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Defra study gauges value of third sector service delivery

Finance | Tania Mason | 14 Mar 2008

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs is funding research to determine whether third sector provision of public services delivers better value than services provided by the private sector.

The research is being carried out by sustainable development consultancy Resources for Change and aims to quantify the extra financial value added when third sector organisations undertake waste management. The results will inform Defra policy.

It is believed to be the first time a Whitehall department has sought to measure the difference between third sector and commercial sector service delivery, though the Office of the Third Sector said similar research has been undertaken in the past by the National Consumer Council and the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

Outlining the purpose of the study, Resources for Change said it was investigating the hypothesis that third sector organisations are adding value over and above that created through private contracts.

It said: “Neither the third sector nor the private sector has the monopoly on creating added value. It is important to understand when added benefits lead to improving waste management or waste reduction or provide some other non-waste benefit. This timely research will help unravel the complex web of who benefits from what, and how.”

The research will examine the peripheral benefits as well as the direct benefits of third sector service provision, such as community wellbeing and cohesion, poverty alleviation, avoided costs to social services, and avoided crime.

Resources for Change is inviting private and third sector waste management organisations and local public service commissioners to attend workshops in London on 5 December and Manchester on 12 December, “so we can provide a fair account of what is really happening behind the piles of cans, paper, furniture and glass”.

The study is endorsed by the Community Composting Network, Community Recycling Network UK and the Furniture Re-use Network. They are represented on the study’s steering committee along with the Office of the Third Sector, the Environmental Services Association and the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee.

According to the consultancy, “if the third sector is found to deliver additional benefits, then a more robust case can be made for inclusion of the third sector in waste management contracts”.

NCVO researcher Oliver Reichardt said he thought government efforts to measure the efficacy of third sector service delivery were increasing. He cited the three-year, £2.5m Treasury-funded Quality Measurement Framework project which is seeking to develop methodology to assess the performance of public services in a way that the public, private and third sectors can be directly compared against each other.

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