Public: Engagement | Public

Put your trust in trustees

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:09:00 GMT

With charity budgets tighter than ever it is crucial that trustees offer as much support as possible to the executive and that means having a diverse board of talented individuals as possible

Trustees are as crucial to charities' success as directors are to businesses – so why don't we hear more about them?

The 'Big Society' has had its official launch and there's been no shortage of inspiring stories of social action. But I've been disappointed that in the midst of all this, there has been no mention of what is, to my mind, one of the most valuable forms of volunteering – being a charity trustee.

To be honest, this omission is hardly surprising. After all, trusteeship does suffer from a bit of an image problem – people tend to think of it as an activity for retired, middle-aged men and women.

But there are 800,000 charity trustees in the UK, the vast majority of whom give their time and skills to charities for free. The role they play is vital and deserves recognition. As Ken Olisa, chair of the homelessness charity Thames Reach, put it recently, trustees are as central to a charity's success as a director is to a business.

Events in the City in recent times have highlighted what happens when directors don't do their job properly. So, as we move into an era of unprecedented spending cuts, it's more crucial than ever that charity trustees are on the case, supporting stressed executive teams and helping them make difficult decisions about resources and priorities.

Difficult times ahead

In our new paper, Trusteeship 2010, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) emphasises that charity trustees need to show strong leadership to help their organisations through the difficult times ahead. We suggest that, for boards to be effective in supporting their charities, they need to invest in things such as recruitment (to attract the right mix of trustees), induction and training (to ensure those trustees understand their roles and how best to fulfil them), and regular board reviews (so that individual trustees and the board as a whole identify their strengths and weaknesses and work out how to improve).

Given that charity budgets are likely to be tighter than ever, private funders can make a big difference by funding this sort of support for boards.

With budget cuts and redundancies on the agenda, becoming a trustee may not exactly seem enticing. But being a trustee can bring great benefits to individuals, as well as helping charities and the communities in which they work. As Carol Lake, from the investment bank JP Morgan told us, being a trustee has developed her skills and made her 'more rounded, informed and engaged', with a broader perspective and a better appreciation of leadership skills.

People in busy jobs like Carol's often feel they lack the time to volunteer, hence the lack of diversity and shortage of certain skills on charity boards.

In Trusteeship 2010 we call on the government and employers to do their bit to build the 'Big Society' by removing barriers to volunteering.

Incentives for being a trustee

Giving employees an allowance of paid time off per year for volunteering activities such as attending board meetings is a good start. But we would like to see employers go further – providing incentives for being a trustee by building it into personal development plans and appraisal systems, and offering training and support to help employees find suitable roles and be good trustees.

Happier, more engaged employees, helping to build a stronger and more sustainable charity sector? That sounds like a real answer to achieving the Big Society.

Clare Yeowart is a senior analyst at New Philanthropy Capital and the author of Trusteeship 2010, New Philanthropy Capital's new briefing for charity trustees

A perfect storm, but all is not lost

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:16:50 GMT

A stark message for the community sector from John Tizard - engage 'heart' and 'head' to survive the tempest

The next few years – and potentially the next decade – will be extraordinarily challenging for the community sector as public expenditure cuts hit income from grants, contracts, funding for capacity building and donations.

The sector relies heavily on local authorities – and most commentators expect local government to be particularly impacted by current/future public expenditure reductions.

Accordingly, there is a serious risk that local authorities will seek to offset their reduced revenues by cutting funding to or via the community sector. And if we are realistic, the NHS and other public sector agencies are likely to adopt similar tactics.

The 'cuts' are already biting

There is already evidence that funding has been cut as area based grant, LAA reward monies and the Future Jobs Fund are aborted. And the public sector is attempting to renegotiate or, in some cases, simply to impose changes to contracts with voluntary and community organisations to reduce payments. Many community organisations are already experiencing cuts in their support from the public sector.

Unlike many business sector providers of public services, the community sector will find it harder to resist the contractual squeeze given that they are committed to support their members and beneficiaries, and will usually not have the necessary contract negotiating capacity.

That said, there are lessons to be learnt from the business sector – check contracts and see if they allow for unilateral or negotiated changes and if they don't, point this out to those who want to impose changes; say no to reductions in payments which would make service quality unsustainable; and in return for anything given up, secure something in return.

Intermediary and infrastructure groups in particular will need to explore how they can provide contract support to local groups facing the pressures of contract renegotiation.

Time for a reality check

Grants and new contracts are going to be offered on lower levels of payment – that much is certain. In their hearts, trustees and staff will want to continue existing service levels for beneficiaries.

Being candid, however, those in charge must also engage 'heads' and be very clear about their organisations sustainability and what can be delivered for the available money. Now is the time for the sector as a whole and organisations in it to seek to influence the decisions of commissioners and the political and managerial leaders in local government and other local agencies.

At the same time, the sector must explain to users and members why any service reductions have to be made - and to clients, the consequences of its financial position. Truthfully, if the funding is unrealistic, organisations will have to be prepared to stop delivering a service.

The challenge and the risks are serious

Previous periods of public expenditure restraint and cuts – and there has not been anything comparable with what the government now plans since the 1930s – have seen the public sector seek to: protect "in house" provision; pressurise the third sector to accept payments for services which fall well short of "full cost recovery"; exclude the cost of capital from fees; and expect the sector to make up the short fall in revenue by dipping further into charitable funds (and where are these to come from?) - and/or by the use of volunteers.

