Agenda item

Representatives from the voluntary sector will attend and give a presentation.

The Board received a presentation on the Devon VCSE & Public Sectors Creative Collaboration in a pandemic, highlighting how the Voluntary, Community and Public Sectors had worked more collaboratively during the Pandemic.

Key points raised included:

·         When the Pandemic began, it presented a unique opportunity in how to face this challenge, which was immediate and focussed.

·         The public sector became more flexible, similar to the voluntary sector and both were able to respond to the needs of communities – it was hoped this flexibility and joint collaborative working would be kept moving forward.

·         VCSE leaders were meeting fortnightly throughout the pandemic to communicate to public sector partners and respond to needs as they arose.

·         Partnership working had strengthened over the two years, working together creatively to resolve issues.

·         Devon Local Response and Devon Recovery VCSE Group – received funding from DCC Tactical Management Group. Looked at a whole system approach and worked hard to challenge the perception that only the public services could solve community problems, but that the voluntary sector played a significant part to enable active citizenship and thriving communities.

·         VCSE Groups had worked with DCC Smarter Devon and designed 8 themed Covid data impact workshops during the summer of 2021 and was able to bring the community experience and view to those discussions.

·         Three cross sector creative conversation events were also held, which involved very open conversations across all leaders and focussed on 3 key issues: collaborative commissioning, social value and community wealth building, and co-production.

·         The allocation of £1m COMF to Devon VCSE Alliance, symbolised increased trust from the public sector to the voluntary sector.

·         Devon County Council had gained a better understanding of how the VCSE sector worked and how it was best placed to access vulnerable communities.  The past two years had enabled great joint working between public and voluntary sector and improved how all Services supported people through self-isolation. Training was also provided by Citizens Advice and Living Options Devon which had been crucial.

·         The development of a new Devon, Plymouth and Torbay VCSE Assembly, a model in development which put citizens at the heart of everything. It was an inclusive network that recognised the needs across the whole sector, not just the ICS and had received over 100 positive responses about the model moving forward. 

On behalf of Devon County Council, the Chair thanked those working in the voluntary sector for all that had been achieved over the past two years and for how they had worked with DCC to help support the people of Devon and reach vulnerable communities. 

The Chair of the ICS thanked those for the presentation and asked what learning could be taken moving forward and what could be done differently in the future? 

Members were advised that Voluntary groups worked hard to make the best use of the Covid recovery fund and were also tasked with processing central Government funding with fast turnaround and delivery expectations.  Along with the £1m COMF there was an intense period of activity to spend the funding by the end of March, with no strategic planning in place. More planning in the future in how to access and deliver funding to maximise the benefits to communities would be useful.

Other discussions points with Members included:

·         It was important to reflect that this was still the start of the journey and this way of collaborative working was for life and not just for Covid.

·         There had been areas of learning around workforce development across the voluntary and public sector. Points had also been raised around trust, and how much the voluntary sector had valued the early engagement with the ICS and how it recognised the complexities of the voluntary sector.

·         Questions had been raised around recognised ways of working and the need to be creative around how the Sectors could work together – for example, issues around whether DCC was procuring people or seconding them and ensuring VCSE groups had time and capacity to work with DCC.

·         The development of the new ICS partnership Board had been positive and inclusive, with 2 Members of VCSE sector sat on the working group to look at Governance arrangements and structure.  The Third sector news had published statistics that 9 out of 10 charities expected significant increases in demand over the next 5 years, and it was important to note that core work was still ongoing!

(Presentation slides are attached to these minutes)