If co-production is the way forward in an age of austerity – how can public sector, businesses and third sector organisations be asked to marshal their resources to their best effect?

A seminar organised by the Institute for Local Governance, Teesside University Darlington, Vicarage Road, Darlington, Friday 15 July 2016, 9.30 – 1.00

Co-production means different things to different people – but in essence it encompasses notions of shared responsibility and shared benefit for the outcomes of action. This seminar is about the way that organisations from different sectors can engage in co-production including: local authorities, government, the private sector, the voluntary and community sector and universities.

The seminar builds upon all the other seminars which have taken place in this series on topics including: approaches to asset transfer, the implications of demographic ageing, young people’s life transitions, the impact of inward business investment; deprivation and welfare in rural areas, supporting carers, volunteering and civic action, and preventative interventions. All of these seminars have included discussion of partnership working towards shared objectives – but do they work as well as they should?

Partnership is a ‘warm’ word, evoking notions of shared values, common goals and equal voices. But the realities of partnerships can be different – and especially so when values are only partly shared, goals are contested and there are inherent imbalances of power amongst partners. So this seminar provides an opportunity to debate the value of partnership, when it works well, and to get a better understanding of what can make partnerships go wrong.

While formal partnership is one way forward and can work well, we will also discuss the scope for less formal complementary relationships amongst organisations. But it will also be necessary to recognise that some organisations will continue to work on their own (but not necessarily around the edges of all the others) so ways need to be considered to help them to be ‘good neighbours’.

To make the event work well, we particularly encourage people to attend who have already been to previous seminars so that we can collectively debate issues on some common ground – and then, following the seminar, a brief ‘think piece’ will be published to round off the seminar season and provide a basis for future debates about policy and practice.

The seminar will chaired by Professor John Mawson, Director, Institute for Local Governance and speakers at the seminar will include:

• Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University: on the underlying meanings of partnership, complementarity and autonomous working.
• Seth Pearson, Director, One Darlington Partnership: on the configurations of partnership working in Local Strategic Partnerships in changing policy regimes.
• Rowena Sommerville, Director, Tees Valley Arts: on the building of shared objectives for a City of Culture bid in a complex multi-sector and multi-local authority context.
• Dr Dave Vanderhoven, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Sheffield University: on the role of universities in supporting the development of partnership and co-production initiatives in complex urban areas.

The seminar is free to attend, but places are limited and they tend to book up quickly, so please register your attendance via: Janet Atkinson, Institute for Local Governance, Durham University janet.atkinson@durham.ac.uk

The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the North East region’s Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting:- tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk or john.mawson@durham.ac.uk.

Powerpoint slides from the seminar can be found here:  ILG Seminar 15th July 2016 Darlington.

Tackling the challenges facing carers in Northern England in an environment of deepening austerity.

This week is national carers week.  Recently we’ve been holding discussions about the challenges facing carers with regional stakeholders to try to help tackle the problem that carers often come second place, economically, politically and emotionally to those in need of care.   We’ve been focusing, through seminars and discussions on the situation of a range of individual carers who give support to those in need, including neighbours and friends; young carers; older people providing care to spouses; people providing informal dementia care, amongst others. It must be recognised that such carers often achieve what they do with help from the many charities and community organisations which deliver support to carers.

Often such groups and organisations are funded by non-governmental sources, such as community foundations or big national foundations which have stepped in to give financial support where government does not. Other private sector or Third Sector organisations deliver professional care services on behalf of local authorities or health organisations – but we’re asking how well do these arrangements work for paid carers where the marginal costs of caring are continuously being eroded?

Arising from our work in this area, Professor Tony Chapman published a leader article in the Northern Echo on the topic this week which can be accessed here.

What scope is there to encourage or invest in preventative initiatives in an age of austerity?  ILG Seminar Series, Sunderland Glass Centre, held on Friday 20th May 

For many years, successive governments have considered how best to develop preventative measures to limit the cost of social problems further down the line through initiative such as place-based budgeting, public health initiatives, housing and homelessness interventions and so on.

Interventions can be costly in financial terms, but if the outcome of such initiatives is socially beneficial and economically viable in terms of future costs of service provision – then everyone wins. The problem is that preventative measures take time to show up clear benefits while national politicians can often be impatient for early results. So the importance of being able to explain potential benefits and provide early indicators of success remains important.