All this at the same time as conveniently ignoring the fact that good volunteering comes at a cost. The sector must deploy every effort to prevent a repeat of these behaviours – but I accept that this will be an uphill task.

The community sector is about to be caught in a 'perfect storm'

It is simply stating a bald fact that the users and beneficiaries of many community and other third sector groups are unfortunately more prone to being the victims of the economic conditions now prevailing, and are also those who are most vulnerable to public expenditure cuts.

This puts more pressure on the sector to provide services and to meet need through services and advocacy – at exactly the moment when the sector faces the severest of financial pressures.

While any organisation has to respond to this challenge in a way that is consistent with its values and principles, its trustees must avoid jeopardising financial viability. These are easy words to type but much more difficult to enact.

And what of 'Big Society'?

The concept of "Big Society" offers great opportunities for the community sector – and indeed this sector more than any other can claim to be the heart of the "Big Society".

It is still not clear what it will mean in practice and where the resources to develop community and voluntary action are going to come from. It is even less clear what the government expects local government's role to be in respect of developing and supporting community and neighbourhood action.

It is even conceivable that it does not see a major role for local government and this manifestation of 'localism' is one that will by-passes town halls. The Coalition Agreement set out a raft of policy commitments to extend social action but how these will be funded remains obscure.

The fact is that many community groups require capital investment to enable them to be in a position to grow their services and to bid and contract with the public sector. This at a time when government policies and decisions in respect of funds such as Future Builders indicates that access to such capital will be even less easy than hitherto.

And all against a backdrop when it has never been easy to raise capital, especially for bodies that are commonly regarded as being "un-bankable" and given the banks are inadequately investing in the business sector, so there is surely little prospect that they will invest in the community sector.

Being optimistic, they could be further 'encouraged' to do so by government, and the moves towards social investment bonds and socially responsive ISAs are to be welcomed as is the idea of the "Big Society Bank".

And the harsh truth is that even volunteering comes at a cost

Volunteering undoubtedly has a major contribution to make but 'effective' volunteering requires investment in selection, training, appraisal and support. The community sector relies hugely on a mix of volunteers and paid staff. The balance may change but volunteering should never be regarded as a substitute for employed activity – rather, it should be seen as a means of complementing it.

And there is no need for conflict between the sector and trade unions on this or other matters. The two sectors should be united by their shared sense of voluntary collectivism and their pursuit of social justice and advancement.

Personalisation and individual budgets offers opportunities for the community sector to be the providers of services, to act as brokers and advocates, and to represent user interests. Again, however, these activities will need to be funded so yet another pressure emerges.

The next decade can be "the decade of the community sector" – but only if the sector balances its "head" and "heart".

England and its thousands of communities benefit from the social capital and contribution of the community sector. The next decade has the potential to be the "decade of the community sector": as we redefine the relationship between the state, individual, and communities; as the state becomes smaller in terms of service provider and even service commissioner; as there is a move away from large providers in the public, third or business sector; and as voluntary collectivism to some extent replaces state collectivism.

The community sector has an enormous opportunity but it has to be ready to apply both its heart and more critically, its 'head' to ensure that it can take advantage and not lose out.

John Tizard is director, Centre for Public Service Partnerships (CPSP@LGiU) and trustee designate NACVA

This article is based on his presentation to the NACVA Chief Officers' conference on 15 June 2010

Sophie's choice rather than social reformation?

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:31:52 GMT

Asking the public what services should be cut is all well and good, but shouldn't departments be looking at the social impact of what they provide so families and communities can make an informed choice not just based on money

George Osborne has announced that the government would be consulting the public on cuts. Some, like Lord Lawson see this as a cynical PR ploy but I am interested in the idea. The reality is a decision between what we need and what we can't live without, but asking people what they think is always a good idea as long as you do it within a clear framework and you're prepared to not like what you hear.

But can we choose between the things we love, our old or our young? What drives these decisions? Cost? Need? A Facebook campaign? The latter worked for Rage Against The Machine last Christmas, why not the local library?

I believe there is a better approach, one that could make the process transparent and fairer and significantly encourage growth rather than decline.

That is to introduce the concept of social impact measurement across all of government. Using agreed criteria, departments could assess not just the cost but the social impact of the work they do. What is the environmental impact? How have they improved people's life chances and viability?

In short, they must measure and demonstrate the impact of their spending.

Following up on the chancellor's commitment, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude spoke recently of making sure public services become answerable to those that use them. Social impact measurement would make this possible. In line with the coalition's creation of the Office of Budget Responsibility, there is clear scope to embed impact measurement in the assessment of the true value of public services - both to the people that use them and the wider communities in which these services operate.

By developing a clear, imaginative and light-touch framework for measurement, data can be captured across different projects and services. This would add a sophistication to the government's analysis of public services and enable them to provide long-term value for money for taxpayers.

Economic predicament

Our current economic predicament allows us the chance for a culture change. For too long, the government have commissioned and supplied services, evaluating their own performance along the way, telling us, without fail, how well they were doing. Now others will have a go, but not before the budgets are cut and the extent of the challenge is deepened.

Thinking in the existing silos is a major pitfall for any government – especially in an era of receding state spending. Using social impact measurement as part of the tendering process will allow central and local government – as well as, crucially, the public – to ensure that every last bit of funding is spent with the absolute maximum return on the tax payer's investment.

