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NCVO: charities still face 'significant barriers' to public service delivery

Governance | Kirsty Weakley | 16 Oct 2012

NCVO has published a report, with contributions from 13 other organisations, highlighting examples of good practice in public service delivery but warning that there are still ‘significant barriers’ to participation in the government’s open public services agenda.

The report Open Public Services: experiences from the voluntary sector uses a series of case studies to highlight examples of good practice but also finds that there are still barriers for voluntary sector organisations.

Three barriers highlighted by the report are new forms of finance, managing risk and ensuring quality.  

Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said: “One of the key strengths of the voluntary sector is our diversity and our ability to innovate.

“But it is crucial that bureaucracy does not hinder creativity and innovation in developing services for the people who need them. We need the government and local authorities to recognise the current barriers and restrictions to innovation from the voluntary sector and take practical steps to encourage greater engagement.”

The report makes several recommendations for central government, local authorities, the voluntary sector and potential social investors such making information and data more openly available and improving communication between agencies involved.

It pointed out that: “In most case studies, partnerships benefited from clear communication, the availability of timely information and a real focus on the needs of the users.”

NCVO also suggests that the government could offer grants to enable “the piloting of innovative ideas” and “new entrants into the public service market”.

Responding to NCVO's report, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Improving public service delivery has been a coalition priority since day one and we are determined to make it easier for charities and social enterprises to play a bigger role in this area. The measures we put have in place are already seeing results. The removal of bureaucratic pre-qualification questionnaires for the majority of procurements of less than £100k are improving procurement processes. We are piloting a Commissioning Academy to help  commissioners design and deliver better public services for less money and enable delivery by new models such as mutuals and social enterprises.

“We place a clear emphasis on social value and require commissioners to consider it early in commissioning process at the at the pre-procurement stage.  We have also recruited a Crown Representative for the VCSE sector to ensure that it has a voice in government procurement and sought to stimulate a social investment market to provide up-front capital to VCSE organisations through Big Society Capital and Social Investment Bonds.”

The 14 organisations that contributed case studies or analysis are:

• Age UK
• Baca Project
• British Red Cross
• CAF
• CFG
• Changemakers
• Clinks
• LVSC
• NCVO
• NCVYS
• Turning Point
• West Mercia Probation Trust
• Westminster City Council
• YSS  

Directory: Charities Aid Foundation | Turning Point | Age UK | British Red Cross | Charity Finance Group | National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Sir Stuart Etherington