Voluntary Sector Strategy Listening Event: Summary of Attendee Comments on Strategy

Voluntary Sector Strategy Listening Event: Summary of attendee comments on strategy

19th April 2016

A) Key feedbackpoints from workshops:

Think local: ensure the local sector is first and foremost; invest in it and ensure a diverse market.

Ensure a range of voluntary opportunitiesare open to people both in and not in work – delivered locally by local people.

Do we have effective services for local people and do we have the information needed to provide them?

Sustainability needs to be built into the strategy. Outcomes need to be delivered in collaboration.

Strategy should be built on mutual trust, respect and shared values, with a better understanding of which each is trying to achieve.

Focus on joint working and community wellbeing. Evidence a holistic approach and contributions to prevention.

Uniqueness of the VCS: not a substitute for statutory services. It has its’ own qualities, skills and experience. Recognise that the borough is changing and this brings challenges. New barriers are being put in place, for example, new legislation could be a barrier to reaching communities. We are obsessed with wellbeing!

Strategy should lead on an understanding of what each partner is good at and play to the strengths of each, for the common good.

All partners are equal and should show dignity and respect. The passion and commitment of the VCS should be recognised.

Understand the complex relationships between the sectors. The strategy should set out the process of how we work together to identify problems and find solutions.

B) Q &A session with panel

Q. The cuts started in 2008-09 and show no sign of diminishing. How much longer might they go on for?

Cllr Situ: the council is very clear that however much money we have we will try to achieve the best outcomes for residents. This is why we commissioned the Early Action Commission. We hope to bring better news in 2019-20. We can only work with what we have and do our best with it.

------

Q. In other boroughs our organisation is a sub-contractor to prime contractors. Southwark has ensured that contracts do not get too big for smaller local organisations to deliver. Are you able to give an assurance that Southwark will continue to commission local providers?

Dick Frak: we are very mindful of this. The simplest thing would be to go for big contracts because you can make economies – but that would risk losing local knowledge of local issues. We are interested in commissioning alliance contracts and consortiums.

Mark Kewley: the NHS is governed by the same procurement rules as the council. The majority of our £400m a year spend goes on local hospitals and services. Local Care Networks are trying to get providers to have slightly different conversations. Local GPS and hospitals take the majority of resource. Things can change. The SAIL scheme has got statutory organisations thinking about the VCS and the services the VCS can provide.

Gordon McCullough: I have a strong ambition which is to take competition out of commissioning [because this creates] a false market with a hollowing out of services. This means changes in working practices.

Stephen Douglass: the thing that matters is outcomes for local residents and a shared understanding between the sectors.

------

Q. I am bored of contracts and commissioning; contracts take out the creativity. I want to hear about grants. We need to start at the right place, saying we want these outcomes for residents. Most people here do not want to be in competition with each other because that means we are not getting the best out of each other.

- More a comment than a question

------

Q. What was said about premises in the 2007 strategy doesn’t seem to be happening; when we pay rent to schools for hire space […] money seems to move around in circles – how do organisations find premises for, for example, 5 hours on a Saturday or in the school holidays?

Matt Jackson: the premises part of the 2007 strategy was developed in 2009 and we are still working on it. We are currently reviewing the community portfolio. We are looking at different models of hiring, and exploring shared accommodation, for example the Cambridge House model.

------

Q. In the past we never really brought in real costs including premises; should we ensure we build in these types of costs [in funding applications] – will the council and CCG accept them?

Andy Matheson: these types of costs are already built in.

Gordon McCullough: this conversation makes me think of social value. We need to reframe the conversation on premises around social value.

------

Q. We are always being told we need to diversify our income and look at for example how can our theatre host NHS services – this is a one way street – delivery methods need to be re-thought.

Mark Kewley: Guys & St Thomas’s have found that singing or acting is a very powerful physiotherapy for those recovering from strokes. We need to have more of these conversations, the resources are already there.

------

Q. There is a gap in the room – the big statutory providers. How are we going to involve them in these discussions?

------

Q. How do we respect the differences [between the sectors] – why don’t we ask the question ‘what is the value of the CCG and the council?’ – We need to play to their strengths.

Cllr Situ: I believe the council has a strong role in providing services and making sure residents have a fulfilled life. The majority of council funding – about 80% - goes to the voluntary sector- we don’t want the big building and housing contractors here.

Ali Young: we did invite the Local Care Networks and hospitals and I’m not sure they are present – we need to take that back.

Mark Kewley: Local Care Networks mean a shift of responsibility, changing the relationship between large providers and other partners in the system. We are setting up local forums... we should be constantly asking what the role of the council and the CCG should be.

Dick Frak: perhaps large providers are an audience for the strategy. There is a critical distinction in that the council and CCG were set up by statute whereas the VCS was born out of communities and has a longer history. We need to define and specify what we are good at.