There is a fantastic opportunity here to encourage socially responsible entrepreneurship as the engine of our economic recovery. Social impact measurement reports create the platform to use the difficult fiscal climate as a catalyst for social engineering at its best. Without it, the government will make ill advised decisions which will inevitably lead to families and communities losing out - Sophie's choice rather than social reformation.

Allison Ogden-Newton is the chief executive of Social Enterprise London

'Everybody needs a chance to try and make something of themselves'

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:23:53 GMT

Revolving Doors Agency has published two guides on working with young adults with multiple needs making the transition to adulthood. Tafari Franklyn-Brown, a young adult who took part in the work, explains why services need to change

When I was younger things weren't great at home, and I was in and out of police custody a few times. I left home at 16, and social services classed me as semi-independent, which I thought was great at first, but they didn't give me any support – they didn't do any checks, or give me any help to move to my own accommodation, or any help at all really. I ended up being homeless.

At the moment, most young people don't have anything for the in-between ages. There are Asbos, but there's nothing constructive.

Over the last year I have been volunteering with Revolving Doors Agency looking at services for young adults making the transition to adulthood. We visited lots of projects for young people aged 16 to 25; all kinds of projects including mental health, homelessness, mentoring and legal advice.

We met staff and service users and discussed what they did and how and why it worked. Revolving Doors then used this information to write guides for practitioners and commissioners on how services for young adults can be improved.

Visiting the projects made me realise that there is lots of positive stuff going on – I had no idea that some of these services existed. It's good to have knowledge of what is going on around you – lots of people don't know what's out there. If I'd known where to get help with legal stuff I wouldn't be in the place I am now.

Positive outlooks

The projects we visited all had really positive outlooks for the young people they work with. They had high aspirations, which is really important. Having positive people around you gives you a better chance of doing something positive with your life. It's also really important to have people who want you to aim high in life; to develop your self esteem and your potential. Everybody needs a chance to try and make something of themselves.

I know there's not much money at the moment, but the different services need to talk to each other. Hopefully Revolving Doors' guides will show people how they can do this.

There are some really simple things that could be done to help young people who are in difficulties to change things and begin to do something positive. Providing education, mentoring and things like sexual health services in youth clubs would be a good step. And, giving more authority to key workers to help young people to access services is important too.

A lot of these things don't need to be expensive. The biggest thing is to give us the chance and support to help ourselves. Don't just feed us. Give us the spoon and show us how to use it.

Tafari Franklyn-Brown is a participant in Revolving Doors Agency's Transition to Adulthood project, and contributed to Aiming higher: a good practice guide to working with young adults with multiple needs

Download the guide here

Point of contact

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:16:00 GMT

Service improvement and doing more for less will only be a success if frontline staff are first of all given the tools to be more creative in their dealings with users and also building confidence to engage more with clients

As the Treasury launches its campaign to ask for citizen's views on which functions the government should perform and which could be done by other bodies to save money, we can start to see the powers of co-design in play.

The public rightly expects public sector and government to do more with less. To respond, we must use the ideas and energy of frontline staff and citizen to the full in order to deliver ever-improving services to the public.

I passionately believe the people who use and deliver services have the experience and ideas to make them better, what we need to do is give them tools and platforms to make this happen.

The notion of self-improving public services aims to move away from arms length improvement projects or pilots and toward public services that embed these skills within their teams and systems. This enables more responsive services that have the skills and tools to engage, listen and innovate rapidly by listening to citizens and frontline staff on a daily basis.

In times of budget cuts, we need to make the most of what we have and develop existing resources, ie the capacity and talent of public sector staff to deliver efficient and high quality public services that understand the needs of citizens. This can be achieved by using a range of design, media and social research processes to train and enable frontline staff to engage, listen and innovate alongside citizens.

Making staff key partners in the process identifies where efficiency savings can be made, engaging and enabling them to work with citizens gives them the extra motivation to understand where services can be improved. This is followed by supporting staff with tools and processes to think in radically different ways about how the services could be delivered and rapidly testing these ideas to measure impact.

The three main ways we are helping develop the skills and confidence within the public sector include:

• ethnographic research – to help staff gain a deeper understanding of how people live their lives, drawing out people's experiences regarding particular issues or use of public services. This helps pinpoint what works and doesn't work within the service, identifying inefficiencies and touch points for re-design

• co-design – to bring a range of stakeholders together to identify, priorities and co-create solutions and services that meet the needs of people using and delivering public services; and

• prototyping - enables ideas to be tested quickly with citizen and potential users. This enables continuous improvement, development and testing of concepts to ensure they are fit-for-purpose before implementation.

We have applied these approaches with a range of public and third sector organisations including Lewisham council, Croydon council and Barking and Dagenham council, plus a range of NHS trusts and the Alzheimer's Society.

By empowering public sector staff to have the skills and tools to engage, listen and innovate alongside citizens it helps them:

• reconnect with the values and enthusiasm they have for their work;

• gain a genuine understanding of customer needs and how services can be shaped to best serve the citizen;

• rejuvenate their motivation, contributing to better working environments; and

• improve and develop public services to be fit for purpose.

Training frontline staff with skills in design, media and social research can radically reconnect people to the ethos of public service and result in people powered, self-improving public services.

Deborah Szebeko is the founder of thinkpublic.com

The healthy living network

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:02:00 GMT

Online social networking sites are increasingly being used for health initiatives - to great effect

The Facebook page for Healthy Living Network Leeds is one example of many across the UK demonstrating the multitude of ways health messages can be communicated to the social networking community. This site demonstrates how organisations can colourfully promote a wealth of health activity from the heart of the community itself.

