Voluntary Value

1. It will be called the Community Learning, Employment and Skills Partnership (CLESP).
2. It will be overseen by a Steering Group, with Voluntary Value partners well represented. They will be joined by select organisations with technical expertise around skills, employment and learning.
3. A task-and-finish group, made up of some members of the Steering Group, will bid for an ESF Skills Funding Agency contract.
4. The consortium will adopt a two-tier approach to voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises interested in participating in the consortium.
5. Tier 1: Members will be organisations who meet basic requirements in terms of skills and learning delivery. To become a member, organisations must complete a membership form.
6. Tier 2: Delivery Partners will be those member organisations who ‘fit’ with aspects of the contract specifications (once they are published), and actually come to play a part in delivery of a contract.

All information on the NOMS contract can be found here:

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

All future welfare-to-work provision, including ESF, will be grouped together under the new DWP ‘Work Programme’.

The Work Programme will very broadly cover ‘provision of employment related support services, helping people to select, train for, obtain and retain employment suitable for their ages and capacities’. DWP is currently inviting prime providers who are interested in delivering any element of the Work Programme – including ESF – to come forward by 31 July 2010.

There is no indication of when sub-contracting opportunities will be made available, which are likely to be more attractive to VCOs. All relevant information is available via this link

Skills Funding Agency (SFA)

SFA, which will be contracting the most projects in the region, is still keeping quiet on its commissioning timetable. The roadshow of events to launch their spending priorities in June 2010 were postponed, and no new dates have been forthcoming.

Rumours abound as to whether the SFA will continue to exist in the future, in spite of the government’s pledge of £550 million for apprenticeships and another £757 million for other forms of work-based learning in the financial year 2010/11. Whether under the SFA name or any other, the Voluntary Value project expects its work to continue.

Receive an ESF Award for Equalities or Sustainability Best Practice

Are you an ESF subcontractor who has made a special effort to mainstream equal opportunities or sustainable development? If you, or a partner organisation, have been pro-active in this area, then you may be eligible for a regional ESF Award under one of the following categories:

• Implementation of a good equal opportunities policy and implementation plan.
• Implementation of a good sustainable development policy and implementation plan.
• Specialism in helping a specific target group.
• Has a particular environmental focus when promoting jobs or skills (including promoting green skills for new or existing jobs).

The closing date for nominations is 20 August 2010. Copies of the application forms and guidance are available to download from the awards pages of the ESF website - Please either nominate yourselves or any of your partners/providers.

ESF: 2013 and beyond

The current ESF programme expires in 2013, after which there is the potential to reform its structure and approach. To this end, discussions are being held between regional policy makers in the South West, as well as elsewhere across Europe.

Future policy is, across Europe, labelled as the Cohesion policy – and the Voluntary Value project has a seat at the regional Cohesion policy discussion table. Send any recommendations through by email via your Voluntary Value contact.

Working in Partnership

Previous bulletins have focussed on the potential benefits of working in partnership to access ESF funding. Below are links to two documents which outline some helpful approaches to collaborative (or consortia) working.

1. Working with Others

A 2-page NCVO guide to thinking about consortium working. This ‘taster’ guide highlights some of the issues which organisations should consider before entering into a collaborative relationship, and in particular the repercussions for beneficiaries. It offers some tips for success, and directs readers to more detailed information should it be needed.

Click here to down load the document

2. Developing a Consortium Agreement

A 4-page appendix on consortium working. This document goes a stage further, and looks at the important considerations in formalising collaborative working, at the point that organisations seek to develop a consortium. Consideration is given to the skills, structures, vision and stakeholders required for a consortium relationship to work.

Click here to down load the document.

Skills, Employment and Worklessness bulletin

Voluntary and Community Organisations in the South West who find this bulletin useful will be interested in South West Forum’s broader Skills, Employment and Worklessness bulletin. Sent out monthly, this bulletin is specifically aimed at third sector colleagues.
The content of the latest bulletin is available here:

Ensure you receive the bulletin directly to your inbox in the future by completing this link:

Useful telephone numbers and websites

• National Apprenticeship Service – Employers call 08000 150 600 or visit http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/employers.aspx
• National Apprenticeship Service – Learners should visit http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Be-An-Apprentice.aspx
• Learners/individuals – adult advancement and careers service – 0800 100 900 or www.careersadvice.direct.gov.uk
• Employers (up to 5000 employees) – Train to Gain – 0845 600 9 006 or www.traintogain.gov.uk
• Employers (5000+ employees) – National Employer Service – 024 7682 5815 or http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/employers/
• Service Desk, The Data Service – 0870 267 0001 or www.thedataservice.org.uk
• Other Skills Funding Agency enquiries – Switchboard – 0845 377 5000 or www.skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk

Consortium Communique to the third sector in the SW

A learning and skills consortium for third sector organisations in the South West is preparing to bid for a European Social Fund (ESF) contract. The consortium is appropriately cautious as to its prospects, and advises interested stakeholders to also be circumspect at this early stage.

