Assembly Conference 2010: The Third Sector and the new Political Landscape

Katy Bunn is the policy and communications coordinator for BVSC. Katy chaired a discussion into how the Third Sector Assembly should look to develop its policy in the light of the new government.

A number of different points were raised by the discussion group, which included:-

• Assembly should be driven by policy and provide a forum for organisations to be informed of policy and respond to policy.
• The assembly needs to reach out to small organiations to provide support around policy
• The group wanted policy about the new government, funding, and we should focus on the local affects of policy rather than city wide.

Katy Bunn.mp3

Tamsila Tauqir works for the BVSC. She's the compact action advisor and chaired the discussion on Compact, which is the agreement the statutory sector and the voluntary community and faith sector. It deals with how the two sectors can work with each other.

Current consultation of the new Compact document, which will end on July 12.

Tamsila said the main points of the discussion were:-

• It's important that the document deals with the practical issues of working relationships between the statutory and third sector.
• Tamsila said that Birmingham case studies and national case studies will be used in the drawing up of the consutation of the new document.
• The national case studies will help to bring a wider perspective of best practice.

Tamsila Tauqir.mp3

Cath Gilliver is the champion for the health and social care network for the the Third Sector Assembly. Cath is also chief executive of SIFA Fireside, which works with socially excluded and disadvantaged. She chaired a discussion that looked at the implications of the new political landscape on health and social care, which came up with a number of points. In particular, the group talked about the personalisation agenda of social care - that gives individuals their own personal budget to buy in services.

The group thought that a lot more needs to be done around consultation to ensure that the right services are provided - reaching the right people and for the right people.

They also felt that there is an issue around the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which is the new agency that will carry out background checks for those working with vulnerable people. The concern was that non-professional carers will be exempt from the new background checks.

Cath also reflected on what the new political landscape is likely to mean for her own organisation - and the Big Society. Cath pointed out that there's a conflict between the Big Soicety idea and the devolving of cutting decisions down to councils who, as Cath says, may have little choice but to cut funding to some third sector organisations.

But Cath believes the Big Society may present an opportunity to some people in disadvantaged communities to play a fuller part in civic society - even if, at the moment, we still don't entirely know what is going to happen.

Cath Gilliver conversation

Lisa is the director for community regeneration for Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services. She chaired a group that discussed how the financial cuts and the new government are likely to affect children and young people.

The group spoke about the Future Jobs Fund, which is for young people who are unemployed and has been scrapped.

• They wondered what it would be replaced with, because there will be many jobless young people - in particular considering the likely cuts to the Department of Work and Pensions.
• They talked about where or when will organisations see the outcomes of the money spent through Brighter Futures, which is a strategy for young peoples' health.
• Spoke about the need for advocacy for family support.

The group also discussed collaboration - and what the third sector could bring to the table. They said:

• We need to be representative
• It is important to provide evidence of outcomes.

 Listen to a conversation with Lisa below.

Lisa Martinali conversation

Maureen Connolly of Birmingham and Solihull Womens' Aid was the champion for citizens, community and safety. She chaired a group discussing these issues in the light of the new political landscape.

Third Sector Assembly constituency champions were discussed. Six of the 10 constituency champions have already been recruited. It's hoped these champions will strengthen the role of the assembly at the local level.

The group also discussed:-

• Concerns that funding won't get to the grassroots organisations
• Concerns around devolving power to local communities - to make sure they can make an impact
• Consultation needs to be an ongoing process not a one-off.
• Importance of providing evidence of the added value that third sector organisations
• It's important to know when you should and shouldn't provide public services. 

Maureen Connolly.mp3

Yvonne Davies is the chief executive of the Birmingham Citizens Advice Bureau. She chaired the panel discussion on learning, training and employment pathways, as part of the World Cafe. As Yvonne points out in the interview, there were a number of issues that came out of the discussion, some coming from the new political and economic landscape, which are listed below:

• Stop the self-invented bureaucracy that is hampering the Working Neighbourhoods Fund and other interventions. Just let them work.
• Champions: It has to be an enabled role not just pandering to scrutiny.
• Soft outcomes: Remember them!
• There is not enough emphasis on informal/non-accredited training.
• Further education colleges are not the only provider of formal qualifications
• We can train people for work but there has to be a job for them.
• There should be a funding stream for work/job creation
• A focus on who is employed, targets for taking on harder to reach groups in to work, for example percentage of employed disabled people.
• How many young apprentices has Birmingham City Council  taken on?
• Invest in social enterprise - let them into the bidding process.