The essence of such sites is depicted in the way they connect with people and allow them to reap the benefits of interaction. Online social networking is not just about reconnecting with friends or finding new ones; it is the way that people, from a range of backgrounds, now choose to communicate and share details about their lives with others. This trend is so entwined within daily routines that it creates an exciting opportunity for health professionals to retune the traditional ways they communicate messages.

Online health promotion is in constant development: internet users can now access sites where they are encouraged to discuss health issues with others in similar situations and gain much needed advice and empathy. Mental health practitioners have found that communicating online with younger clients can be effective because younger people are comfortable using this resource; it eases discussion of taboo subjects which face-to-face discussions might hinder. Sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter endorse personal expression and serve as a bridge to social capital which in turn, increases self-esteem and reduces loneliness.

Despite these positive impacts, research has highlighted concerns that such sites may have a negative side. They can provide a base for bullying, become a distraction from work, and promote risky behaviour. As a potential threat to health, both users and professionals need to use such sites wisely and in moderation.

But for good or ill, the potential of such sites to encourage users to incorporate healthy lifestyle behaviours into their lives cannot be ignored. Powerful messages can be tweeted, posted as a comment, written in a blog, discussed, debated in a chatroom - the list goes on.

Person to person

Implementing health initiatives through social networking sites requires consideration of the staffing required, what the aim is, and how to measure the impact. Social networking sites are, at the moment, free to establish and provide access to people who may otherwise be difficult to reach. It can be a challenge to attract members but with enthused people in tow, an online community can grow, allowing health messages to pass from person to person.

Online health promotion strategies need to be identified which are salient to users in order for them to be effective. Engagement with the target group could help inform health practitioners of such ideas. The real impact of using the sites is demonstrated when online activities are reflected in offline actions, in the adoption of a healthy lifestyle change or by raised awareness of a particular issue.

There is a growing body of knowledge about online health promotion and, like the actions social networking sites encourage, there is now a need to share and communicate the pros and cons with fellow professionals. Capitalising on the popularity of the sites has the potential to modernise health promotion and create healthier offline communities, through with a touch of online innovation.

Sarah McCormack is projects officer for the Altogether Better Programme, hosted by NHS Yorkshire & the Humber

Civic involvement needs more forward thinking

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:10:36 GMT

Even though the UK has a higher level of citizen involvement than in many other EU countries, local people still feel alienated from civic society. The RSA's Sam McLean suggests ways to enhance the values of public service

A government report last year on co-production showed citizen involvement in public services to be higher in the UK than in many other European countries considered to be beacons of public service innovation, including Denmark and Germany.

But this is not translating into greater numbers of people feeling able to influence community-based decision-making.

Feeling unable to make a difference locally not only limits citizen participation in community life, it also weakens civic health and the forms of innovation and attachment between people it creates.

A forthcoming Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts (RSA) Citizen Power report on civic health shows that attempts to strengthen civic health, from community-asset transfer schemes to participatory budgeting, have been undermined by a narrow focus on 'consumer power' as the key driver of public service reform.

The wellbeing of our society

Our 'age of austerity', signalled by forthcoming cuts to local government, has the potential to substantially weaken the civic health and wellbeing of our society, particularly in the most deprived parts of the country where public services, from Sure Start centres to Drug Action Teams, are a matter of necessity, not choice.

But it also opens up a space for us to re-evaluate what we want from public services and the values they should embody.

Improving our public services and ensuring they deliver for the most vulnerable in society, demands radical shifts in both the culture of public services and society in general.

The language and practice of civic responsibility and social innovation linked to the needs of citizens should become the norm in public services, and not an exception to the rule. For this to happen, we need public services that are innovative and creative not risk averse and scared to experiment, and who value long-term strategic thinking over short-termism.

There are plenty of examples for us to learn from. A quick review of public service innovation would include pledgebanking in the UK, 'social currencies' in Japan, forum theatre in Brazil, domestic violence courts in New York, Canada's e-government service, rehabilitation services in Denmark, and public service contracts in Sweden.

A new generation of local leaders

These kinds of innovations do not happen by chance or piecemeal reform. They all require a new generation of local leaders committed to radical change, who see social innovation, civic creativity and people power as essential to public services rather than 'added extras'.

The new generation of public services we need, will also depend on people and communities themselves changing. Another forthcoming RSA Citizen Power pamphlet on the policy potential of 'citizen contracts' argues that seemingly intractable problems in society, from incivility to climate change, needs people and communities to think of themselves more self-consciously as 'everyday citizens'. This means us being collectively and individually more engaged and altruistic in public matters, but also more resourceful, resilient, and civically creative in our everyday lives.

This emphasis on civic creativity, people power and social innovation in public services is at the heart of the RSA's flagship Citizen Power programme. This is an exciting two- year partnership between the RSA, Peterborough city council and Arts Council England to explore how citizen activism and community action might improve pro-civic outcomes and services for local people in Peterborough.

The programme includes specific projects on environmental behaviour change and civic innovation, support services for recovering substance users and how to better measure the civic health of communities. These will run alongside projects that aim to cultivate active citizenship among young people through a new area-based curriculum, strengthen social networks through digital participation, and to inspire new forms of civic action through participative arts.