------

C) Event evaluation form - summary of comments related to the new strategy

Most useful aspects of the event

Q&A session
Workshops & Q+A. Overall event was excellent.
Networking with council officers
Sharing views with other vol sector agencies as well as representatives on our table from Southwark Council
Space to think issues through, listening to other people’s ideas and concerns
Gaining a sense of shared change / change management
Connecting with other VCS organisations and people from the council / CCG. Great mix and turnout. Lots of common ground and shared ambitions.
That there was actually a conversation around the development of the strategy.
Networking with council staff, councillors, CCG staff and voluntary sector colleagues. Good in-depth discussions between diverse people.
Having this conversation across council + vol sector; being able to be involved in this process; start and finish of event.
Collaborative work that should hopefully feed into an effective and co-produced voluntary sector strategy.
The workshop discussion and CCG talk.
‘What is the value of the voluntary and community sector?’
Meeting other professionals from different organisations; thinking about the voluntary sector as a whole.
Good starting point to designing the strategy. I like the aim of being not competitive.
Introduction and conversation with new commissioners (CCG) with access to resources.
Meeting VCS providers I didn’t know existed. Having very valuable insights from the reps in the VCS.
Learning from other members in VCS. Having the chance to communicate our needs to councillor, the CCG and in turn learn from them. Good facilitation from CS.
Having the CCG and local authority reps at table to challenge / add to discussion.
Having a proactive conversation about what next.
The changes in the new strategy coming in.
Bringing the sector together – reminding ourselves ‘why’ we are here.
Real focus on the tripartite nature of the challenges.
What success looks like – feeing into what strategy is trying to achieve.
Sharing of knowledge and experience of other members of vol sector. CCG thoughts / opinions.
Networking. Ability to contribute to the debate / strategy development.
A chance to focus on the strategy of the borough collectively. Hope that we can make a real shift [?] reframe the questions.
The discussion and other ideas around the table as to why the strategy is important. Good listening and taking in of others’ ideas.

Least useful

Would like more basic information on the direction of travel
Gaps in who attended – what about the large NHS and social services providers, other services who are commissioned and impact on the voluntary sector strategy.
All was useful, but more info of intentions and parameters of what strategy can do.
Not clear about the strategy.
Questions were very wide and could have been introduced better. The discussion was at times vague.
More focussed questions in workshops would be useful eg scenarios.
Panel questions took a bit of a negative turn.
As a launching of a strategy it would have been more help to have a bit more information / presentations on priorities / outcomes from CCG / local authority. But it was a handout so that’s fine!
People thinking and sharing outside of their silos and immediate problems.
Its usefulness will be best gauged by how much today’s event contributes to forward on-going working.
Would have been useful to understand the role of the council and CCG in what they are hoping to achieve.

Other comments

Needed to have the big maintenance contractors and big money players engaging in local conversations with community groups
It would be good to be kept updated – as the strategy develops and a time line would be good. This to include outcomes and evaluation.
I would welcome an explanation of future care commissioning ie what are the targets?,what is the budget?How will decisions be arrived at?This would help organisations like ours to respond
Big boys -where are the big providers? NHS trusts? GPs? Big private providers? If we are all working together, don’t we need to involve them too?
Could the strategy include proactive processes such as arts on prescription?
Would love to know how it / we might feed into the working group’s discussion more directly.
Useful! Good to hear so many views and recognise the value the VCS brings.
Good to have a diverse range of views. Good to have the council and CCG involved.
If we are to work together, there is a need for the sector to create stability. This will enable the sector to be more innovative in the way in which they work.
It is important to recognise the added value that the sector brings.
A great small step forward towards genuine collaboration process. But a long way to go.
Good to see / have so many of statutory sector present from different departments.
Good introduction setting the context for the event. Great networking opportunities. Good insight into key issues fed back from workshop sessions. Lots of mirroring of views, new barriers and challenges faced. Interesting Q +A!
Let’s make sure we make a real shift in behaviour; we break down the barriers to health; let’s identify the problems for our citizens – the outcomes then look at what we do about it. Grants to feature heavily . Let’s agree the remedy.
Thinking locally!
The diversity of the vol sector and that some vol sector providers are very big businesses (ie Anchor, Leonard Cheshire etc) so not in the same league as orgs like time and talents etc. Also we will need to use contracts in some areas and not grants where vol sector providers are helping us to fulfil or in a targeted manner help prevent statutory needs ie dementia pathway. Also as an organisation, we will need to review the TOR (terms of reference) for our partnership boards (esp. the Older People) as despite repeated attempts it is still the same TOR as we had nearly ten years ago. I would recommend that it be amended to a cvs liaison group and not the grand TOR it currently has.