Working Together Better - outlines of the successes and challenges around creating a ‘thriving third sector' and working in partnership between the Voluntary and Community Sector and the Council in Brighton and Hove.

1. Name of Organisations involved

Brighton and Hove Community and Voluntary Sector Forum (CVSF) & Brighton and Hove City Council.

2. Describe the work

As part of the National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO), Brighton and Hove CVSF have provided a case study on how their partnership works best meets NI4 and NI7 targets.  

3. Tell us what the factors are that make the partnership work?

• Recognition and understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of the different sectors and a collective vision for working together on shared priorities. The third sector has been involved in influencing priority setting in the city's 2008 -11 Local Area Agreement and is engaged at various stages of service development, design and delivery. The Compact has also just been refreshed and is being republished.
• Partnership is supported by strong leadership and representation of the third sector facilitated by CVSF (www.cvsectorforum.org.uk) and having political and senior officer champions within the local public sector who help raise awareness of the sector's profile and promote good practice in partnership working. 
• General Support is co-coordinated by members of the ChangeUp Consortium which has also helped develop the sector's capacity in recent years (www.supportforgroups.org.uk).
• Financial support provided by £1.5m pa in a programme of discretionary grant funding to support small, medium and large voluntary and community organisations in the city by Brighton and Hove City Council. 
• Commissioning and procurement framework developed in response to research that has identified that Brighton and Hove City Council alone procures over £25m in contracts from the sector. 
• An implementation plan is rolling out the Framework across partner organisations in the LSP, supported by a lead officer in the Local Authority, cross-sector task and finish groups and overseen by the Stronger Communities Partnership (SCP).
• Social Enterprise support strategy has been developed in addition to an Asset Transfer Strategy.  Neighbourhood communities supported through informal and formal training, advice and support to develop groups and to access resources and funds to maximise potential for sustainability.

4. Describe some examples of the way in which the third sector is engaged and influences decision making?

CVSF facilitates networking and representation of the third sector in Brighton and Hove, with 68 elected representatives of the third sector currently active in 33 citywide partnership structures. CVSF provides a programme of activities to support this representation, including:

• Gathering the views and experiences of the third sector, reaching out to involve under-represented groups, undertaking consultation activities and producing position statements.
• Providing learning and development opportunities to develop the skills knowledge and experience of representatives to influence decision-making.
• Maintaining a dialogue between sectors around policy, strategies, plans and partnership working.
• Funding third sector organisations to be involved in representation.
• In addition to this, a range of other representative forums exist across the city providing opportunities for input and influence to policy making. The City Inclusion Partnership is co-ordinating statutory partners' approach to co-ordinated engagement around equalities issues in particular. Local Authority Officers in the Communities Team are leading on co-ordinated neighbourhood initiatives and targeted service interventions.

• Brighton and Hove's Community Engagement Framework - developed by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) sets cross-sector standards for partners around engaging with the community, recognising the role the third sector plays in this.
• The Stronger Communities Partnership (jointly led with one of the wider family of partnerships in the LSP) facilitates organisations coming together to develop strategies and co-ordinate delivery plans around National Indicators 4, 6 and 7 in the city's Local Area Agreement. This Partnership approach has levered in around £500,000 additional resource for new activities in 2008/9.
• Taking Account: an economic and social audit of the third sector was undertaken in partnership with Brighton University in 2008 and is being updated this year to monitor the impact of the recession (www.cvsectorforum.org.uk/takingaccount) - this provides a strong evidence base for developing shared understanding around the sector's role, impact and cross-sector commitment to implementing recommendations to maximise the sector's potential.

  5. What are some of the challenges ahead?

• Developing partnership working is a long-term activity and the third sector tends to offer a more bottom-up approach to service development and delivery, which is user-led/informed. If statutory sector processes and mechanisms remain top-down there will be inevitable tension around what role service users have to play in shaping service provision and the third sector's expertise in this field will be under-valued.
• Funding and commissioning of the third sector has changed in recent years in a context of tighter budgets and reduced public spending. Partners across sectors require support and guidance around good practice.
• Monitoring the impact of the recession on the third sector and supporting it to be resilient is a key focus for all partners. And overall, maintaining a strong evidence base of local third sector impact is imperative. 
• Demonstrating the sector's role in community engagement and service provision will strengthen the sector's status as an equal partner and its position within the new Comprehensive Area Assessment performance framework.
• the inevitable reduction in public spending as a result of the recession may result in the local authority scaling back support.

  6. And some of the opportunities?

• The LAA Delivery Plan includes development of a citywide third sector commissioning framework.
• A ‘Better Procurement' sub-group of the ChangeUp Consortium is leading development work, helping the sector become more contract ready and developing dialogue with commissioners and funders across the public sector.
• Modeling good practice case studies and providing learning and development support will help build strong and reciprocal relationships.
• Finally, It is hoped that by focusing on the development of policies and strategies that will encourage better relationships between the sectors (such as a plans for the development of a common framework for commissioning and strategy for third sector growth, and the implementation of the Community Engagement Framework), activity will be ‘built in' and risks will be minimised.

7.  Describe what has changed as a result of this work

Key priorities for Brighton and Hove City Council in going forward will be to support internal council departments to better understand the role of the third sector; support citizenship and promotion of local democracy; to improve policy and practice around working with, and commissioning & procuring from, the sector; and to embed the new Brighton and Hove Community Engagement Framework. 

8. Tell us what you have learnt from the experience

Mutual recognition and respect for each sector's different operational contexts and constraints is essential. There is a need to ensure that a sensible balance can be struck between grants and contracts to ensure that we can continue to play to the strengths of the sector in terms of supporting independent endeavor that will explore new ways of working and that will add value. 

9. What advice would you give other parnerships of this nature?

The third sector is comprised of independent groups that are diverse and complex. Not everyone will want to engage in statutory agendas or be involved in public service delivery - the third sector has a legitimate role to play in advocacy and campaigning.  The public sector equally has its own drivers and policy framework which it is important that third sector colleagues understand.

It is important that the impacts and benefits of empowerment can be explained and communicated in a way that will be understood by those for whom this field of work is unfamiliar, if ongoing support and buy-in is to be maintained.

10. Contact person for more information

Sally Hiscock - Chief Executive
Brighton and Hove Community and Voluntary Sector Forum
T: 01273 234044

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