The Big Society is the big idea of our new coalition government. With local people and community groups as the drivers of each project, our work in Peterborough will provide an early test of how and to what extent the 'Big Society' can work in practice. It will also provide learning for other forward-thinking places around the country committed to having innovation and citizen power at the heart of their public services.

Sam McLean is Director of Public Participation and Head of the Citizen Power programme at the RSA

Public bodies that are changing family fortunes

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:32:54 GMT

A pioneering project in north London shows the value of getting public agencies to work together. But having one person 'go into bat' for vulnerable families is just as important

Angela, a cute one-year-old with tight pigtails, plays placidly amongst the scattered toys in the Packington Estate's children's centre in north London. A year ago she was "crying all the time", her mother, Evelyne, says.

Evelyne, isolated from her family and struggling with her English, had no support: "In the beginning, I didn't know anybody."

Help came in the form of the families project run by Hyde, the estate's housing association. Now in its second year, it brings together 17 public agencies that deal with families, including local schools, health visitors and Islington council.

Vulnerable families

Vulnerable families on the estate, which is among the most deprived 5% in the country, sit down with representatives from some or all of the agencies to talk about everything they need from public services. A 'lead professional' from one of the agencies then works closely with the family, acting as a bridge to other bodies.

For Evelyne, the project has opened up services she didn't even know existed: a children's support worker to help her with Angela, a trip to the citizens advice bureau to look at fighting an unfair dismissal from work, and help chasing up a lost tax credit application.

Being able to call up her lead professional, who can "introduce" her to other agencies, has been life changing.

Cassandra Favager, Hyde's regeneration manager, says the project is helping 40 families who aren't being looked after by social services but may have up to a dozen major problems. Closer working by public agencies, a key aim, hasn't been easily achieved.

It was "a real struggle convincing housing officers [the project] was worth their time", she says; even now the culture change has happened "better with some than others".

The project's first year threw up some difficulties. Teachers often wouldn't show up for daytime meetings, something the project may tackle by meeting more at schools. Some families found the group meetings "overwhelming", and will need to be better briefed beforehand and have their lead professional on board earlier.

But overall the project transformed families' lives, Favager says, and "opened doors between services that knew each other existed but only went to each other in times of crisis".

The children's centre now houses mental health services, while parenting and stop smoking surgeries take place elsewhere on the estate. Workers learn new skills: for example, housing officers are trained to identify potential domestic violence.

And the cost? Not much, Favager says: one full-time coordinator (funded by central government) and a part-time project manager.

Nor is it a drain on time. Lead professionals may have to make a few phone calls around other agencies, but the time saved by being able to refer individuals on makes participation "a no-brainer", she says.

Public sector cuts

An independent evaluation of the project's first year found it had achieved its aims, helping families receive more grants and resolve problems with their children more quickly. Favager admits she can't yet prove it saves money, but insists the project has "demonstrated its worth" and shouldn't fear public sector cuts.

Evelyne, meanwhile, has no doubts. In an era when the government expects individuals to do more, she is clear that, in fact, greater one-to-one support is vital. "If I need help, I just call Mary [her lead professional]," she says. "The project is good for me. It can't stop."

Equal opportunities, but at what cost?

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:38:00 GMT

With a new anti-discrimination law now in place, it's up to local authorities and public bodies to make sure both staff and users are treated as equals, the trouble is how to monitor ethnic groups

With the passing of new equalities legislation in April, most public sector bodies must have uttered a figurative sigh. Not because the Equality Act 2010 to prevent discrimination and encourage equal opportunities is unimportant – quite the opposite – but because of the logistics involved.

The bulk of the new legislation will come into force this autumn, including the requirement that every function, action, policy and spending decision within the public sector be subject to a three-yearly review of its positive and negative effect on staff and service users in terms of equality "strands" including ethnicity, religion or gender.

One tool designed to help public bodies monitor diversity is the aptly named Diversity Monitor software from Experian. It compares the names of staff, clients or patients with a database of millions of names across 200 language groups to infer ethnicities.

"The more public bodies can understand about the people using their services, the better able they are to serve them," says Experian's Simon Hodgson. "This is a very powerful tool for analysing service users and employees."

The software will enable the NHS or local councils to identify which groups are not making best use of services, says Hodgson, and to adapt their information or policies accordingly. Employers will also be able to assess whether the mix of ethnicities within their organisations reflects the wider communities they serve, and whether that mix changes going up through the management grades. Experian envisages the tool being applied to the payroll database on a quarterly basis to establish how patterns are changing.

More textured data

Glasgow City Council is already using the software, which, according to Dawn Corbett, head of corporate policy and social reform, has "demonstrated that the information we were able to collect through routine monitoring was limited" and "provided more textured data that enabled us to problem solve and plan better".

While Experian is keen to stress that this is a tool to profile groups rather than individuals, some managers are concerned about issues of consent, however, as well as the accuracy of equality mapping in this way.

"I think it's dangerous to make assumptions about people's ethnicity given that names can be changed through marriage or by deed poll," says Andrea Derbyshire, equality and diversity manager for the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. "I would certainly have reservations about making these assumptions if our patients or workforce had been unwilling to disclose this information to us through our usual channels in the first place."

The trust currently gathers equality data through its recruitment process, and 18 months ago conducted a one-off equalities data cleanse of all staff, with a 60% response rate. A "single equality approach" to patients now covers all equality strands, pre-empting new legal requirements.

