Keeping up with the Joneses

By Ethel Bangwayo
Strategic Engagement Officer,
Herts CVS Group

….. need not be a bad thing. Not if it keeps us on our toes, anyway.

This week we take a whistle stop tour of NI7 activity around the country. I have selected interesting snippets from various action plans to give us a flavour of the possibilities of NI7 and to highlight the different ways in which the statutory sector can meet their duty to involve/ co-operate while providing that seemingly elusive ‘environment for a thriving third sector’.

Essex’s county LSP has agreed to allocate £2 million of the LAA1 reward funds to an endowment fund that is specifically for the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS). It is envisaged that the fund will help develop the capacity of the sector to deliver LAA targets. The fund also aims to “create a reliable and sustainable source of funding to help transform the capacity of the sector”.

Sefton proposes to conduct a full review of Third Sector seats within the local decision-making bodies. This will be jointly led and co-ordinated by the LSP managers and the CVS. Sefton will also monitor the effectiveness of consultations involving the Third Sector.

Norfolk will be working with public sector bodies to increase knowledge of the public service potential of VCS organisations. This includes the publication of The Third Sector Guide for Public Service Commissioning.

Cambridgeshire plans to empower communities to take a more active part in the design and delivery of local services, through VCS capacity building. Huntingdon District Council also plans to move to a five-year funding programme (commissioning) for voluntary organisations providing strategic services. It is envisaged that six commissioning agreements will be established each year.

Haringey will be commissioning a mapping exercise to help them develop an understanding of their Third Sector organisations and to develop data that allows them to monitor and evaluate performance in relation to NI7.

West Sussex plans to raise awareness of NI7 and conduct workshops in all seven districts to establish what statutory and voluntary sector colleagues understand by ‘environment for a thriving third sector’.

Hounslow has recently recruited an Engagement/ NI7 Officer whose remit is to undertake, amongst other things, capacity building for a thriving third sector.

Staffordshire’s NI7 action plan comprises three main strands, one of which is the development of the Staffordshire Third Sector Network.

Solihull is considering health check processes to establish development and support needs in individual voluntary sector organisations. They also plan to review and develop support to funding of Voluntary Sector organisations.


A significant number of LAA areas across the country have selected NI7 as a target and it appears that there are a number of elements that are common to most NI7 action plans:

· Creation of VCS strategies
· Creation of posts to support and co-ordinate engagement
· Strengthening commissioning relationships and strategies
· The development of sustainable funding arrangements
· Refreshing Compact arrangements
· Awareness-raising to ensure that NI7 is understood by all relevant stakeholders.

In Hertfordshire, a number of statutory agencies are already supporting the VCS and setting in place mechanisms to deliver NI7-type activity. A few examples:


· Hertfordshire County Council’s Children Schools and Families (CSF) has set up a VCS Strategy Group made up of CSF and VCS representatives. The main focus of the group is the delivery of the VCS Engage Action Plan, which has been designed to support the Herts Children’s Trust Partnership’s contribution to the ‘environment for a thriving third sector’.

· The East and North Herts PCTs are working on introducing a VCS page to their website to showcase their partnership working with the sector. The PCT also conducts regular meetings with their VCS providers.

· Dacorum Borough Council (DBC) provides many VCS organisations with premises at a ‘peppercorn’ rent. DBC has also set up a Task and Finish group to explore better ways of working with the voluntary sector.

· The VCS has now got a formal representative on the Interim Delivery Group of Hertfordshire Forward, the county LSP.

NI7 is the shared responsibility of statutory and voluntary sector colleagues who are currently working hard across the county to set systems in place to ensure success. When complete, Hertfordshire’s NI7 action plan will include, among other things, the continued funding of VCS engagement activity; this blog, and the http://www.myhertslaa.net/ website to aid the flow of information. A countywide volunteering strategy is also in the pipeline.

Methinks, the Joneses will soon be trying to keep up with us!


For information about the national NI7 results, please see http://www.nstso.com/