The Council’s Scrutiny Sub-Committee has made three recommendations to the Cabinet on how commissioning should work in Croydon. Cllr Jason Cummings, chair of the sub-committee, provided us with the following feedback from last week’s meeting.
“The Sub-Committee recognises the value of the social capital generated through the work of the voluntary and community sector in Croydon, and recommends that:

1. The commissioning process for the lowest levels of funding be dramatically simplified to enable smaller voluntary organisations to bid more easily
2. Additional weighting should be given to any bid, from the voluntary sector or any other sector, that demonstrates potential for developing social capital within the borough.
3. Whenever possible, the bidding process should not coincide with summer holidays, so that small voluntary groups, which may rely on one person with fundraising skills, are not impeded by the timetable from bidding to provide local services".

Dear CVSA member

Back in March this year Cllr Mike Fisher, the Leader of the Council, informed the CVSA that the Council would be developing a new Commissioning Strategy. Having already indicated - when the cuts were being made in 2010 - that the ‘shift to commissioning’ would restore VCS funding levels, this came as encouraging and significant news.
Since then, two significant commissioning rounds have taken place and CVA has continued to push for a new commissioning strategy that reflects VCS concerns.

Please see the attached for my latest update on developments.

Best wishes

Steve Phaure
Chief Executive
Croydon Voluntary Action
Resource Centre, 82 London Road
West Croydon CR0 2TB
020 8253 1260

In his presentation to the CVSA  (Croydon Voluntary Sector Alliance) on 12 May the Leader of Croydon Council, Cllr Mike Fisher, expressed his regret over the reductions made in voluntary sector funding last summer. He then reaffirmed his commitment to increasing the involvement of voluntary groups in the design and delivery of public services via new commissioning opportunities and announced that a new commissioning strategy will be published ‘by the end of this year’. The strategy will address the ‘barriers that impact on the sector’s ability to access commissioning opportunities’ by creating a commissioning hub that will ‘bring together best practice (and) offer support to commissioners and organisations’. The Leader then informed the meeting of those commissioning opportunities that are in the pipeline, such as:

• The Early Years and Family Support programme (£2 million)
  
• Carers Services (£350,000)
  
• Youth Services (budget available in September)

In conclusion, the Leader predicted that the Council’s current level of investment in the voluntary sector - £16.5 million – will rise significantly as more services are commissioned later in the year. The Leader also confirmed that the Council will soon publish the long-awaited ‘register of our local buildings and open spaces’. The Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Vidhi Mohan, then delivered his presentation on the Council’s new Small Grants Fund