Yvonne also spoke about the implications of the morning's sessions - where the new political landscape and the cuts that we are all expecting were talked about.

Yvonne Davies Interview

Ann Blackmore, who works for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, provided us with an overview of the recent election and what impact it is likely to have on the third sector.

The Coalition

Firstly, Ann reminded everyone of what happened back on May 6, when the Conservative party won the most seats but fell short of an overall majority. As we all know, after some intense negotiations that resulted in a coalition government Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats joining David Cameron's Conservatives in a coalition government.

Ann said that the coalition is dependent on an alliance of left leaning elements of Conservatives with largely right-wing Liberal Democrats, which makes it quite vulnerable

Research identifies that in the Liberal Democrats there are:

• 30 left wing
• 10 central
• 17 from the right

And the Conservatives have:

• 35 left leaning
• 207 centrists
• 55 rightwing

Now, 35 per cent of MPs are new. Ann said it was like Freshers week at university. Parliament is now becoming a place for people with a career in politics.

Ann said it was very difficult to see where alliances were to be made, due to the very inconsistent picture of the election - where parties successes were wildly variable across the country.

The Conservatives had some problems

• People didn't understand Big Society/Broken Society
• David Cameron only played well in the South East.

Ann then talked about the team and the politics of the new government.

These include an emphasis on localism and the Big Society. But she said the primary agenda is on spending cuts. The £6.7bn cuts have already been made. The emergency budget will last three months and then there will be a spending review. Ann said the cuts will be large and deep.

Labour didn't suffer as badly as expected - and now there's a leadership election for a new leader. She said that some people felt that the new leader won't necessarily lead the party back into power.

What does it mean?

• Local diversity is another word for the postcode lottery. Different areas will get different priorities and outcomes.
• There will be an end to ring-fenced budgets
• Have to talk to the sector - local relationships will be crucial for local government.
• Need to express clearly what we - the third sector - does.
• Voluntary orgs receive 37 per cent of funding from the state (in average). Public spending is important, but assuming the sector can just win more contracts is naive. It's essential to demonstrate what you can deliver.
• It will be essential to focus on what the sector 'has' to do.

Where we are now?

Ann said she wanted to hear back from people to find out what they wanted. The government was looking to flesh out the Big Society idea and needs the help of the Third Sector. Tomorrow NCVO is running a summit for some of the bigger organisations to look at this and the operation of some of the sources of funding, including the Big Lottery Fund.

Ann also said that it was the value to peoples' lives that would be essential in convincing the government to invest in the third sector. A lot of great value was being provided to people but she said 'we need to demonstrate the work that we do much better.'

To see Ann's presentation visit here.

Ann Blackmore.mp3

While the World Cafe discussion groups were taking place Brian Carr, chief executive of BVSC, to talk about the conference and the events of the day.

Brian said that, while this was a period of great challenge for the third sector - with savings to be found - it was a also a period of great opportunity. Both Jackie Mould of Be Birmingham and Cllr Sue Anderson had spoken in detail about how they wanted to see much more co-operation between the third and public sectors and Brian agreed.

He also said that there may be considerable unease within the sector but that was to be expected. The important thing was to take advantage of those opportunities. Brian explained that collaboration was required in order to reserve services. In particular, he pointed out that the sector should be geared up to make the most of this new political landscape.

Brian Carr conversation

Jackie Mould, the director of Be Birmingham

She said that the third sector would need to muster its creativity and enthusiasm to take advantage of the opportunities that the new landscape would provide. She said that the role of the voluntary community and faith sector is central to Be Birmingham.

She said the sector had been at the heart of delivering, particularly in worklessness. Now was the time to think about how the sector could prepare for the future. There would be an end to the Working Neighbourhoods Fund and an end to the future jobs fund. She'd be looking at how that saving could be made.

