Launch of the "Modernising Commissioning" Green Paper consultation. Presentation from John Marshall, Office for Civil Society.

1. Modernising Commissioning: Increasing the role of charities, social enterprises, mutuals and cooperatives in public service delivery Green Paper Consultation December 2010

2. Our Programme for Government commitment: “...to enable [mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises] to have a much greater involvement in the running of public services.” Achieving the power shift, transferring power away from central government to local communities. Driving transformative improvements in public service quality and efficiency, by improving government’s ability to buy public services intelligently and make better use of all available resources. Conclusions - Form part of a wider Public Service Reform White Paper, which will be published early in 2011.

3. In which public service areas could Government create new opportunities for civil society organisations to deliver? How could Government make existing public service markets more accessible to civil society organisations? How could commissioners use assessments of full social, environmental and economic value to inform their commissioning decisions? How could civil society organisations support greater citizen and community involvement in all stages of commissioning?

4. The cycle of assessing the needs of people in an area, designing and then achieving appropriate outcomes. The service may be delivered by the public, private or civil society sectors. assessing needs; identifying of the priority needs and outcomes; designing the specification which will achieve these outcomes; sourcing the providers to meet this specification; managing the delivery of the outcomes; and monitoring, reviewing and learning from delivery to inform future commissioning.

5. Objective: To drive efficiency, effectiveness and innovation in public service by opening more public service areas to civil society organisations. 3 key elements, outlined in SR10 to increase the diversity of provision, levels of competition and consumer choice: Consider setting proportions of specific services to be delivered by independent providers; Introduce payment by results across public services; and Introduce new rights for communities and public sector workers

6. Look at setting proportions of certain service that should be independently provided. Key role for civil society organisations. Factors: Current market status; and Planned reforms to open up the market. Objective: To improve outcomes and performance by stimulating and growing a diversity of provision across public services, which may be maintained and developed through longer term intelligent commissioning.

7. Benefits: Great innovation and flexibility in delivery models, as payment is linked to outcomes achieved, rather than the inputs or outputs of a service. Challenges: Access to working capital. Example: MoJ Social Impact Bond pilot at HMP Peterborough Aim: To tackle the high rates of reoffending associated with offenders released from short-term prison sentences. CSO services are financed through social investment to deliver intensive support to 3,000 short-term prisoners over a six year period. If this initiative reduces re-offending by 7.5%+, investors will receive a dividend payment of up to 13 % of their original investment, funded by savings generated in the CJS. If the reoffending rate falls by less than 7.5%, the investors will receive no return.

8. Localism Bill: CSOs and local authority employees will be given the ‘right to challenge’ local authorities where they believe they could provide services differently or better. Further details will be announced shortly and Government will be consulting on the detail of how the right challenge will work. Other Questions: Should Government explore extending the ‘right to challenge’ to other local state-run services? If so, which areas and what benefits could civil society organisations bring to these public service areas?

9. Our Programme for Government: ‘To create a right for public sector workers to form employee-owned cooperatives and bid to run the services they deliver.’ ‘Rights to provides’ across the public sector and civil service workforces Potential for partnerships and joint ventures with existing civil society organisations. This work will open up new areas of public service delivery to competition and the involvement of a diversity of providers. Example:

10. Objective: To address practical, regulatory, legislative and cultural barriers to market entry in existing markets.

11. Govt Commitment: To review guidance to enable greater compliance with and understanding of TUPE. Reported Issues: Accessing Information: The actual cost of transferring staff are often unknown at the bidding stage. As such, organisations can over price or under price for the cost of the service Managing Costs: It is expensive for small organisations (inc. CSOs), to provide staff benefits that are comparable with the public sector, such as pensions, sickness pay, redundancy etc. Complexity: Lack of HR knowledge and understanding of TUPE, for both receiving and transferring organisations, can significantly affect the success of the transfer.

12. Smaller, specialist organisations can often feel marginalised and stifled. DWP Pilot of Merlin Standard – a new supply chain management standard that prime contractors will have to meet. Aim: Recognise excellence in supply chain management and incentivise larger prime contractors to invest in the capacity and performance of their delivery partners.

13. Objective: To enable commissioners to make strategic commissioning decisions on the basis of a full understanding of the social, environmental and economic impact.

17. Aim: to create the funding arrangements which will allow for greater accountability to local people and flexibility across boundaries in health, policing, worklessness and child poverty.

18. Civil society organisations have a role to play in facilitating and supporting community involvement and the delivery of public services.

19. SR10: 16 local areas to lead the roll out.

22. Areas include: Special education needs, support for children with disabilities, long-term health conditions and adult social care.

24. In which public service areas could Government create new opportunities for civil society organisations to deliver? How could Government make existing public service markets more accessible to civil society organisations? How could commissioners use assessments of full social, environmental and economic value to inform their commissioning decisions? How could civil society organisations support greater citizen and community involvement in all stages of commissioning?