Ann Webster, equality and diversity lead at Derby City Council, says regular equality and diversity forums, as well as standard equality monitoring forms, encourage very good response rates. Unacquainted with the software, she said she would be "very concerned" about inferring the ethnicity of service users through their names – adding that she herself is half Ukrainian.

Peter Latchford, chief executive of equalities consultants Black Radley and vice chair of the Community Development Foundation, says that the objective to improve the numbers of people from ethnic minority groups at senior management level is laudable, but warns against "analysis from the outside".

"It can be dangerous to categorise people using external, quasi-objective means, however – if they choose not to tell us how they see themselves then what right do we have to impose a category upon them?

"Nevertheless it's always useful for public organisations to have a sense of the ethnicity and diversity of their catchment areas in order to frame their services, so while I suspect there may be some problems doing it according to names, if the primary objective is to ensure we have a balanced, representative and diverse mix of people at all levels of an organisation then I think this is a positive move."

Networked in and obtaining 'more for less'

Fri, 21 May 2010 09:25:00 GMT

With spending cuts about to be announced the quest for efficiency will be paramount, that's why 'always on' technology could be the answer for councils to improve the delivery of their services

As a clearer picture emerges of what the political landscape will look like over the next couple of years, one certainty is that it's going to be a tough climate for the UK public sector with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats seeing it as a route to slash the countries deficit and demonstrate their commitment to getting the UK's economy back on track.

With everyone promising to deliver more efficient services, and all heralding the benefits of online citizen access as a way to standardise availability of services, the one other certainty in these still uncertain times is that the strain of this 'more for less' approach will fall on IT departments to turn this efficiency utopia into something more than political hot air.

The big question of course is how?

Many public sector organisations are already doing more with less. The thoughtful use of technology can make the difference between a complete IT overhaul and evolutionary approach to achieving the cost savings and efficiency goals by which citizens will judge the new government's success or otherwise to deliver on its manifesto objectives.

'Always on', access communications

One such example is Cambridgeshire county council. In a bid to take advantage of the technologies available today that improve business agility, speed up service delivery and change the way employees work to make services more cost effective and more accessible, Cambridgeshire county council is transforming its working environment by providing its employees with fast, simple, 'always on', access communications to improve the delivery of services to a population of more than 560,000.

Through Unified Communications the council has built a converged Internet Protocol (IP) network in a three year phased project that started in 2007. The solution has allowed the council to achieve a true business transformation, helping meet its objective to develop an empowered and responsive workforce, while delivering more than £1.2m savings over a two year period.

The project has enabled the council to execute their 'WorkWise' programme, an initiative specifically designed to reduce operating costs, improve council efficiency and attract employees from a wider, rural area. Since completion, the project now provides 5,000 government employees with a platform to effectively communicate, share and interact together from anywhere at any time. The county's employees can now also partake in new forms of flexible working and significantly improve the quality of public services offered.

Avoiding duplication

This technology allows employees to 'hotdesk', and work from different locations, saving the council money by reducing unproductive office space and avoiding duplication of effort by allowing employees to save time and effort in simple yet effective ways such as answering voice messages and email from one inbox, which makes response times shorter overall.

Delivering more with less is always a challenge, but the technology to help extend functionality and improve efficiency so pounds go further is already here.

Many councils such as Cambridgeshire, are already taking advantage of this, with great effect and others are sure to follow suit as the pressure for efficiency mounts. Turning political hot air into genuine efficiency gains in this way may not be the political hot potato it might initially seem. The big question now of course, is whether the current cabinet will be around long enough to reap the rewards!

Lee Shorten, managing director UK and Ireland, Avaya

Power to the people, through e-petitions

Thu, 20 May 2010 09:38:03 GMT

As the new coalition government promises more power to the people, the obvious route is online - so why have e-petitions not had an impact up until now?

Say "e-petitions" and most people think of Number10.gov.uk, where petitions range from the popular "rethink plans to scrap [...] childcare vouchers" – nearly 94,000 votes) to the obscure ("introduce a £15 note to UK currency" – one vote so far).

Yet, with nearly 5,000 petitions currently open on the site, only a few are likely to eventually be debated in Parliament.

It's therefore unsurprising that e-petitions haven't proved to be a runaway success. But the local democracy economic development and construction bill may change things.

Local authorities need to start considering the options now and put in place an online solution to respond to views of residents and local businesses, ahead of the bill's December 2010 deadline.

Add to this David Cameron's commitment to allow members of the public who secure a million e-signatures to introduce a bill and sanction a debate on any petition that secures 100,000 signatures, and it becomes a more urgent proposition.

Cost of public consultations

It's tempting to view e-petitions as yet another central government box-ticking exercise, but the wider potential benefits of implementing an e-petitions solution are impressive. After all, the cost of a public consultation can be up to £90,000; gathering opinion and responding to petitions online could cut this cost dramatically. It will help many local authorities to think of their residents as customers and put processes in place to encourage debate. Having online petitions at a local level will be vital for local authorities to gain support and trust, as well as better insight into public opinion.

However, if an e-petitions facility is to be a success, it needs to made accessible to all. Few local governments currently offer the kind of website that their customers want. Local governments continue to work silo fashion, with different services run by completely separate departments. Their websites tend to be process-specific, so citizens have to log onto different areas to check council tax, bin collections or planning applications.

What is required is a one-stop-shop so that each individual can treat their local authority website as a single window through which to access all services relevant to them. That remains a work-in-progress for many councils, but some are making headway and the ones making that progress stand to gain the most from e-petitions.

