Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector Contribution to the local economy.

VAC and other infrastructure partners in Coventry and Warwickshire have been undertaking work to ensure that the role of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector is recognized within the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The aim of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership is to grow our economy, create jobs and grow wealth in the sub-region. This is an evolving partnership which comprises a board and various theme groups formed to work together more effectively to resolve common issues or capitalise on opportunities.

More information on the LEP can be found at http://www.cwlep.com/

A paper has been produced by CWIC (Coventry and Warwickshire Infrastructure Consortium) to illustrate VCSE activity under the key LEP themes.

Action Points for organisations facing funding loss.
We have started to hear that when organisations are informed that they no longer have any funding they are facing difficulty in understanding how to move ahead. We have put together a list of suggested action points you should follow,

1. Compact
If the funder is a local organisation such as the City Council or Primary Care Trust, Coventry's Compact applies. The codes of practice can be downloaded at www.vacoventry.org.uk/compact. The following items are particularly relevant to cuts:

Unacceptable practice:

• Giving less than three months' notice that funding (that can be renewed or extended) is not going to be renewed or extended (or is going to be substantially reduced).
• Arbitrary, non-negotiated cutting of funding whilst expecting the same level of outputs to be achieved.
• Placing ALL the risk upon the provider.

Good practice:

• When passing on reductions in funding, recognize that actual services may have to be reduced or re-negotiated as a result.
• When dealing with a cut to an overall funding programme (e.g. by central government), weigh up the impact on different organisations and explain the circumstances.
• Recognise that notice periods / exit costs for staff and premises are sometimes greater than a three month notice period on a contract - where possible give six months notice if funding is not going to be renewed or will be substantially reduced.
  When decommissioning a service, some commissioners have worked closely within Coventry's Compact, for example, giving six months' notice and finding ways to share risk such as providing other forms of transitional support. If you believe the actions of a funder have breached Compact, contact Rob Allison at VAC for initial advice. The Compact Conflict Resolution Procedure (downloadable from www.vacoventry.org.uk/compact) gives the process for challenging a breach of Compact.

2. The Public Law Project
Public agencies have to take decisions compliant with public law. This places obligations upon them around, for example, consultation and undertaking equality impact assessments (to assess the impact of a decision on different sections of the population, e.g. women), and failure to do so can lead to legal challenge. For example, a proposed cut to a pan-London grants programme was successfully challenged in court using the principles of public law.
The Public Law Project is a registered charity that will provide telephone advice to voluntary and community groups on public law matters, such as funding decisions. For more information, visit: http://www.publiclawproject.org.uk/howtogetadvice.html

3. Prepare your case and lobby
Given the scale of the cuts across the public sector and competing demands, lobbying needs to be based on credible evidence, in particular the impact on your service users, and the potential cost to other services further down the line of the knock-on effect of a cut to your service. There will be further rounds of cuts to come, year on year. Developing relationships with key people (including councillors) ahead of a funding crisis is important, such as councillors for the ward where you are based, or a councillor interested in your service area.
See also the Third Sector Assembly's "Top 10 Tips for Influence - People who make things happen", developed from the workshop on 17 February.

4. Review support websites

• National Association for Voluntary and Community Action NAVCA
• National Council for Voluntary Organisations NCVO
• Third Sector Daily TSD
  

Tips on how reps achieve influence
At an event in February 2011 a group of representatives from the third sector spent an informal session discussing their experiences with regards to approaches to influencing. This was a valuable discussion which raised a number of issues. The key points have been condensed, as follows;

Top 10 Tips for Influence - "People who make things happen"
1. Be clear about what you want to achieve and why, and what's your plan for doing so.
2. Understand who makes the decisions and how to influence them - who are the key people responsible for decision making , and who else influences those people and that process?
3. Relationship building is key - meet with people one to one to understand their perspective and which angle they are coming from, so that you establish common ground with your issues.
4. Always act with integrity and credibility, and deliver on your promises.
5. Prove your usefulness - spend time outside of your office, get involved with initiatives and organisations relevant to your cause locally, spend time understanding how issues and initiatives interconnect.
6. Demonstrate that you can think strategically, i.e. what is best for the city as a whole, not just your organisation's interests or agenda.
7. Choose your moments to campaign - be engaged before a key decision is going to be made and understand when too much campaigning can begin to become counter-productive.
8. Know your key statistics, present your issue positively, and use real stories of people's actual experience of issues and services.
9. Understand the channels of communication - private meetings and conversations generally work better than speeches in large meetings.
10. Engage with key people in ways that might sway their interest in your organisation, and involve them in events to build their awareness and interest in what your organisation does.

Local Democracy
VAC recently facilitated two sessions titled "The Insiders Guide to the council", which were delivered by Peter Barnett, Scrutiny Coordinator (community services directorate) for Coventry City Council. Issues addressed included:

• What is the Council?
• What is the Cabinet and what are its decision making processes?
• What is the role of Cabinet members?
• Scrutiny and the work of scrutiny boards
• What are Ward forums / Ward councillors?
• How does the council make policy?
• Partnership working
• Making representations

The audience comprised of some people who had no knowledge about the council and those who were armed with specific knowledge and focused questions. Feedback from those who attended provided the following conclusions;

100% of the attendees commented that their knowledge of the council had in fact increased considerably as a result of attending this session
69% of the attendees will proactively seek more engagement with the council, whether it be by contacting council officers through the Coventry City Council website or submitting petitions.

One very interesting outcome of this session was the opinion that more people should understand how citizens of this city have a voice to engage with the Council on issues that impact them, and all of the attendees will be taking their knowledge and disseminating their learning amongst their own networks.