Last month, the average length of time people spent reading my five minute blog post was exactly four minutes. I’m going to chalk this up as further evidence of voluntary sector efficiency.
To help you save more time, here are the latest updates from NCVO policy team for February.
Welfare is hitting the headlines
With church leaders criticising the sanctions regime and leading charities writing to the Treasury about its forthcoming cap on overall welfare spending, it’s been a busy month for welfare news. NCVO has launched our own national Call for Evidence – asking charities to tell us about their beneficiaries’ experiences and whether they’ve had to adapt their services. We’ll be collating evidence from the sector over the coming months and publish our final report in Spring 2015.
What will the Lobbying Act mean for you?
Since the Lobbying Act passed last month, the next step is for the Electoral Commission to draw up guidance. We’ve met with them and also held a joint seminar about the Lobbying Act for our members – you can find out more from Elizabeth’s blog which includes all the presentations.
Why government needs to do more on procurement and commissioning now
Giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, I argued that government could do much more to improve commissioning and that charities are often best placed to understand people’s needs and design more holistic and responsive services. The Committee seemed positive and we’re hopeful that their final recommendations will reflect these priorities. We are also meeting with Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, today to discuss procurement reforms – ahead of a formal consultation due out from Cabinet Office next month.
Warming up for Budget 2014
Each year, the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies pre-empts the Budget with its own analysis of the key issues and choices facing the government. NCVO’s Andrew was blogging at the launch of the IFS Green Budget and says that the key point was that public spending cuts are only half way through, with the Chancellor planning deeper cuts to departmental budgets the other side of the 2015 general election.
Meanwhile, NCVO has written to the Treasury with other sector partners in advance of the Budget, arguing for more support for small charities. On Budget day itself – 19 March – you can follow all our live analysis on Twitter at #volsecbudget
Community Interest Company rules are due to change
The CIC regulator is minded to simplify the dividend and interest caps that apply to CICs. We’re holding a briefing session with the regulator on 4 March to help CICs understand these proposed changes. If you’re not able to make it, email Andrew.obrien@ncvo.org.uk who will be glad to update members after the event.
A very useful tool if you’re bidding for contracts
The Cabinet Office has published a unit costs list – helping to answer questions like, how much does an A&E visit or a homicide cost the state? For organisations that bid for public contracts, having unit cost info at your fingertips will be really helpful – particularly if your organisation can articulate the savings it generates for the public purse. The spreadsheet is easy to download in Excel – do take a look.
Big Lottery Fund is launching its strategic review
BLF will shortly be consulting the sector on its new strategic framework, which will run from 2015-2021. I’ll be attending a roundtable this week with their Chief Executive, so let me know any thoughts you have on what BLF does well, what it could do better in future and what its priorities should be. You can email me at charlotte.ravenscroft@ncvo.org.uk
>> UPDATE 26.2.14: BLF consultation now live: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/yourvoice <<
IPPR on the future of public services
Looking further ahead towards the election, the IPPR published its Relational State report earlier this month. The authors argue that the state is increasingly expected to address complex problems – from chronic ill health to long term unemployment – which will require fundamental changes to the current bureaucratic and market-based systems. They argue for greater decentralisation, pooling of budgets and co-design with citizens.
Recommended reading
The new IPPR report reminded me in parts of a six-year-old book that I’ve just read – John Seddon’s Systems Thinking in the Public Sector (2008). Seddon’s critique of life in the public sector has depressing moments: targets measuring the wrong things, referrals processes meaning that complex cases take longest to reach resolution, and IT that says no. But he balances this critique with the case for a fresh, systems-based approach: follow the flow of work, find out about the user experience, and invest in frontline staff rather than back office systems. Six years on and it still makes for highly relevant reading.
Un-recommended reading
Finally, for anyone who caught the IEA’s latest Sock Doctrine report which recommends slashing grants and gagging charities which deliver public contracts. They sent us a copy, so NCVO has written an open letter in response.
Charlotte Ravenscroft was NCVO’s head of policy and public services. Charlotte’s wrote about funding, public service delivery, and strengthening the evidence base for voluntary action. She has also worked at The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Education. 
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