On 6th June, South West Forum invited Damian France, chair of a Mersey-based learning and skills consortium (Voluntary Organisation Learning Association, VOLA), to independently facilitate discussions between stakeholders. The following organisations were represented at the meeting: Community Council of Devon, Cornwall Learning Partnership, Exeter CVS, Learning Curve, South West Forum, South West ACRE Network (SWAN) and Voluntary Sector Training Alliance (ViSTA). The outcome was a consensus on the consortium’s objectives, an agreed organisational structure, and a short-term action plan.

Objectives

Consensus was reached on both long and short-term objectives for the consortium. Acknowledging that a business opportunity exists to compete for an ESF Skills Funding Agency contract in late summer in the South West (excluding Cornwall, which is administered differently for ESF), the short-term objective is to bid for this contract. The long-term objective of the consortium is intended to be broader than ESF: to compete for mainstream skills and learning contracts in the South West.

Structure of the consortium

In order to achieve the short-term objective of the consortium, a bid-writing team will be established, consisting of Cornwall Learning Partnership, Learning Curve, South West Forum and Voluntary Sector Training Alliance (ViSTA). This is a task and finish group, with the mandate of bidding for the ESF Skills Funding Agency contract in late summer.

Guiding the bid-writing team, and acting as guardians of the consortium’s longer-term objective, a Steering Group will be established. The Steering Group’s membership will balance organisations with technical expertise in skills and learning bid writing, with infrastructure bodies that can reflect the diversity of providers in the South West. The Steering Group will also provide representation for the wider membership of the consortium.

Within the consortium, ‘members’ will be different to ‘delivery partners’. ‘Members’ will be all third sector organisations who meet basic requirements in terms of skills and learning delivery. ‘Delivery Partners’ will be those third sector organisations who ‘fit’ with aspects of the contract specifications (once they are published), and actually come to play a part in delivery of a contract.

Short-term action plan

The short-term action plan is focussed on bidding for a 2010 ESF contract for the South West Competitiveness area. On behalf of the consortium, Learning Curve will function as the lead and accountable body. In developing the bid, additional technical expertise will be provided by ViSTA, Cornwall Learning Partnership and South West Forum. South West Forum is responsible for communication with the sector, and to this end invites expressions of interest from third sector providers interested in consortium involvement. The specifications of the ESF contract are expected to be released in late summer.

All communications regarding the consortium can be directed to Simon Charters at South West Forum, on simon@southwestforum.org.uk or 01392 247 901.

Voluntary Value partners met in Swindon to hear an update about opportunities for funding learning, skills, and employment provision through ESF and other funding streams. We also discussed the wide range of services that the sector provides for clients, and ways of matching this provision with the outcomes that commissioning agencies are looking for. We agreed that information is the key to making these matches. As a result, Learning Curve will be looking at ways of making the “Advice and Info” section of our website more useful, and trying to keep you up to date with opportunities for funding and tendering as they arise.

As a result of discussions that have taken place between Voluntary Value partners, a third sector consortium will bid for regional ESF Skills Funding Agency contracts. Working with Learning Curve as the lead and accountable body, and with the Voluntary Sector Training Alliance (ViSTA) and Cornwall Learning Partnership, South West Forum will bid on behalf of a consortium of skills and learning third sector organisations in the South West (excluding Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, which has separate ESF arrangements). The consortium will be guided by a steering group, which will determine its future direction. Within the consortium, ‘members’ will be different to ‘delivery partners’. ‘Members’ will be all third sector organisations who meet basic requirements in terms of skills and learning delivery. ‘Delivery Partners’ will be those third sector organisations who ‘fit’ with aspects of the contract specifications, once they are published.

To become a member, please contact simon@southwestforum.org.uk For further information, please request a copy of the communiqué that has been written by all interested parties.

The Voluntary Value project expects the ESF tendering timeline to resume before the end of the summer. Initially timeline for The Skills Funding Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions contracts was due to flow from the 7 events across the region in mid-June.