But she said that the partnership was still committed to working collaboratively. While it would be easy to retreat and just concentrate on one's own business, it was now essential to see how people work better and more efficiently together.

• 'Only by working together can we deliver the change we need', she said.
• Already have great track record for delivering services
• Led the way for education and tackling crime, climate change.
• The government is looking to Birmingham for goood practice.

A Be Birmingham pilot study - the Total Place report - found:-

• More than £7.5bn public sector money - comes in every year.
• It isn't always spent as it should be. Couldn't we use the resources more effectively?
• We found that there are 18 funding streams to fund offender management
• There are 100 public buildings in one constituency - were they being used effectively? Probably not.
• High-contact families on average cost the state £250,000 each.
• Spent 37million dealing with two dynastic crime families.

Need to create shared vision and work together to deliver this in an efficient and effective way. There will be difficult conversations about what to commission and to decommission. It was vital to shift emphasis to prevention and also to put citizens at the heart of what we do.

She said that now we should be looking for individuals to create the services for themselves.

A number of things will be done as a result:

• Revisit Vision 2026 - to sharpen priorities
• Summit on July 19
• Serious conversation about the future - to decide what we can do together
• Review of governance and partnership arrangements
• Develop a behaviour and culture change.
• Develop the concept of a budget for Birmingham
• Developing shared intelligence function - less data collection and more real research and analysis
• Looking at capital assets and how they can be used more efficiently.
• Committed to driving forward a piece of work about working with families.

She said this would all require a huge change - finding ways of doing more for less. She said this would be through co-creation of services with citizens. People would have to think creatively and find ways to use assets more effectively.

It would mean working across organisational and hierarchical boundaries. The citizen should be at the heart of everything that is done. It was people who really make things work in the end. 

You can see Jackie's presentation here.

Jackie Mould Interview

Cllr Sue Anderson is Birmingham City Council's cabinet member for adults and communities. She was at the assembly to talk about the changes in the local political landscape that had come about as a result of the recent elections on May 6.

Cllr Anderson, who represents Shenley Ward, explained how with much tighter budgets the future will be tough for both local government and the third sector.

• She committed to protecting frontline services wherever possible
• Promised a more consistent approach to the third sector
• Said that this was a period of uncertainty but the council had planned.
• She said they were looking at how they could make much better use of the resources they had, by opening buildings more often.
• She said that there were buildings that were 'awful'. 'We need to make better use of our buildings and we are introducing new buildings'.
• They are looking at how many managers are really needed.
• She said that 'hopefully not, but maybe in the future' people will be made redundant.
• She said that council staff feel vulnerable - not just the third sector - as a result of the budget constraints.
• But she said there was an opportunity. Now the council would have to look at all providers, not just the city council.
• The budget tightening means there will be some decommissioning. It was essential that money was spent 'very carefully'.

She made a few important points about the immediate future.

• There will be an emergency budget on June 22
• She said she was looking at savings, not cuts.
• It's key not to fill new positions straight away because of the uncertainty
• She didn't yet know what would come out of the changes in the national government
• She said she wanted to fight for the third sector, but 'we're all in this together'.

Listen to an interview with Cllr Sue Anderson below:

Cllr Sue Anderson Interview

The conference was introduced by BVSC chief executive, Brian Carr, who ran through the agenda for the day: the new political landscape.

The first part of the day will focus on the local poltical landscape:

• Update from Birmingham City Council, from Cllr Sue Anderson
• Update from the Local Strategic Partnership, with Jackie Mould, director of Be Birmingham
• Then there will be the chance to break out into group discussions for the World Cafe: Key issues affecting the sector today.

The next part of the conference will look at the national political picture, with Ann Blackmore, head of campaigns and communications at NCVO talking about the national political landscape since the May 6 elections.

After lunch there will be two workshops:

• The Coalition: Opportunities and Challenges for the Third Sector
• Collaboration and Partnerships

And then Brian Carr will close the conference with a few words about the future.

The policy team are working hard today getting everything together for the conference on Monday!

We are very excited about the event as we have some excellent speakers attending and some fun activities to keep everyone engaged too.

Places are now booked up but don't worry if you haven't secured a place because we have podnosh attending - they will be uploading key info as we go through the day so you can follow this live on the website!