National Assembly for Wales’ Equalities, Local Government and
Communities Committee – inquiry in relation to Public
Services Boards (PSBs)
Submission from Third Sector Support Wales (TSSW)
May 2018
Background to inquiry
- Representatives
from Third Sector Support Wales (TSSW) welcome the opportunity to
provide evidence to the
Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee on the
structure and effectiveness of Public Services
Boards.
-
Third Sector Support Wales is
a network of support organisations for the whole of the third
sector in Wales. It consists of the 19 local and regional support
bodies across Wales, the County Voluntary Councils (CVCs) and the
national support body, Wales Council for Voluntary Action
(WCVA).
-
Our
shared goal is to enable the third sector and volunteers across
Wales to contribute fully to individual and community wellbeing,
now and for the future. We work with citizens, volunteers and
third sector groups to identify and address what matters to them.
Our core activities to strengthen the third sector and volunteering
focus on:
○
Enabling and supporting
○
Being a catalyst
○
Engaging and influencing
-
We
have four pillars of activity that make up our universal offer,
these are:
○
Volunteering
○
Good governance
○
Sustainable funding
○
Strategic engagement and influencing
- The
Chief Officers of the 19 CVCs are third sector members of each PSB
across Wales.
Inquiry Terms of Reference
- The
response from TSSW will be structured around the Terms of Reference
for the inquiry, which are to:
○
gain an understanding of the structure and functions of the
PSBs;
○
explore the effectiveness of PSBs, resourcing and capacity;
and
○
gather evidence of issues or barriers that may impact on effective
working, and examples of good practice and
innovation.
-
For
reference, please see historic comments on PSBs submitted by WCVA
in previous Welsh Government consultations:
○
Local approaches to poverty reduction: The Wellbeing of Future
Generations Act and Public Services Boards,
December 2017
○
Public services fit for the future,
September 2017
○
Reforming local government: Resilient and
renewed,
April 2017
Gain an understanding of the structure and functions of the Public
Services Boards (PSBs)
Third sector involvement in PSB structures
- CVC
Chief Officers and/or Chairs are involved in each Public Services
Board (PSB) as an invited member on behalf of the third sector, and
an important partner in engaging the third sector in understanding
the PSB’s work programmes and local service delivery by
disseminating information through local third sector networks and
facilitating opportunities for the sector to be involved in the
work of the PSBs.
- CVCs
have been engaged in the development of well-being assessments and
well-being plans and, as members of the PSB sub-groups and Public
Engagement Networks, are working to involve local people and
communities in how we develop a relationship and ongoing
conversation that addresses what matters. This kind of approach
requires a step change in the behaviours and skills sets of all PSB
members.
- CVCs
and WCVA members report that the work of PSBs feels very distant
from the reality of the day to day work of third sector
organisations and it can be difficult to make the strategic agenda
relevant. Large third sector national organisations wish to support
the implementation of the Act but are not clear how to contribute
to local implementation. It is also difficult for the smaller third
sector organisations to recognise how they contribute to the PSB
work.
-
For
PSBs to be considered relevant, local people and communities need
to feel involved in the process and a connection to the language
that is used to express the issues citizens and communities face.
Public Services Boards (PSBs) must work to the guidance in
the
National Principles for Public Engagement in
Wales and
ensure
that their membership includes those with experience of working in
communities at grassroots level in order to include first-hand
intelligence about the issues people face. To do so, there should
be increased involvement of the third sector and/or community
representatives at PSB level, which might be achieved through an
action plan arrangement between voluntary and community
organisations, the third sector and PSBs.
-
The
third sector has the potential for three levels of involvement with
PSBs:
·
Engagement with those who are seldom heard. The sector can be an
avenue both for the dissemination and collection of information and
as part of (not the) route for involvement.
·
The third sector has a wealth of qualitative data that can identify
current unmet need and be fed into the future trends work and
assessments. This is not always recognised.
·
Third sector as the deliverer of solutions in terms of meeting need
and providing services differently.
Culture
- The
culture of PSBs feels like a local authority owned agenda, notably
in areas where the number of local authority representatives
outweighs that of other organisations. The perception of the
current balance of power is reflective of the status quo, a
‘two-tier’ system with a clear onus on the four
statutory partners versus the ‘other’ members;
resulting in weak collective ownership of the work. This has been
addressed in some areas e.g. in Pembrokeshire, the CVC Chief
Officer is currently the vice-chair of the PSB.
