need.
In recent years there has been a strong urge to seek new ways to improve working relationships with the VCS. ‘Compact’ agreements have been developed which seek to outline how the relationship should work. Alongside this there have been moves to increase and formalise the role that the VCS can play in the design and delivery of public services and the letting of longer term service contracts instead of old style grants - traditionally the VCS has had to fundraise or sought ‘grants’ to work with their clients.
HCC has a community leadership role in working with VCS infrastructure agencies to develop their capacity so that they can better support the VCS as a whole. In turn the sector will be able to support HCC by providing services in support of HCC challenges. HCC supports infrastructure organisations by means of the Strategic Leadership contract it has with the Herts CVS Group.
Strategic Leadership Contract
HCC recognises that the VCS is a key strategic partner and that it needs to work with this sector to ensure it has the skills, knowledge, structures, capacity and resources to realise its full potential in the design and delivery of public sector services in Hertfordshire. HCC’s uses its Strategic Leadership Fund to help support the development of sustainable VCS infrastructure organisations that are fit for purpose and ready to tackle the challenges placed on the sector by local and national government. HCC uses this Fund to work with infrastructure organisations that will work to promote equality of opportunity, participation, co-operation and democratic involvement in the sector by:
· providing leadership to embrace modernisation and change
· providing a shared voice for VCS organisations
· creating an environment in which the sector can flourish
· cultivating an environment that fosters their development
· helping the sector achieve the highest standards of practice and effectiveness by encouraging them to learn both from each other and from wider best practice
In 2004 HCC reviewed how it invested these corporate VCS resources and developed the first Strategic Leadership contract which sought proposals for the delivery of services that supported the wider VCS in Hertfordshire specifically in the following key areas:
Service Area / Service DetailsLeadership & Representation / · Providing strategic voluntary and community sector leadership and voice within Hertfordshire
Communications / · Providing an effective conduit for communicating with the wider voluntary and community sector in Hertfordshire
Equalities / · Leading on the implementation and promotion of equalities best practice throughout the sector
Hertfordshire Compact / · Becoming a champion and ambassador for developing and implementing the Hertfordshire Compact within the sector
Funding & Marketing / · Providing a long term external funding and marketing strategy for the sector and leading on its implementation
This first contract was awarded to the Herts CVS Group and will form the basis of the presentation to the Panel. A second two year contract was awarded in 2006 to the Herts CVS Group with additional areas of activity covering the Group’s role in helping to develop the Hertfordshire Local Area Agreement and securing a place on the Board of Hertfordshire Forward.
HCC’s relationship with the VCS
HCC has a strong and predominately positive relationship with the local VCS.
On 25 September 2000 HCC held a highly successful partnership conference ‘Putting Partnerships into Place’ that affirmed the need for a Compact agreement following this up on 24 September 2001 with ‘Building Bridges Making Connections’ which formally launched the Herts Compact which was developed in tandem with a Best Value Review of Voluntary Sector Funding. Many of the recommendations of this Review acted to implement Compact Principles. Since 2001 there are many examples of work that has taken place to ensure that we maintain this good relationship, examples include:
· 2001-2006 Setting up an open and transparent funding and support process with a 3 month application window, funding prospectus, single application form for all funds advertised, receipt letters, tracking of applications, clearing system for unclear or multiple applications. Sorting out historical and inequitable funding arrangements and establishing three year VCS service based contracts wherever possible
· Working in partnership to establish a network to promote access to alternative and sustainable sources of funding - Hertfordshire External Resources Network. The recent 6th Hertfordshire Funding Fair was the most successful yet: In total 406 people attended. 319 were delegates and 87 attended to either deliver workshops or involved host information stands. 15 training and information workshops were delivered. 1 off site information visit took place to a social enterprise organisation. The Hertfordshire electronic directory of local grant-making trusts was launched
· Working in partnership to promote the concept and development of social enterprises - Hertset
· Working in partnership to develop and launch the Herts Compact’s four supporting Codes of Practice, Funding, Consultation and Policy Appraisal, Volunteering and Working with BME Community Groups
· Revising HCC’s Consultation Standards to incorporate best practice identified in the Code of Practice on Consultation and Policy Appraisal
· Working to support the development and launch of local district / LSP compacts in Stevenage, North Herts, Dacorum, East Herts, Watford, Hertsmere, St Albans and Broxbourne
· Evaluating the impact of the Herts Compact in 2003 and issuing a revised document in 2005
· Development and letting the VCS Strategic Leadership Contract - aimed at infrastructure support - themed around leadership & representation, Compact, equalities, funding & marketing, communications
· Securing VCS seat on the Board of Hertfordshire Forward LSP
· Ensuring one of the emerging themes from Hertfordshire Forward is VCS capacity
National Commendations
Officers across the council have aimed wherever possible to realise the Herts Compact and make it manifest in the way the council transacts business with the VCS. This has been reflected in Commendations from the Annual Compact Meeting of Ministers in Parliament. Of the 388 local authority areas, 38 Commendations have been awarded between 2003 and 2006 and Hertfordshire has won each time, no other local authority has a better record:
/ · 2003 - for "Development support: Exemplary support for development of district Compacts"· 2004 - for Communications: advancement of Compact through promotional programmes
· 2005 - for VCS Policy development (Gold award)
Further Commendation success in 2006
On the 26 November the Annual Compact Meeting discussed current examples of good practice and Hertfordshire was further commended for implementing a resourced statement of community engagement within the Hertfordshire Local Area Agreement - a statement and LAA that uses the Herts Compact agreement as a golden thread to Compact-proof governance and service delivery, an LAA VCS liaison officer has been employed and sector capacity boosted for involvement in Hertfordshire Forward and across all blocks of the Herts LAA.
Future Work
Because of its unique record on VCS policy development Hertfordshire has been selected to host a key VCS / LAA / Compact engagement event in spring 2007 which has the working title ‘Transforming local services together’. This key partnership event will be delivered in conjunction with the Compact Voice - a national group overseeing the promotion of best practice, Government Office for the East of England and Hertfordshire Forward with the participation of the Commissioner for the Compact and the Office of the Third Sector.
Andrew Burt
Funding & Partnerships Manager
24 November 2006