“Having a Compact

Liaison Officer in post, will help to

highlight and challenge any inconsistencies

in commissioning processes”

Elaine Flint Social Enterprise

Works

“The Compact Liaison role will provide a vital bridge between commissioners and providers,

supporting the 10 year Vision for Bristol” Darren Hall

Bristol Partnership Manager

Bristol Compact Newsletter Issue 1: August 2009 Contents: �The Newsletter�Bristol Compact�Who’s Who?�News�Partnerships�Diary�Contact

���� Welcome to the first issue of COMPACT News . This newsletter will be produced every 2 months and support the work of the new Compact Liaison Officer at Voscur. It will share news on issues relating to the Compact and update readers on partnership work between the Public and Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE) in Bristol. We hope that readers will contribute news, photos and updates to keep the newsletter vibrant and find it a useful publication, helping to strengthen relationships between the sectors.

Louise Clark has recently started work as Compact Liaison Officer at Voscur. She will be supporting VCSE organisations to better understand the Compact, as well as enabling public sector commissioners to recognise

the expertise that VCSE organisations can bring to service provision in the city.

The dedicated post will help organisations have better engagement in the commissioning cycle at all stages. Louise will share information on opportunities for joint commissioning and joint bidding, organise training and events, enable participation in dialogue with commissioners and support marginalised groups to have equal access to skills, advice and support.

Louise has many years experience of working with the sector and in developing

collaborative initiatives both locally and nationally. She is looking forward to developing positive partnerships that can benefit the sector, commissioners, and users of services in Bristol.

���� The Bristol Compact is an agreement between local public agencies and the VCSEs in the city. The Bristol Partnership has adopted the Compact and endorses its implementation. It defines and strengthens positive working relationships between the public and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors by establishing a set of working principles that all partners are signed up to and a framework for developing better working practices and positive partnerships, particularly within the Bristol Partnership and in the delivery of the Local Area Agreement. Louise will be helping all partners to keep to these guidelines.

At the heart of the Compact is the need to acknowledge the power imbalance between the public sector and the VCSEs and implement a Compact way of working at all times, to ensure positive outcomes for all partners and service recipients.

Guidance documents can be found on the Compact page of the Voscur website: www.voscur.org/compact The Bristol Compact fits into a national structure. There is a National Compact between central government and the countrywide VCSE sector, which is overseen by 3 national partner organisations. This relationship and local compact structures are shown in the diagram on the next page. Clicking the logos will take you to the corresponding websites, giving more background and development news on the national compact.

Strengthening relationships between the public and VCSE sector

National Compact

CENTRAL VCSE

GOVERNMENT SECTOR

Overseeing Partners:

*

Government department with responsibility for all matters related to the compact

An independent body to oversee the operation of the compact

Representative group for the interest of the VCSE sector in all matters related to the compact

Local Compact

*Compact documents often refer to the Third Sector, the collective term used to describe voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals.

���� Who’s Who? The Compact Steering Group is the current multi-agency group responsible for leading on implementing, monitoring and championing the Compact. The members include representation from: the Black Development Agency, SARI, the Care Forum, Avon Fire & Rescue Service, Volunteering Bristol, Voscur, Bristol Primary Care Trust and Bristol City Council. The Group meets quarterly and reports annually, making recommendations to the Bristol Partnership.

����News

A Vision for Bristol Darren Hall, the Bristol Partnership Manager, outlines the work the partnership is currently undertaking. “The

Bristol Partnership is re-drafting its 10 year Vision as set out in the Sustainable City Strategy. It will describe our aspiration to put Bristol alongside the best in Europe,

concentrating on 4 key objectives: reducing health & wealth inequality, increasing the aspirations and achievements of young people and families, making our continuing prosperity sustainable and making our communities strong and safe. The VCSE sector is critical to progress, and we hope that the City Strategy will help commissioners to work with the VCSE sector to achieve the outcomes that everyone wants for Bristol.”

The strategy is currently being consulted on. Click on the strategy for more information. Deadline: 4th September 2009.

The Impact of the Recession on Compact Implementation The Commission for the Compact has issued a discussion paper looking at the potential impact of the recession on the relationship between government and the third sector. Themed around eight key areas, the paper reviews various changes that are expected to take place during the economic downturn, and discusses the possible effects on the relationship between the two sectors and implementation of the Compact. It identifies possible pressure points in the relationship (challenges, risks or conflicts), where ensuring effective implementation of the Compact could become all the more important. Click the picture to download a copy.

Compact Refresh The national Compact is being refreshed and

the Compact Voice website explains the reasons behind this: The national Compact has

been key in ensuring many issues have moved from the sidelines to expected practice, such as 3-year funding and full cost recovery. Now 10 years since its launch and following last year's big debate on the Compact's future, the national Compact is being refreshed to ensure its continuing relevance and strengthen its impact. Compact Voice is leading the sector's input into the refresh, which should be completed by November 2009. A formal three-month consultation on the new Compact has just been launched. To read more about the Compact refresh click here.

Local

Councils,

NHS,

Public Bodies

Enabling Commissioning James Woods is the Programme Manager for the Enabling Commissioning Programme at Bristol City Council. He explains further: “The 'Enabling Commissioning programme’ provides an excellent opportunity for both Bristol City Council and its VCSE partners to ensure that the '8 Principles of Intelligent Commissioning' are embedded into the council's commissioning process. The '8 principles' reflect the values of a good commissioning system. All eight are critical to the success of the programme, as is having Louise Clark the Compact Liaison Officer as a key partner.