14. The
communication from the Future Generations Commissioner challenging
PSBs to collaborate on certain key areas of work came too late in
the development of the Wellbeing Plans. PSBs operating in one
unitary authority do not currently have any governance arrangements
established for cross boundary working. In addition, barriers to
cross-boundary working may be impeded in some areas by differing
party politics that are not conducive to working together. The
recent Commissioner analysis of individual plans is welcome, but
very challenging and would have had more value in shaping plans if
available at an earlier stage. Some recommendations are
substantially different from the pathway that had been established
in the development of action plans
- The
commitment to working with the third sector is well understood at
policy level. However, in practice the language and bureaucratic
processes inhibit the sector from engaging more deeply. In
addition, the approach to developing well-being plans by comparing
corporate plans with emerging priorities, does not work from a
third sector point of view as we are not a corporate entity, making
it difficult to identify opportunities for
collaboration.
Collaboration
- At
present there is a risk of new PSB partnership sub-groups
duplicating work of existing partnerships rather than allocating
work streams to existing structures. PSB Well-being Plans need to
be embedded in normal working practices and deliver outcomes. PSB
plans often have not been embedded into PSB partners’ own
operational plans due to a timing disjoint - it may mean that
strategic plans may not be inclusive until after year one of the
PSB Action Plan has been reviewed. It is important that all
Partnerships have a thread back to the PSB and Wellbeing Plans.
With limited resources Partnerships that don’t have a pathway
could be deemed to have no real value. The interlinking of delivery
Partnerships to the Strategic PSB will be crucial in determining
the use of limited resources.
17. A
key role for TSSW partners is to work through PSBs to ensure that
there is an understanding of existing community assets at grass
roots level, whose role should be acknowledged within each plan and
considered in terms of how services are co-produced
locally.
Synergy between WBFGA and SSWBA
- There
are synergies between the two Acts and their implementation on the
ground that could be strengthened. CVC Chief Officers are involved
in both the PSBs and Regional Partnership Boards (RPBs), which
enables links between the local and regional agendas to be
identified and scope understood for collaboration to ensure local
and regional needs are met.
- The
governance structures for PSBs and RPBs also differ in terms of
their arrangements for third sector membership and citizen
involvement:
·
PSBs have one or more local third sector member(s) eg in
Pembrokeshire PAVS and PLANED are members;
·
RPBs have two third sector members (one local, one national
organisation); service user and citizen members.
- Whilst
the specific remits of PSBs and RPBs differ, there is clear synergy
between partners who are involved in implementation on the ground.
A structured link between the PSB and RPB governance arrangements
could provide scope for a more joined up approach, more efficient
use and pooling of budgets, etc.
- The
North Wales RPB recently received a presentation on Integrated
Service Boards (of which there are three in the region), indicating
a third governance structure that could potentially link with the
RPBs and PSBs.
Explore the effectiveness of PSBs, resourcing and
capacity
Capacity
- CVCs
observe that resources are available to support the delivery of
social care and the work of the RPBs, e.g. the Integrated Care
Fund, Delivering Transformation Grant; Dementia Fund;
Transformation Fund, etc with significant capital being made
available. In contrast, resources for the implementation of the
work of PSBs appear to be minimal.
23. There
is no dedicated resource for PSBs. Capacity is an issue. It remains
to be seen whether or not PSBs simply become another
‘solution looking for a problem’ and therefore an
additional layer of bureaucracy. This was perceived to be the case
with LSBs. If so, PSBs will be experienced as capacity and resource
consumers, rather than capacity and resource creators.
24. Whilst
genuine attempts have been made to enable people to ‘have
their say’, this falls very short of co-production. Authentic
community development cannot be incidental or accidental. It needs
a deliberate approach, with dedicated resource. A community
development fund (akin to ICF) for PSBs would be very welcome.
Crucially, this should be a PSB fund, not something in the control
of the local authority, and used exclusively for change and new
work, not to maintain same old.
25. To
bring about the transformative change that is envisioned by the
Acts, we see a clear need for development support at strategic
level for all PSB (and RPB) members in collaboration in
order to bring about a set of changed relationships and behaviours
(how to work effectively together); and for practitioners and front
line staff on how to effectively implement the principle of
involvement. This is new to many professionals
and citizens and needs support and resource.
26. PSBs are
encouraged to consider taking a similar approach to the Valleys
Taskforce, by listening to the voices of local people and
reflecting concerns in language that is readily understood. A
‘you said / we listened / together we did’
co-productive approach provides a benchmark against which public
bodies can be accountable for their actions to improve the
well-being of citizens. One survey respondent to WCVA’s
survey said simply: ‘ask them, listen to the answers and
act on the outcome’. This was a core principle at the
outset of Communities First, but it has become lost along the
way.
Resources for third sector involvement
- CVC
Chief Officers consider their membership of PSBs to be of strategic
importance to the third sector and therefore dedicate time
accordingly. However, concerns are expressed at the apparent
level of expectation of third sector members, which often falls to
CVCs, to become involved in sub groups and project specific work.
