Fitting the pieces together: role of VCS in delivering the RES

The final scrutiny report: Fitting the pieces together

The work for this report was carried out between November 2008 and March 2009. The report was published on 24 March 2009.

The main area of this inquiry was:

An examination of the relationship between One North East (ONE) and the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in implementing those elements of the regional economic strategy (RES) and the RES action plan addressing the social and economic inclusion agenda.

The specific questions addressed were:

• What support does ONE provide to the VCS in delivering key services?
• What are the key services provided by the VCS?
• To what extent does ONE develop capacity and skills in maximising income generation and other resources?
• How does ONE promote the role of the VCS in service delivery?
• How effective is cultural volunteering as a route to economic activity and participation?
• To what extent does ONE work with the VCS to address multiple disadvantage and (re)engagement with the labour market?
• Is there an effective partnership between ONE, NEIEP and the VCS to deliver skills enhancement in the VCS in the field of regional regeneration?
• What potential has ONE identified for asset-based development in the VCS within the context of wider regeneration initiatives?
• To what extent and how effectively does ONE promote business involvement in volunteering as part of the corporate responsibility agenda?

Recommendations

1. One North East should contribute to and support the work being undertaken by the Northern Rock Foundation and others to measure the size and scope of the voluntary and community sector in the North East, and so provide a clearer picture of the sector's value to the regional economy. As active participants in the project Steering Group, One North East are well placed to recognise the benefits accruing from this work.
2. One North East should work with regional and sub-regional level organisations such as VONNE, BECON and the Councils for Voluntary Service to improve their communications with local level VCS organisations, particularly those who are engaged directly in service delivery, to better explain their role in supporting the work of the sector through larger initiatives.
3. One North East should develop their internal communications and staff development to ensure that staff across the agency appreciate the potential for third sector organisations to contribute to region's agenda on regeneration, skills development and re-entry into labour markets.
4. Using the new opportunity being presented by the introduction of Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAAs), partnerships between the public, private and third sectors should be strengthened.
5. Building on the experience of several very successful social enterprises in the region (for example, Five Lamps, Acumen and DISC) One North East should develop support and funding strands for social enterprises to be administered at regional and sub-regional levels by social enterprises (or their representative organisations).
6. One North East's support for cultural volunteering programmes and the encouragement of firms to meet their corporate social responsibility agendas should be based on the needs of the VCS; the programmes should be demand-driven and not supply-driven, and should take full account of the costs to the VCS in servicing volunteer placements.
7. The VCS together with BENE and One North East should develop a skills awareness programme that will enable all partners to gain a mutual understanding of the legal and policy imperatives that apply to the different sectors when considering the tendering, procurement and award stages of the contracting process. There is scope for such a programme to be delivered at regional, sub-regional and local levels, and in developing the programme, attention should be paid to how the programme is delivered and by whom.

Download a copy of the report here.