The programme will create a standardised approach to commissioning that is embedded across the whole council, ensuring that the council's commissioning is consistent and of a high quality. Central to the whole programme is the project entitled 'Create a Commissioning Methodology' which will form the basis for all commissioning activity within the council, and it is here where the Compact Liaison Officer's experiences will provide valuable assistance and guidance. Working in partnership with Louise Clark and a select team of expert commissioners we will create a methodology that delivers excellent services, whilst being simple to use.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me at the council on: James.Woods@Bristol.gov.uk or 01173 525 979 and I will do my best to help." Compact Advocacy As an NCVO programme, Compact Advocacy can help and support voluntary and community organisations, on how to use the Compact, including what principles have been breached and how to best challenge decisions. They have helped hundreds of organisations achieve a better relationship with Government and resolved disputes over funding, lack of consultation, poor communication and many other issues. Case studies are on their website. www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/compactadvocacy/index.asp?id=1948

Independence Matters

In June 2009, the Commission

for the Compact produced

‘Independence Matters’. Third sector organisations can play many different and important roles in society, but to do so they need to be independent in order to use their distinctive

experience and expertise. In recognition of this, implementation guidance on independence has been published. To see a copy click on the picture.

����Partnerships

Collaborative working is something that you may have seen popping up in documents or heard about in relation to funding and training initiatives. But what is it?

NCVO (The National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have a dedicated website on the issue, which includes a wealth of resources and reports. They state that: Collaborative working within the voluntary and community sector - also known as joint or partnership working - covers a spectrum of ways that two or more organisations can work together. Options range from informal networks and alliances, through joint delivery of projects to full merger. Collaborative working can last for a fixed length of time or can form a permanent arrangement. What these options have in common is that they involve some sort of exchange, for mutual advantage, that ultimately benefits end users. Click

for more info

Thriving Neighbourhoods Ben Barker chairs the Thriving Neighbourhoods board of the Bristol Partnership. He is pleased that there is a dedicated role to engage different agencies in the Compact. “The Thriving Neighbourhoods Board is one of five boards set up by the revamped Bristol Partnership. This is the first time that Bristol Partnership has had a group specifically looking at the different areas of Bristol, but, when you think about it, it's obvious that whether its crime, education or the state of the parks, the story is different in various Bristol neighbourhoods. This cross-sector Board will be encouraging local solutions to what are often local issues.

The new Board only met for the first time in February. It's been concentrating on the 14 new Neighbourhood Partnerships across the city looking at removing obstacles to their formation and especially at how local people and

NCVO Collaborative Working Conference

29TH September

See diary for

more details

community organisations can influencee services. The new Duty to Involve that government is laying on councils, health and police will make this even more important in the future. The Board also has oversight of several issues related to the voluntary, or third, sector as government calls it. One of these relates to the Bristol Compact. The Thriving Neighbourhoods Board's task will be to see that the Compact really works and that all agencies sign up to it in reality rather than just in theory.

Do you know the 8 Principles of Intelligent Commissioning?

���� Understanding the needs of users and other communities by ensuring that, alongside other consultees, you engage with the third sector organisations, as advocates, to access their specialist knowledge

���� Consulting potential provider organisations, including those from the third sector and local experts, well in advance of commissioning new services, working with them to set priority outcomes for that service

���� Putting outcomes for users at the heart of the strategic planning process

���� Mapping the fullest practical range of providers with a view to understanding the contribution they could make to delivering those outcomes

���� Considering investing in the capacity of the provider base, particularly those working with hard-to-reach groups

���� Ensuring contracting processes are transparent and fair, facilitating the involvement of the broadest range of suppliers, including considering sub-contracting and consortia building, where appropriate

���� Ensuring long-term contracts and risk sharing, wherever appropriate, as ways of achieving efficiency and effectiveness

���� Seeking feedback from service users, communities and providers in order to review the effectiveness of the commissioning process in meeting local needs

Insight is the quarterly newsletter for the national Compact. Issue No.5 Summer ‘09, can be viewed by clicking picture on the left.

����Diary

24th September Navigating Funding Agreements Designed to guide you through the different types of agreement and how to approach the key elements of a contract. www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/events/latest

29th/30th September Practical Public Sector Tendering One day work-shop in London. Running on two dates. Gain the tools to access some of the £175 billion that central government and the public sector will put to tender in 2009. More information and on-line booking at: www.publicsectortendering.com

2nd October Compact Voice Annual Conference This year's theme is ‘Practical action for a thriving Compact, sector and community’. www.compactvoice.org.uk/information/101026/events

22nd October Tendering for Better Services Develop your understanding of the procurement cycle and the constraints and opportunities in the tendering process. www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/events/latest

2nd-8th November National Compact Week Bristol events information to follow

����Contact:

Louise Clark

Compact Liaison Officer

Voscur

CREATE Centre

Smeaton Road

Bristol BS1 6XN

Tel: 0117 909 9949

Fax: 0117 933 0501

Email: louise@voscur.org

Web: www.voscur.org/compact

View the Bristol Compact via:

www.voscur.org/compact or at: www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Community-

Living/Community-Advice/the-bristol-compact.en

The deadline for next issue of COMPACT News is 30 th September 2009. Send examples of where the Compact has been used and how you hope to engage with the Compact to strengthen relationships and deliver services in Bristol.

���STOP PRESS��� Bristol E-Procurement Training: www.voscur.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=176���STOP PRESS���

���STOP PRESS��� Event - A dialogue with Annie Hudson on Children’s Services: www.voscur.org/node/5678 ���STOP PRESS���