CVC Chief Officers are also involved in numerous regional
partnerships (RPBs, health collaboratives, economic regeneration
partnerships, RSPs, etc), none of which have displaced local (or
locality) working arrangements.
- This
level of involvement is resource intensive for CVCs, and it is
difficult for members of other third sector organisations to
justify their involvement in workstreams when the work of the PSBs
feels so distant from reality. One possible alternative is
for sub roles to be allocated to other organisations who may have
specific knowledge. They would, however, require resource to engage
and would need to be hooked in with local CVC networks.
- Whilst
we welcome the positive legislative context which actively promotes
third sector involvement in the implementation of the Act, the
expectation and ‘ask’ of the third sector members of
PSBs (and RPBs) needs to be articulated more clearly, consistently
applied and with proper consideration of the resource implications
for CVCs and the wider third sector to engage with the plethora of
meetings associated with PSBs and RPBs. To demonstrate the level of
demand for CVC involvement in local and regional partnership
arrangements,
during 2017/18 NPTCVS facilitated the involvement of the sector in
74 strategic planning/working groups and its Director sat on over
50 key strategic external bodies; CVSC participated in
approximately 60+ boards/ forums/partnerships/panels and GVS was
represented on almost 60 strategic partnerships and joint working
groups.
- At
national level, Welsh Government has funded a part time post at
WCVA for six months (Delivering Transformation Grant Co-ordinator)
to support and promote the third sector’s involvement in the
delivery of the Social Services and Well-being Act (Wales),
including pro-active co-ordination of the third sector RPB reps to
strengthen their links with third sector networks. The disconnect
on the ground between the two Acts has been highlighted as an issue
by a range of stakeholders.
Delivery
- The
function of PSBs, to date, has focused on the well-being
assessments leading to the establishing of the well-being plans.
These are now in place and, for example in Powys, has 12, very
high-level priorities. In many cases, the implications for
operational delivery are not yet clear and nor is it understood how
plans will be translated into action that builds on existing
community assets. However, in Ceredigion, for example, delivery
mechanisms are clear with project groups for each workstream
established and involving third sector and Cabinet Member
involvement.
- The
intelligence held by front line staff within both the public and
third sectors is an under-utilised resource, particularly with
third sector organistaions, because often data collection methods
are not sufficiently robust and protocols for sharing data may not
be sufficiently developed. For example, one respondent to the
survey undertaken by WCVA told us that: ‘…we
don’t even know what PSBs do, who they are or how we can
better engage with them. They should be interacting with the
organisations on the front line and giving us an opportunity to
feed back what we see and the struggles facing people.’
This should not be considered solely as a task for third
sector members of the PSB to address, but rather the PSB acting as
one to engage with a spectrum of service providers, to find ways of
enabling third sector organisations to share evidence and data in a
way that is useful and useable for local planning purposes. If this
breadth and depth of engagement is envisaged, it must be matched
with an investment in capacity and skills to achieve a step
change.
Gather evidence of issues or barriers that may impact on effective
working, and examples of good practice and
innovation
- There
is a risk that PSBs only acknowledge and report on the
funded/contracted activity and ignore the considerable
voluntary/community activity that will feed into the targeted
outcomes in the Plan, under-valuing the role of the third
sector’s contribution to well-being. Unfunded
preventative/community activity is vital for PSB plans to have an
impact, yet this is not recognised.
- Engaging
fully and positively with elected members (County Councillors) is a
problem – many see the PSB as an unelected quango, rather
than a key partner in the delivery of well-being objectives for
their constituents. This situation is not helped by the
legislation, which puts the elected members in the role of
scrutineers, not partners. Scrutiny would be better undertaken by a
multi-agency panel (reflecting the membership of the PSB) and/or by
citizen scrutineers. In Ceredigion, Cabinet representatives
are sitting on each project group in an attempt to support positive
links between elected members and key stakeholders.
- The
involvement of town and community councils on PSBs is also an
issue. Town and community councils have an important role to
play in developing resourceful communities, but in many cases they
are reluctant partners. One Voice Wales has a seat on the
Ceredigion PSB, but have found it difficult to engage. They have
also been invited to put forward a representative to the
Pembrokeshire PSB. Engagement with town and community councils will
be essential in the implementation phase, particularly around those
priorities associated with developing community
resourcefulness.
- The
legislation makes it clear that PSBs should work in a
citizen-centred way, involving people in the co-design and delivery
of Well-being Plans. Whilst this process was not perfect
(short timescales made it impossible to do things right), every
effort was made to engage with as many people as possible, and this
helped inform the development of the Well-being Plans.