Cloud-based solutions

Choosing the right technology will also be crucial in making e-petitions a success. It must be easy to use to encourage residents and local businesses people to debate issues and interact with the council. Cloud-based solutions should create economies of scale to reduce set-up costs, and allow systems to be easily scaled up in line with demand, in a secure and stable environment.
If rolled out correctly, an e-petitions system could help create more community engagement and literally bring power to the people at a more granular level than ever before.

But in order for it to work, it needs to be done with the bigger picture in mind and not just seen as another tick in the online box. Providing that single window into the world of local government, through which citizens can debate and interact on local issues as well as access services, will be a key factor in the future take-up of online services.

Brett Husbands is chief executive at Firmstep

Guardian launches this year's Public Services Awards

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:15:24 GMT

Popular and prestigious awards that recognise all those working in public services is launched today by the Guardian's public services editor

The Guardian Public Services Awards, in partnership with Hays Specialist Recruitment, launches today.

Now in their seventh year, the awards are the leading celebration of excellence among organisations commissioning or providing services, showcasing innovation and best practice across Whitehall, local government, the NHS and beyond.

David Brindle, the Guardian's Public Services editor, said: "With a new government in place and spending cutbacks at the top of its agenda, never before has it been so important to celebrate and honour the extraordinary contribution that those who deliver our public services make day in, day out.

"Last year's winning projects included an astonishingly popular free leisure services programme in Birmingham, an innovative housing scheme in Derby for women victims of domestic violence who also have mental health or addiction problems, and a hugely successful travel training initiative for young people in Gloucestershire with physical and learning disabilities.

"The public can get involved with the awards by encouraging friends and family working in the public services to enter the team categories. They can also nominate - and later vote - for a special award, Public Servant of the Year, on our website."

The awards fall into three main categories. Service Delivery comprises: Children & young people, Complex needs, Carers, families & communities, Care of older people, Housing & regeneration, and Transport & mobility. Innovation and Progress includes: Sustainability, Transformation, Customer service, Partnership working, Diversity & equality, and the new Skills development award. The Special Awards are: the Citizenship & volunteering award, the Guardian Public Servant of the Year award and the overall winner.

The closing date for applications is 16 July 2010. The winners will be announced on 23 November 2010 at an awards ceremony in central London and will feature in an awards supplement distributed in the Guardian on 24 November 2010.

More information and details on how to apply click here

Social Networking in the Workplace: Hero or Villain?

Mon, 17 May 2010 12:18:00 GMT

With the public sector finding it hard to attract a younger workforce, would it help if organisations allowed more liberal access to the internet especially for the Gen Ys who have grown up with information at their fingertips?

The age profile of the public sector workforce is a cause for concern. The Office for National Statistics reveals that 74% of public sector workers are aged over 35, compared with 62% for the private sector.

Attracting and engaging the right young employees is a tough job. It requires an in depth understanding of who they are, what makes them tick and how to ensure they are maximizing their potential at work.

According to a Socitm report of public sector employees, 90% of respondents revealed some level of restrictions were in place to prevent employees accessing social media in the workplace, and 67% confirming a total ban on its use. The main reason for the ban is concern over reduced employee productivity. What does this mean for Generation Y, the 15-30 year olds entering our workforce in the age of social media?

Gen Y have grown up in a world where maths homework is done online from a laptop, not hand written in a square papered book. Their world of information is online. They like having lots of information on hand and picking through what they think is important. From Decode's research we know that most young people connect online with people they already know face to face.

By taking away the tools our employees use to communicate, are we actually reducing productivity?

At a recent Decode dialogue on the subject, a participant mentioned that social networking sites are the equivalent of the coffee machine where people gather to interact. It would have been interesting to ask those public sector workers referenced above whether personal calls are still allowed. What about cigarette breaks? Most of Gen Y don't smoke – does this mean they get less of a break time to rest their minds and be social?

Building brand reputation

Recruitment managers tell us that they increasingly use social media to find good hires. Its efficient, productive, and helps them get to know people. Building their human networks allows for more authentic communication and incentivises employees to help find new recruits. Russell Herder at Ethos Business Law found that 8 out of 10 managers believe social media can enhance relationships with customers and build brand reputation. Managers feel such networking can be valuable in recruitment, as a customer service tool and can be used to enhance employee morale.

There are countless examples on the internet showing the great things that can be done when public service organisations use social media to improve service delivery or communication with the public. Public sector organisations seem to understand the value in using these tools externally, but also seem reluctant to encourage their use within the building.

The Wasting Time at Work survey from survey.com says that employees with unrestricted social networking access lose about 2 hours of work time per day. But social media use by employees also yields a 9% productivity boost. Surfing networks at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels. If social media in the workplace is a villain, it's a false villain, and hiding underneath it are age-old work culture issues such as boredom and lack of engagement.

Although Gen Y are digital natives and know how to use the technology at hand, they are also a typical young generation in that they are rebellious, reckless and naïve. Some, and I really mean a small minority, do stupid irresponsible things that would freak out most CIOs and most of their peers too. So, assuming we can treat social networking like the modern workplace's coffee break, how can we best use these tools?

1. Train the baby and keep the bathwater: train employees on the good and evil of social networks in the workplace. This reduces risk somewhat and informs employees so that the small minority thinks twice before doing something silly
2. Have strict policies about company information use on social networks
3. Open up the good in social networks to all employees. Facebook is not the only social media site. Blocking one will lead to the use of another. Just ask the music industry
4. Re-evaluate every year

Zohra Khaku is a strategist at consultancy Decode. decode.net

How can charities prove their worth?

