Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner

Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Commissioning specialist victim support services September 2014

Overview Local commissioning 2015/16 • Approx. £2,467,000 Victims’ Grants (to cover full costs of the non specialist referral services, RJ and local specialist services) • Provision will be through contracts in the six priority themes, and contracts will not necessarily be awarded all at the same time • Specifications are expected from November

Six priority themes • Practical and emotional support for victims of sexual assault • Practical and emotional support for victims of domestic violence • Practical and emotional support for children and young victims of crime • Psychological counselling for victims in the priority categories and/or victims who have been unable to recover from the impact of the crime • Third party reporting mechanism for victims of hate crime • Victim-centred restorative justice

Guiding principles • Thames Valley coverage, needs-led • Single contract/ leader provider or consortia • Quality and consistency of services (clear reporting; evidence of impact) • Enhancing the capacity of local VCSE providers - to provide services where this is in the best interests of victims

Collaboration andsocial value

Social Value • Duty on public bodies to consider social value ahead of a procurement (Social Value Act 2012) • Must consider: • how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area, and • how, in conducting the process of procurement, it might act to secure that improvement

Social value • Social value is a way of thinking about how scarce resources are allocated and used. It involves looking beyond the price of each individual contract and looking at what the collective benefit to a community is when a public body chooses to award a contract • Social value asks the question: ‘If £1 is spent on the delivery of services, can that same £1 be used, to also produce a wider benefit to the community?

Social value - discussion How can social value be demonstrated by bidders? • Voluntary & Community organisations are part of local communities • Local knowledge, networks and connections including for referrals and support • Social and local commitment, including through volunteers or involvement as victims • Trust built through local relationships • As charities with ‘no shareholders’ more of the funding can be spent on victims

Collaboration • Coverage of whole area by connecting local groups which provide similar services • Integration of expertise by connecting general providers with specialists • Sharing full service coverage to avoid wasteful competition

The collaboration continuum • Joint working (delivery and/or back office) • 2 or more charities/organisations • Shared decision making and management Joint committee or info sharing Joint management and delivery of a project Joint venture company Full merger

Collaboration - discussion • Opportunity – what voluntary & community organisations bring to the table in partnership • Range of strategic connections • New skills and expertise; sharing ideas • A broad referral base - Pathways: identification; referral in; referral out; continuous support

Collaboration - discussion • Challenges – what stands in the way of voluntary & community organisation partnerships? • Capacity of smaller, niche organisations by specialism or locality (smaller community groups) • Size of Thames Valley goes beyond individual local authority boundaries where organisations operate • The priority themes cover elements but not all of the overall service; cross local authority boundary funding is not in place for other services • Other providers and organisations are not known, for such a large geographical area • Risk of smaller organisations being discouraged or lost as a stand-alone provider

Collaboration - lead providers • Understanding and connecting to a wider network of providers and community organisations, for pathways and needs- led support (‘egg white’)

Guiding principles • Collaboration must be in the interests of your beneficiaries • Access to new resources, relationships or networks, information • Better quality and coordination of services • Cost savings and efficiencies • Greater influence on policy; strength together • Area of benefit (can work outside but such work must produce a benefit for your beneficiaries)

Critical issues 1 • What area does your organisation cover? • Have you developed links with other organisations which complete the coverage? • Who will lead? • What are the arrangements between the partners/consortium members? (MoU; partnership agreement; joint venture company…) • What are the financial arrangements?

Critical issues 2 • What expertise does your organisation have? • Have you developed links with other organisations which provide full expertise? • Who will lead? • What are the arrangements between the partners/consortium members? (MoU; partnership agreement; joint venture company…) • What are the financial arrangements?

Critical issues 3 • You could provide full VS services across the whole TVPCC area • Are you willing to share or do you want to compete for the whole pie? • Who will you share with? (and using what arrangements?) • How will sharing the work contribute to building social value? (Evidence)

Critical issues - all • Due diligence on partners • What’s in the agreement • Risks: complex decision making; additional costs; reputation; liabilities • Management – who has power to do what? • Accountability, control and sanctions • Capacity • Costs of taking lead role/delivery role

Legal agreement • Essential to have a clear agreement between the consortium members reflecting the way you have decided to work • Possible to develop “boiler plate” agreement • Not very expensive… • Potential risks of not having a proper agreement are considerable

TVPCC procurement • 2015/16 will be contracts for services • Transparent procedures; fair competition for all suppliers; open to all sectors of the community • Most appropriate and cost effective (taking account of whole life costing) • Comply with TVPCC financial and Diversity and Disability regulations; and Quality of Service Commitment • Comply with wider EU and government policy on procurement

CONCLUSIONS ANDNEXT STEPS

Timeframe First wave Invitation To Tender (ITT) Nov 2014: • RJ, ISVA, Young People’s Services - Open procedure, 3 years +1 +1 • OJEU process – 40 day ITT, evaluation, clarification, award, 10 day standstill. • Evaluation (a) Cost 40% (b) Deliverables 60% Deliverables scored 0 to 10, where: • 10 (meets requirement in full) • 6 (meets most of the requirement but with at least 1 significant concern) • 2 (provides little of the requirement)

Next steps • Survey and directory, to increase awareness about the range of organisations across the Thames Valley providing support services to victims • To be compiled by Reading Voluntary Action with Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action, Community Impact Bucks and Community Action Milton Keynes • Engagement workshops, 13 and 16 October • Draft service specifications and procurement • Bid-writing workshop, 5 November • Effective tendering and proposals

For further information • http://www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/Partnership/Victims-Services.aspx Other inquiries • jhopkins@citadelcommunications.co.uk

Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner