Theme 1 - Commissioning and community transport
Introduction
Early in 2011 the Government will publish its Public Services Reform White Paper. This promises a radical power shift away from central government to local communities. But what does this mean for local transport provision and how can civil society organisations engage? What will this new form of commissioning look like and can it really deliver sustainable effective services? The Government is firmly committed to modernising commissioning and giving communities the right to bid to take over local state-run services (as an action in their departmental business plans!) and this could present an opportunity for community transport organisations to approach local authorities and bring about open tendering processes. Sessions in this theme will be particularly relevant to service commissioners, service providers and those interested in how their organisations can develop in the Big Society.
Session 1A – Commissioning: The vision for the future?
Tuesday 15 March, 10:00 to 10:45
This session will explore the detail of what the coalition government’s vision is for the commissioning of public services from civil society organisations.. as set out in ‘Modernising Commissioning’, a green paper published by the Cabinet Office in December 2010. We will consider the potential impact of this strategic vision and look at how it intends to make public service markets more accessible. Delegates will have the opportunity to debate these questions with speakers and each other.
Session 1B – The role of the third sector in commissioning
Tuesday 15 March, 11:15 to 12:00
In this session, we will look at why civil society organisations are a good option for commissioners. We will consider how a stronger move to ‘payment by results’ will benefit public services and how the ‘right to challenge’ and ‘right to provide’ set out in ‘Modernising Commissioning’ can strengthen the role of community transport and help to break down some of the bureaucratic barriers to accessing commissioning structures. We will also look at the role that civil society has to play in developing commissioning structures and processes.
Session 1C – Commissioning hubs & how to engage with them
Tuesday 15 March, 12:30 to 13:15
In some areas commissioning hubs have been established to try and ensure better value in procuring products and services. For instance, there are examples of local authorities coming together to form hubs to commission transport services, with a vision of centralising service procurement to deliver better quality for a lower price. Such hubs may commission a range of services, including:
- Accessible transport services including dial-a-ride and community transport
- Transport services for children and schools including those with special educational needs
- Transport for users of adult services
- Brokerage arrangements with third sector organisations, to make better use of existing capacity/fleets
- Non-emergency passenger transport for NHS trusts
- Training for transport staff
- Fleet maintenance services
This session will look at the experience so far, how civil society organisations can engage with commissioning hubs and what their potential impact is.
Session 1D – How do others do it?
Tuesday 15 March, 14:15 to 15:00
Is commissioning unique to UK? How do transport providers engage with public services in other countries. This session will examine experiences from UK devolved administrations and other countries to look at their approaches to commissioning public and transport services. Speakers will consider good and bad examples and challenge how we currently do things. The session will also think about whether centralised or de-centralised commissioning works best. We will also consider the different approaches around the UK to commissioning and consider how Government would like to see ‘social, environmental and economic value’
Session1E – Using quality systems to improve procurement
Tuesday 15 March, 15:30 to 16:15
As the use of more sophisticated and centralised commissioning grows in the transport sector in the UK, commissioners are increasingly relying on external standards to help them award contracts for services. How and why do they do this and what will the proposed extension of the Government’s ‘Merlin Standard’ mean? This session will look at the criteria that are applied and how civil society transport organisations can meet them. Sometimes fully blown external standards are used (such the CTA Quality Mark, the Social Enterprise Mark, or ISO ), sometimes statutory licensing standards are applied and sometimes specific criteria are set on individual contracts. Either way, it is important for organisations seeking to deliver public services to understand such criteria, whether they are pass/fail or weighted and how they can use them to their advantage. Speakers in this session will explore these issues with delegates including opportunities for individual questions to be raised and discussed.
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