Wed, 12 May 2010 09:49:09 GMT

Social return on investment (SROI) is a hot topic right now - but many charities and funders do not know what it is, or how best to use it

If you've been to any third sector conferences recently, you've probably heard the term social return on investment (SROI), or been told that an organisation provides £3 of value for every £1 put in.

In fact, SROI is probably the thing charities ask me about the most. The latest inquiry was from a charity that works to build the self-confidence of women suffering from domestic violence. In the past they have struggled to demonstrate the impact of what they do to funders and they hope that SROI is the solution.

SROI is an approach to measuring the social value of an organisation's work from the perspective of those they help, their stakeholders. In an ideal world, SROI should be the perfect option for the domestic violence charity. It fits with the ethos of charities, being user-led and still gives you an impressive number to dazzle funders with – the best of all worlds you'd think.

But a lot of charities aren't aware of how much effort is needed to do an SROI well. Worse, it is those very charities that are struggling to demonstrate their impact now that will have the hardest job. Why? Because many charities simply aren't collecting enough data to produce an SROI.

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) discusses this issue in the position paper on SROI we have just published. In it we argue that many SROIs that have been done using poor quality data have done more harm than good. Extremely high returns and lack of consistency around how financial proxies are used have made funders and charities sceptical about the value of SROI.

Lack of investment in measurement approaches in the sector

Done properly, SROI can help a charity to develop a measurement system rooted in what your stakeholders (not just your biggest funder) think is important. But SROI doesn't tell you how to measure your outcomes (this is not a criticism – it isn't meant to). The lack of investment in measurement approaches in the sector, most particularly for soft outcomes, such as better family relationships means that many charities simply aren't ready to take on a full SROI analysis and do it well.

For organisations like the domestic violence charity, which doesn't have the resources to commit to developing a measurement system straight away, a complete SROI is probably not the answer. But they can still pick out elements of the framework that work for them. For example, consulting stakeholders to map out your most important outcomes and deciding what needs to be measured.

Once a charity knows what its results will look like, they're in a much better position to see whether their results are more effectively communicated in terms of social value (£3 of value for every £1 put in) or by comparing outcomes to costs (30 victims of domestic abuse made safe for £50,000).

NPC believes that charities should demonstrate the impact of what they do. SROI is one way of approaching the problem but, too often, it is tripped up by a lack of data on results, a problem that permeates the sector. And if charities don't collect useful data in the first place, then the full benefits that SROI can bring will always be out of their reach.

Lucy Heady is head of measurement at New Philanthropy Capital. She is presenting NPC's Social Return on Investment position paper to a meeting of the Intelligent Funding Forum (a forum for UK funders to share learning and collaborate) today

A time of change: social and political

Mon, 10 May 2010 10:57:40 GMT

As the political landscape shifts before voters' eyes, it is clear that the country is ready for change - and social enterprise is one way of delivering something new and exciting

Having stayed up all night on Thursday to watch events unfold, twittering and blogging for Britain, I was rewarded by a result that feels absolutely right.

As the power struggle continues the electorate has spoken. Seat by seat, voters carefully picked through the spin and returned, for the most part, those whose offer rang true. I cheered as Brighton gave us our first Green MP, Caroline Lucas. She's just one woman, but when numbers are tight, her voice will be loud.

My MP is now Zac Goldsmith, who promises us green conservatism. Go on then Zac, show us how it's done, and while you're about it, talk to our local parent consortia, Social Enterprise London member Parent Promoted Foundation, which is trying to sort out schooling in Sheen.

Pundits tell us that democracy has been lost in this process. Certainly the debacle many experienced trying to cast their vote was a travesty, but are the results really so bad? I happen to think that they are full of glittering potential. The leaders spent the campaign telling us we would have to take our medicine for a crisis that remember, was not of our making. On Friday morning they led by example, and took theirs. I think it was cod liver oil all round.

Like elephants, the electorate remembered. Those who had got their hands caught in the cookie jar, or who had been a bit too "cheeky" were given an opportunity to spend more time with their families.

It turns out no one was keen on the promise of cuts when the lowest paid always end up the biggest losers. Those candidates who worked hard at local level on platforms of environmental sustainability and social justice met with greater success than ever before. For the social enterprise movement, which is founded on these things, this felt like change.

A powerful role to play

The 2,100 social enterprises I represent deliver social change through business. Our message is simple; you can do a lot of good by demanding social action with a business model that stacks up. As John Charles, chief executive of Catering2Order, a Lewisham-based corporate catering social enterprise that employs blind and visually impaired people, said to me on Friday morning: "Social enterprise delivers something new and exciting. This result shows that Britain is ready for change and I believe social enterprise will have a powerful role to play."

Getting to grips with economic recovery and improved public services through community engagement is our unique proposition. Sophie Tranchell, chief executive of Divine Chocolate, like me was optimistic. She says the parties are aware that in tackling our financial crisis social enterprise is part of the solution.

The principles of mutual ownership and community-led enterprise, fair investment and true sustainability are now part of conversations everyone is having. When I met Philip Blond, the so-called red Tory last week, we were certainly on the same page.

At this election we reminded politicians that franchise is a social contract. We want change and we want what is fair.

Allison Ogden-Newton is the chief executive of Social Enterprise London