Open Public ServicesThe changing role of the third sector

David Mullins, Rosie Meek and James Rees

Evidence Review

Partnerships

Scoping work and

20+ papers

HousingHealth and Social Care

Employment Criminal Justice

Engage with

sector

Policy / Impact

Open Public

Services

Commissioning 2012

Commissioning 2012

Our research

Open Public Services White Paper Public Services model seen as outdated. Proposals to:• Increase Choice– Presumption of preference for individual level

services ; “our vision is for public services that revolve around each of us”

– Neighbourhood and Commissioned services • Decentralise Power to lowest appropriate level• Open public services to range of providers– (“competing to offer a better service”)

• Government’s key role is to ensure fair access

Open Public Services Locating our Research

Principles Individual Neighbourhood Commissioned

Choice Health & social care

Decentralisation

Diversity Housing PartnershipsCriminal Justice

Fairness

Accountability Employment Services

Ensuring Diversity & Enabling Open Public Services: ‘new innovative providers’ , entry barriers, ‘continuity regimes’, ‘avoid switching from one monopoly to another’

Partnerships – themes • Partnership is incredibly varied • Merger: on a continuum of choices TSOs are seeking to

reduce duplication, be efficient, have influence• Hard to compile evidence about benefits or otherwise

of partnership: attribution issues, data, ‘warm glow’ effects

• Partnerships strongest where: there is external funding to be pursued AND partners have ownership AND clear (shared) purpose AND potential synergy – conversely externally mandated and steered

partnerships the LEAST SUCCESSFUL

Partnerships & Open Public Services• Conflict between ‘partnership’ and top-down

procurement agendas?• Work Programme: PBR creates tensions for

partnerships: privileges hierarchy or strongly-led consortia

• What is happening on the ground? local government. partnerships on back burner everywhere – but scope for shared local services after cuts?

• Can TSOs / spin-outs compete in new environment?

Cautious approach needed given the current evidence base

Criminal Justice – themes• Focus on Prisons and Resettlement

• Qualitative explorations

• Using existing datasets to identify the number of TSOs that work with offenders

• Levels of awareness of resettlement-focused TSOs in prisons remains low

Some TSOs had few prisoners reporting use of services despite prisons reporting working relationships

Engagement with and awareness of TSOs: prisoner self reportsN = 680, age 15-78 years (mean age 32) n = 15-31 TSOs, total = 116 TSOs

Population Type of prison (two privately run)

Response rate n (% population)

Female Closed 85 (18)Male Open, training 50 (10)Male Open, local 90 (9)Male Juvenile 19 (4)Female Open, training 16 (11)Male Closed 66 (12)Male young adults Closed 46 (10)Male Closed local 308 (25)

Criminal Justice – further questions

• The effectiveness of TSOs in meeting offenders’ needs appears to vary considerably between pathways

• Becoming major arena for outcome-based commissioning and Payment by Results

• Broader aspects of Criminal Justice: Policing, Probation, Victims

Health and Social Care – themes

• Personalisation • Carers • Health Reforms• Commissioning relationships• Spin-outs • Social care and the third sector

Health and Social Care and Open Public Services

• What can we learn from earlier attempts to externalise public services? (housing, leisure trusts)

• Can clinical commissioning groups work with third sector for more ‘joined up services’?

• Key role of carers and advocates in personalisation• Are social enterprises ready and able to compete for

provision of services? • Are commissioners ready to let go?What impact will the need for greater financial savings

have on this agenda?

Housing – themes SIZE MATTERS! scoping work led to focus on self-help

and large Housing Associations – self-help housing strong ‘policy fit’ to current agendas

such as Big Society and localism – research tracks policy action

– Large housing organisations seen as ‘the distant uncle’ what can we learn from uncle? • Balancing social and commercial aims is a key

management dynamic of large housing TSOs • Partnerships with small TSOs can deliver social

value – research tracks social investment and partnerships

Housing and Open Public Services• Housing TSOs deliver a range of neighbourhood

services (directly and through partnerships) • Should housing TSOs be treated as ‘public bodies’ – how

does this affect ability to attract finance? • Scaling up and policy fit challenges for small community

based groups such as self-help housing• Experience of housing transfers suggests different

advantages for Arms Length and fully independent forms – Transfer may lead to less locally based decisions and re-agglomeration into Regional/ national groups

Next Steps – Employment Project• We are ‘mapping’ the Work Programme• Rhetoric of Big Society: but many organisations

large and how distinctive, innovative, trusted?• Reality of supply chain function – case studies

of subcontractors• How do different types of TSO experience the

Work Programme supply chain?• Outcomes/‘results’ of WP won’t come until

2013

Next Steps – cross-sector and cross-stream research

• What have we learned about ‘spin-outs’ from health, housing and leisure services?

• How can TSOs play a more influential role in commissioning, rather than simply being seen as alternative providers?

• How can we explain the weaker outcomes in the housing prisoner resettlement pathway – how does this relate to organisation of advice and statutory homelessness services?

• Implications of Work Programme for prime contractor model in other public services?

Next Steps – Taking Stock of Commissioning & Procurement Procurement and Commissioning practices and TSO responses

will influence the future shape of the sector and largely determine the impact of TSOs on public services - therefore a

key research priority

• Growing questions around outcome-based policy and delivery• Key role of Payment by Results (employment, mental health,

offenders, fostering and adoption, etc.)• Impact of national commissioning and scale/efficiency

approach on local relationships (housing)• Update, overview and policy analysis of procurement agenda

final contribution of Service Delivery stream

Thanks for Listening

Questions and Comments Welcome

David Mullins d.mullins@tsrc.ac.ukJames Rees j.rees@tsrc.ac.uk

Rosie Meek r.meek@tsrc.ac.uk