EQUALITY in THIRD SECTOR COMMISSIONING

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EQUALITYin THIRD SECTOR COMMISSIONING
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WOMENS NATIONAL COMMISSION

• Founded in 1969 by Harold Wilsons Labour
  government. Its brief is to-
• make known to government by all possible means
  the informed opinion of women in the UK

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WNC ROLE and WORK

• An independent advisory body
• Works with a network of over 500 womens
  organisations.
• Strategic steer set by a Board of 16
  Commissioners.
• Has for last 8 years convened a violence against
  women working group EVAW.
• Has an international UK role in the UN Commission
  on the Status of Women CSW

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EQUALITIES and COMMISSIONINGbased on grounds of
morals and best value

• Spending taxpayers money to get better value for
  money.
• The WNC welcomes the inclusion of public
  procurement in the Equality Bill.
• 175 billion pounds of public purse spent on
  purchase of works/goods/services.
• 1/3 of all public spending (Office of Government
  Commerce estimate)
• Compact, last years agreement between
  government and third sector recognises this.

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NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION

• The NEF report two years ago set out the threats
  but also opportunities for using the third
  sector.
• the imposition of centrally driven financial
  efficiency savings targets, combined with the
  drive towards greater competition and
  contestability, is eroding the effectiveness of
  local public services, as commissioners of public
  services focus on short term costs rather than
  longer term outcomes for service users.
• This undermines the governments stated policy
  of building strong local communities and
  economies, and impacts particularly severely on
  small and medium sized providers whose work
  support some of the most vulnerable people in our
  society. For example a recent survey of
  providers of childrens services revealed that
  68 had made cuts in the last 12 months. 40
  cited efficiency savings as the single greatest
  cause of those cuts

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REAL HELP FOR COMMUNITIES

• This important recent policy paper (published
  Feb 2009 by the Cabinet Office) recognises a key
  role for the third Sector
• We are going to need the sense of purpose,
  energy and expertise of our third sector as we
  face the challenges ahead (Rt Hon Gordon Brown
  p 4)
• The third sector is extremely well-placed to
  support some of the most vulnerable people in our
  communities on their journey back to work
  through their local roots, expertise and
  commitment.(Rt Hon James Purnell in Real Help
  p 11)
• supporting the third sector to deliver effective
  public services requires investment in good
  commissioning practice.(p 14)

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COMMISSIONING in a economic downturn

• Good Practice becomes especially important in
  recession
• women losing jobs at a faster rate as the
  recession bites
• long term impact of loss of skills in workforce
• the gender skills gap costs the UK economy
  anything between GBP 15bn and GBP 23bn a year
  (Vera Baird MP Solicitor General commenting on
  the recent National Skills Forum report)
• Key sectors such as science, engineering and IT
  suffer from a shortage of skilled workers, but
  only just over 1/3 science, engineering and
  technology undergraduates were women.

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COMMISSIONING A THREAT TO EQUALITY

• Poor commissioning that simply cuts costs can
  drive down quality and standards.
• Driving down costs can drive down pay rates.
• Focus on cost alone can make it hard for small
  local specialist providers to compete.
• Womens organisations (7 of registered charities)
  are often the only provider of specialist
  services to very vulnerable groups.
• Evidence shows many such as rape crisis centres
  are at risk.

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RAPE CRISIS CENTRES

• 1 in 5 centres closed since 2003
• Recent Map of Gaps report (ehrc/evaw) shows ¼
  facing closure this year because of lack of funds
• 50 of specialist BAME and refugee violence
  against women organisations have closed in the
  last 5 years
• Violence against women costs the NHS 176 million
  for mental health support alone.

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COMMISSIONING GOOD PRACTICE

• Good employment standards can make for better
  quality work.
• Using smaller local providers can help build
  strong communities.
• Public procurement ought to support not threaten
  small scale specialist local enterprise.
• Thorough training of commissioners crucial
• A leadership steer from region, local authority
  or Chief Executive can trigger change in
  commissioning culture.

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COMMISSIONING a tool to promote Equality and
Fairness

• Incorporate equality into contract
  specifications.
• Design contracts to level the playing field for
  SMEs and VCS organisations
• Build equality into ALL aspects of contract
  planning, outcomes, tendering, monitoring
• Recognise the need for tailored/specialist
  services
• Use equalities impact assessments to persuade
  contractors to promote equality and fairness