Pembrokeshire PSB took the decision not to target specific user
groups within the Well-being Plan, taking the view that the Plan
seeks to improve community well-being. Nevertheless,
pressure has been brought to bear individuals/groups who want to
see their particular area of interest written into the plan –
for example, Older Persons’ Commissioner (older people);
Public Health Wales (first 1000 days); Arts Council for Wales,
etc. Welsh Government and other national agencies must resist
the temptation to micro-manage PSBs – this is what adopting a
“citizen centred approach” means in
practice.
- The
complex maze of corporate planning structures and timetables to
create shared plans is also perceived to be a risk to
implementation. A common measurement matrix of outcomes should be
produced and all plans, whether within a public sector body or
third sector, can be utilized to feed into local, regional and
national monitoring. Failure to establish common monitoring will
result in perceived gaps in some service areas when they do not
exist but are measured differently.
-
CVCs
have been engaged in the development of population assessments and
well-being plans and, as members of the PSB Public Engagement
Networks, are working to involve local people and communities in
how we develop a relationship and ongoing conversation that
addresses what matters.
39. A
number of priorities in PSB plans can potentially only be delivered
regionally if Welsh Government plans outlined in the Green Paper
for greater regional service delivery are implemented. There is
little synergy at the moment between local and regional planning of
services.
- CVCs
have undertaken a range of engagement work with local
organisations, which could be shared more widely as good practice,
e.g:
●
Interlink RCT, BAVO and VAMT have established a local
network/reference group specifically on well-being/WBFGA/PSB work
to inform the CVC’s role as third sector member of the PSB
and to act as a point of contact for the PSB with the
sector;
●
NPT CVS has supported the development of a Citizen Engagement
Scheme which has been formally adopted by the PSB;
●
PAVS is a member of Pembrokeshire Co-production Network that brings
together participation and engagement practitioners from across the
PSB partnership. The intention is to establish the Network as the
primary mechanism for PSB engagement with citizens and communities
across Pembrokeshire. PAVS’ Chief Officer is leading on this
work in her role as Vice Chair of the PSB but progress is slow due
to lack of resources;
●
Some third sector organisations have welcomed the well-being plans
and checklists as a useful tool for helping organisations to frame
what they are aiming to achieve in the context of local
well-being;
●
NPT CVS leads on the transport sub-group which is exploring
alternative transport solutions for communities in the area. This
is a multi-agency group involving Third Sector as well as statutory
partners and has recently secured funding to undertake a
feasibility study (NPT CVS);
●
Participation in work around digital inclusion, which has included
a third sector digital survey that was developed by NPT CVS and the
sector, supported by the Council.
●
Mantell Gwynedd were successful in obtaining 480k of funding from
the Lottery’s Third Sector Skills fund which will enable
North Wales CVCs to upskill staff so they are able to undertake the
work of measuring social value. It is by understanding the social
value of activities that we can work towards effectively managing
the creation of well-being and this is essential to making the
intentions of the Act a reality. The main focus of the project is
to measure the value of activities and how they relate to the
national well-being goals.
41. Community
Voice was a strategic grants programme managed and funded by the
Big Lottery Fund in Wales that came to an end in March 2018. The
programme aims to build the capacity of citizens to engage in
planning and running services and projects that respond to their
communities’ needs and advance community benefit. The
programme provided £12 million to CVCs through eleven
Community Voice grants. CVCs were each responsible for their
portfolio of 5-10 individual projects to deliver locally
co-produced initiatives, facilitating more effective engagement
with key public sector organisations, helping people to influence
decisions about services they receive and developing local services
that better meet their needs. Big Lottery Fund have
undertaken an evaluation of the programme, from which lessons could
be shared. Without resources from this programme, the depth and
breadth of citizen involvement achieved by each CVC is
minimal.
42. Interlink
(RCT) has a member of staff seconded to work at the Future
Generation’s Commissioner’s office for approximately one day per week to support
involvement and help link to SenseMaker initiatives. It is a
connection to a member of staff who is an involvement
‘practitioner’ and provides a mechanism for feedback
about what is happening on the ground in relation to strategic
plans and programmes.
-
PAVS leads on the Pride in Pembrokeshire award
scheme on behalf of the PSB, which recognises volunteer-led
activity in local communities that improves individual and
community well-being. Groups receive a certificate, a cheque for
£200 and editorial/photograph in the Western Telegraph,
giving them a platform to promote their work to the general public,
potential funders and volunteers. This is a good mechanism for
sharing good practice as well as publicising the PSB.
- We
recommend that PSBs seek to engage more effectively with each other
in order to share experiences and good practice and offer a more
effective, coherent approach to their work – recognising, of
course, that different regions have different needs and so each PSB
will still need to work in its own way.
Third Sector Support Wales
May 2018