These events signalled the launch of the each agency’s spending priorities. However, this roadshow of events was postponed at the last minute, pending a review of the Government’s welfare programme. The Voluntary Value project has been told to expect these events to be re-scheduled in late summer – and will inform readers as soon as it learns anything.

NOMS are pressing on with their ESF contract process for the South West, resisting the delays that have stalled others. One £6 million contract for the South West region (excluding Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly) will target ex-Armed Forces beneficiaries, those from BME communities, female offenders, and young offenders transitioning to adult detention centres.

VCOs who can provide to these beneficiaries can still be included as sub-contractors in the bids. The Voluntary Value project speculates that the successful bid will come from either A4E, Maximus, Tribal or Working Links. Each have submitted their ‘Initial Solutions’ to NOMS, and will be working up their full bids between mid-August and mid-September. This is the time when potential sub-contractors will be sought as they each seek to strengthen their bids.

Contact details are as follows:

Each ESF provider has its own method for potential sub-contractors to register their interest. By registering your interest, you are better placed to be on the providers’ radar when they come to write their ESF (and other) bids. Below are the methods that some of the larger organisations use:

A4E Register at: http://www.a4epartners.co.uk/

Working Links Contact your local office. Find them at: http://www.workinglinks.co.uk/office_finder/south_west.aspx

Shaw Trust Complete an ‘Expression of Interest’ form, accessible through http://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/partnership_opportunities

Pluss Complete and return a form, linked to the bottom of this webpage: http://www.pluss.org.uk/corporate/about-pluss/partnerships.html

Though ESF contracts are getting bigger, and will cover larger geographical areas, now is the time for organisations who wish to bid for Skills Funding Agency ESF contracts to begin the process, by completing a Pre Qualifying Questionnaire (PQQ).

The following link will take you to the first page of the Skills Funding Agency website which discusses commissioning, and a step by step guide on how to register:

Follow this link

The PQQ opportunity is always open, but periodically the SFA ‘freezes’ it so as to process the applications that have been made. The next ‘freeze’ is anticipated in July.

Further data on the success of the ESF programme highlights the government interest is in what they are buying (ie, skills and employment outputs) rather than who they are funding (public, private or third sectors). In the South West area it is reported that:

‘Overall it should be noted that nearly 70 thousand people in the South West have been helped to improve their employment and skills prospects with the support of the programme. With some 18 thousand people having either entered work, training or gained a qualification in just over 2 years of delivery.’

Voluntary and Community Organisations in the South West who find this bulletin useful will be interested in South West Forum’s broader Skills, Employment and Worklessness bulletin. Sent out monthly, this bulletin is specifically aimed at third sector colleagues.

The content of the latest bulletin is available here:

Ensure you receive the bulletin directly to your inbox in the future by completing this link:

National Apprenticeship Service – Employers call 08000 150 600 or visit http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/employers.aspx

National Apprenticeship Service – Learners should visit http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Be-An-Apprentice.aspx

Learners/individuals – adult advancement and careers service – 0800 100 900 or www.careersadvice.direct.gov.uk

Employers (up to 5000 employees) – Train to Gain – 0845 600 9 006 or www.traintogain.gov.uk

Employers (5000+ employees) – National Employer Service – 024 7682 5815 or http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/employers/

Service Desk, The Data Service – 0870 267 0001 or www.thedataservice.org.uk
Other Skills Funding Agency enquiries – Switchboard – 0845 377 5000 or www.skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk

ladder4learning, a service delivered by The Learning Curve, offers a dedicated helpline and comprehensive website providing information and advice about workforce development for people working in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector across the South West and South East regions.

ladder4learning provides impartial information and advice to individuals, VCSE organisations and the organisations and advisors that support them including a whole range of resources, briefing sheets and research.

Where appropriate we can refer you to other people or organisations for more specialist information. For further information about Ladder4learning visit the website, email us on ladder4learning@learningcurve.org.uk or call the Helpline 01225 792505 (10.00 am – 3.00 pm).

Sign up or download our newsletter here

ladder4learning is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and is delivered by The Learning Curve (Charity No. 1090735 Company No. 4324686).

Lyn PullenPoole CVS
Gary Bentham, Bournemouth Borough Council

Chris CarmanDorset Community Action
Christine Stone, West Dorset District Council

Jane Butler, CIB Wilts, Email or phone 01380 729279

To sign up for the regional funding bulletin, email graham.harris@wiltshire.gov.uk

Below, are all the previous Voluntary Value Newsletters for your ongoing reference.