A further consideration, as public sector and third sector organisations face continued pressure on funding, is to ask what scope do they have to change the way they work individually, in partnership or in complementary ways in order to help different constituencies of individuals and communities to tackle the problems they face?

This seminar brought together policy makers, practitioners and academics from across a range of areas of work where preventative approaches have been established or are being trialled including homelessness, financial inclusion, mental health and wellbeing to debate these issues. Furthermore, the seminar addressed the issue of how local authorities can find out what local communities think the key issues and priorities are and then connect this intelligence with shared strategies to alleviate current or prevent future problems.

The seminar was opened by Councillor Celia Gofton, who holds the portfolio for Responsive Services and Customer Care at Sunderland City Council.  The seminar was chaired by Professor John Mawson, Director of the ILG and speakers will include:

• Stephen Bell OBE, Chief Executive, Changing Lives, on tackling the consequences of homelessness for young people.
• Charlotte Burnham, Head of Scrutiny and Area Arrangements, Sunderland City Council, on keeping an ear to the ground on local community needs and priorities.
• Jane Hartley, Chief Executive, VONNE on the voluntary sector tackling health issues with a case study of the Ways to Wellness social investment bond.
• Dr Stephen MacDonald, Sunderland University, on tackling the impact of hidden disabilities on young people’s life chances.
• Graeme Oram, Chief Executive, Five Lamps Organisation, on initiatives to improve financial literacy and inclusion.

The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the North East region’s Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting:- tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk or john.mawson@durham.ac.uk.

Presentations for each of the speakers can be found here: Charlotte Burnham[1]   Graeme Oram Presentation[1] Jane Hartley[1] Stephen Macdonald Stephen Bell

Growing the Civic Core:  How to get new people to commit to regularised voluntary social action in an age of austerity in North East England
A seminar organised by the Institute for Local Governance
Bewicks Seminar Room, Gateshead Civic Centre Friday 15 April 2016, 9.30 – 1.00

For many years, voluntary social action has been lauded by governments around the Western world. In the UK, the desire to help build sustainable communities by promoting volunteering resulted in much investment by successive Labour governments. In recent years much less government money has been made available to support volunteering. And yet, in these very different fiscal and policy environments, the ‘civic core’ remained at much the same size and continued to include the same kinds of people.

Growing the civic core demands that new people, who have not traditionally trodden the path towards regular voluntary social action, commit time to benefit their communities. This seminar asks, how can the public sector, voluntary sector and private sector contribute in complementary ways to cement people’s commitment to voluntary action.

While there is much less money around now for the local public sector to invest directly in the promotion of volunteering, this has not diminished policy makers’ enthusiasm for encouraging people to do so. Furthermore, with local authorities drawing back from service delivery in a number of areas such as libraries, leisure facilities and community centres, voluntary support can provide one means to fill gaps in provision.

In pursuing this approach there are several legal, institutional, cultural, political and financial issues which need to be addressed. Drawing on the experience of voluntary, private and public sector stakeholders, academic research and a series of case studies on innovative practice – the seminar will explore how to break down entry barriers to the civic core and consider the potential opportunities to strengthen commitment to voluntary social action in existing and new areas of community life.

Speakers at the seminar will include: John Craggs, Chief Executive, Gentoo;  Sarah Gorman, Project Director, Edbert’s House, Gateshead; Katie Hyson, Thought Leadership, Learning & Innovation Group, Barclays Bank; Julian Batson, Barclays Bank; Lindsay Murray, Service Director for Culture, Communities, Leisure and Volunteering, Gateshead Council. The seminar will be chaired by Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University.

The seminar is free to attend, but places are limited and they tend to book up quickly, so please register your attendance via: Janet Atkinson, Institute for Local Governance, Durham University janet.atkinson@durham.ac.uk.

The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the North East region’s Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting:- tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk or john.mawson@durham.ac.uk.

Presentations from the seminar can be downloaded here: John Craggs from Gentoo –  Growing the Civic CoreBarclays – Building the civic core Lindsay Murray Sarah Gorman Tony Chapman