News from the VOCypf Officers
Family Group Meetings Service and the potential for partnership working with Voluntary Sector organisations
The FGM process has been highly successful at keeping children with their families and utilising the wider family to prevent harm and to improve the overall welfare of the child. The Family Group meeting service covers all of Bedfordshire. It is proposed that a meeting be held with members of the voluntary sector to see how it may be possible to work jointly to extend this service to those client groups.
Please click here for more information. If you are interested in attending this workshop please could you email your interest to Linda@voc-ypf.org.
3 Year Ofsted Inspection of Safeguarding and Looked After Children’s Services
Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire are expecting their Ofsted Inspections at any time.
Bedford Borough Briefing paper
Central Bedfordshire Briefing paper
The Inspectors will be visiting partner providers and is likely to include a children’s centre. They will be looking to meet parents where possible. The focus of the visit will be to meet with staff to discuss the impact and outcomes of service provision within the context of family support and prevention. There will be a number of focus groups which could include substance misuse services, the Children’s Trust with a focus on local partnerships and agreements, the voluntary sector. These focus groups are likely to last about an hour.
We will have very little time to pull the focus group together; I am creating a list of organisations and individuals who feel they could contribute to the focus group I will contact you immediately we have dates and times from the inspectors. Please email me to confirm that you would be willing to be on the email distribution for the focus group. Linda@voc-ypf.org. (23.5)
Youth Volunteering Report
Click here for the results from the VOCypf young people consultation into volunteering. If you have any questions regarding this report, please contact Carol Solaiman, the VOCypf Youth Officer at carol@voc-ypf.org.(11.2)
VOCypf – Bedford Borough Child Poverty Workshop
Following the VOCypf workshop on Child Poverty in Bedford Borough, the data collected from the workshop discussion sessions has now been collated and can be viewed here. This will now be fed into the Bedford Borough Child Poverty Needs Assessment which will inform the Action Plan that the Child Poverty Task group will take forward and monitor.
If you would like to add anything or comment please could you do so in red text on the document and send back to Linda@voc-ypf.org. Thank you to all those organisations who attended the workshop and your passion for helping those families in poverty, achieve better outcomes. (18.1)
Intelligent Commissioning
'A bridge between two worlds' is a report which explores what is being done by local support and development organisations (LSDO), working in partnership with public bodies, to develop, promote and shape really good, intelligent, local commissioning practices. It draws on a year long series of seminars held across England on ways to successfully influence the commissioning of third sector organisations and services.
- One research report with a series of mini-examples from around the country of ways to influence local commissioning.
- Six separate in-depth case studies of support and development organisations involved with support local commissioning
'A bridge between two worlds' identifies real life examples of work by local support and development organisations in England to support their members to develop intelligent commissioning in their areas. It draws on work carried out across the country to support better commissioning and includes a number of success factors.
While the report demonstrates the important work of LSDOs do to assist better commissioning in their communities, it also enables commissionaires and LSDOs to learn from other areas and draw on good practice. It concludes with five ingredients for intelligent commissioning, demonstrating new ideas for improving your local commissioning such as selling the benefits of the sector, co-locating posts, building understanding, showing leadership and involving elected members.
To download the report visit the NAVCA website. Hard copies of the report can be ordered by NAVCA members for FREE (normal price £12). (10.12)
Budget time scales in Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire
Bedford Borough
| Date |
|
| 15.11.10 |
Consultation event with the voluntary and community sector; after which final amendments will be made to the documents |
| w/c 22.11.10 |
Letters out to current providers with final copies of document |
| w/c 29.11.10 |
Resource envelope agreed and e-tender documents finalised |
| w/c 6.12.10 |
e-tender box will go ‘live’ and available for provider to download |
| 21.1.11 |
Closing date for receipt of completed tenders |
| w/c 24.1.11 |
Decision making processes commences |
| w/c 31.1.11 |
Decision making process finalised and communications sent out to those who submitted tenders |
| Feb - March 2011 |
Programme of implementation for those providers who are successful in delivering contracts for 2011/12, including process development and training, agreeing performance monitoring frameworks and signing contracts |
Central Bedfordshire
| Date |
|
| 11.1.11 |
Executive draft budget 2011/12 |
| 17.1.11 |
Overview and scrutiny comment on draft budget |
| 8.2.11 |
Executive recommends final budget |
| 24.2.11 |
Council approves budget |
