VCS

I am just doing a piece of work at the moment with RSN colleagues to look at the scope for different approaches to service delivery in rural England. With DCLG now potentially 60% smaller than when all this started I suspect it will becoming an increasingly interesting issue for local authorities. Clearly the hard pressed voluntary and community sector cant do it all on its own but this list of 10 tips for managing an element of the power shift from councils to localities is very interesting. It tells us:

• have open and frank dialogue;

• agree to lobby central government and political parties jointly on issues such as local government funding cuts, social security cuts and harmful changes, “welfare to work” programmes and the transfer of this responsibility to local government, and the growth agenda in which the VCS has a role to play;

• develop and promote good collaborative practice between the sectors.

And, specifically at the local level, local authorities must:

• sustain some grant support to the VCS, and involve the VCS in strategic planning, resource and budget decisions and strategic commissioning – of course with ultimate decisions being taken by accountable councillors;

• explore new and innovative ways of delivering public services;

• use public procurement to drive social value, and adopt commissioning and procurement practices that enable local VCS to participate in service delivery with realistic contract terms;

• help build the capacity of the VCS and the quality of its services;

• not expect the VCS to pick up services that are deemed to be the responsibility of the state without adequate funding and then only on a voluntary basis – and respect those VCS organisations that do not wish to deliver public services;

• recognise and respect the voice and independence of the VCS, even when and if in receipt of public money;

• seek to ensure that the wider public sector adopts similar behaviours and practices.

It would be a tragic loss and mistake if current austerity and central government policies were to be allowed to drive a wedge between the voluntary and community sector and local government. Building strong relationships between the two will require bold leadership in both sectors – locally and nationally.