Voguish Commissioning

admin 23 March, 2016, 11:37 pm 0 Comments

2 0 March 2016

overnmentplanstointroduce“com-

missioning”asthemeanstodeliver

social,humanandcommunity-based

servicesnowthreatenboththeCom-

munityandVoluntarySectorandthe

effectivedeliveryofessentialsocialandcom-

munity-basedservices.TheDepartments of

Health,ofChildrenandYouthAffairs,andof

Environment,Communityand LocalGovern

mentarenowmovingtoacommissioningmodel

todeliverservices.Traditionallytheyhadbeen

fundedthroughblockgrantstoCommunityand

VoluntarySectororganisations.

Commissioningiscommonlyunderstoodasa

strategicplanningprocessthatlinksresource

allocation withassessedcurrentandfuture

needs,toachievebetteroutcomesforcitizens

and service-users. The 2011 Programme for

Government had the catchier definition:

“Choice and Voice” for service users. The

assumptionofthecoalitionGovernmentwas

thatthemarketisationofsocialandcommunity-

basedserviceswillbenetservice-usersand

communities.

However,wehaveevidencefromtheUK,where

publicserviceshavebeenprivatisedformany

decades,thatthecommodicationofsocialand

community-based services has generated

adverseimpacts.Ithasresultedinashiftto

one-size-ts-allmodelsofdelivery.Itsfocusis

oncost-per-unittobeminimised,regardlessof

theoutcomesfordifferentgroups.Thisendsup

inaso-called‘cherry-picking’ofparticipants

mostlikelytoachievepositiveoutcomes.Asa

result,themoremarginalisedcommunitiesand

individualswithcomplexneedsareexcluded.

TheimpetusdrivingthemovetoCommission-

ing model has been set out in various

Governmentbriengs.Itincludesthedesireto

link service development and delivery to

assessedneedandoutcomes.Itisfocusedon

reducingcostsandensuringvalue-for-money.

ThisassumesthatCommunityandVoluntary

Sectorserviceprovidersarenotalreadyout-

comes-focusedorallocatingresourcesonthe

basisofneed.This,however,hasneverbeen

comprehensively assessed by the relevant

DepartmentsorStateagencies.

Itassumesthatthecurrentmodelofgrantfund-

ing to Community and Voluntary Sector

organisations is not delivering value-for-

money.‘Value-for-money’isacontestedterm.

Itisalltoooftenreducedtoasimplisticcost-

benetequation,ratherthanbeingbasedonan

assessmentofoutcomesfordiversecommuni-

tiesandgroups.Thiswouldtakeaccountof,and

prefer, the added social

valuethataccruestoindivid-

ualsand communities asa

resultofhowCommunityand

Voluntary Sector services

aredelivered.

The Government’s own

review that examined the

evidenceformovingtocom-

missioningwouldsuggestit

is fraught with risk.  This

review found: “limited evi

dencetodatethatcommissioningapproaches

resultinbetteroutcomes”forserviceusers;“a

weakevidencebaseforcommissioningasa

strategic planning and resource allocation

tool”;andthecostofthecommissioningpro-

cess could be extremely high to the

commissioningDepartmentsandStatebodies.

AHouseofCommonsReporthasfoundthat

almost14%oftheNHSbudgetwasbeingspent

on its commissioning infrastructure, for

example.

Itisasignicantundertakingtoexecutecom-

missioning properly. This is underscored

severaltimesintheGovernment’sownreview.

Theelementsinthecommissioningprocessof

identifyingneeds,settingoutcomes,andmeas-

uringimpactallrequiresignicantnationaland

regionalinfrastructure.

Comprehensive national, regionaland local

data,androbusttoolstocapturethespecic

needsofdifferentgroupsandcommunitiesare

requiredtoassessthesocialandcommunity

serviceneedsofcommunitiesacrossthecoun-

try.Thereisasignicantabsenceofsuchdata

andtoolscurrently.Untilthisisrectieditis

difculttoenvisagehowcomprehensiveneeds-

assessmentscanbecarriedout.

The Government’s review noted that expert

knowledge and technical skills would be

requiredincommissioningDepartmentsand

Stateagencies.Thiswouldinclude:expertise

in needs analysis and service user engage-

ment; robust data information and management

systems; expertise in contracting and procure-

ment; and expertise in evaluation. It is not

crediblethatsuchresourceswillbefoundinthe

DepartmentofEnvironment,Communityand

LocalGovernment,tosaynothingaboutthe

already hugely over-stretched and under-

resourced Departments of Health and of

ChildrenandYouthAffairs.

Thislackofinfrastructureleadstoaveryreal

riskthatthecostlier,morecomplexelementsof

thecommissioningprocesswillbedropped.

Insteadthefocuswillmerelycentreonreducing

costandincreasingthemarketisationofser-

vices,regardlessofoutcome.TheGovernment

needstoheedthewarningsinitsownreport,

becauseitwillbeimpossible,undercompeti-

tionlaw,torevertbacktogrant-basedfunding

onceserviceshavebeenopeneduptocompeti-

tive tendering processes as part of this

proposedcommissioningmodel.Thereisan

urgentcasetonowpressthepausebuttonon

thisfashionablebutinsidiousanddangerous

process.

Voguish Commissioning

Commissioning tends to focus on the

easiest pickings in public services because

focus is quantity not quality

by Rachel Mullen

Cherry-picking of

participants most likely to

achieve positive outcomes

excludes the marginalised

with complex needs

POLITICS