The Derbyshire Public Sector Compact “The first two years and beyond”

Chris Donkin

(Facilitator for the Derbyshire Public Sector Compact)

A brief history … (1)

• Derbyshire Public sector Compact was formed in the Spring of 2007 following a launch event at Pride Park Stadium

• Support for the first three months of the Compact was provided by me (working for LLUK)

• At the early Steering Group meetings the Terms of Reference of the Compact were established and it was agreed that the purpose of the Compact would be: “to improve the quality of the public services in the county through effective collaborative workforce development and planning”

A brief history … (2)

• From April 2007 the Compact engaged administrative and secretarial support from a ‘facilitating agency’ (initially the Derbyshire Learning Partnership and then DDEP)

• It was intended that the Compact would form sub groups to achieve it’s purpose – these were not formed and attendance at SG meetings dropped

• After one year it was noted that Compact had lost some of the early impetus and the LSC commissioned a brief review of the first twelve months to provide some recommendations for the Compact to move forward

Year One Review – Summary (1)

• Steering Group members recognised the potential of the Compact to facilitate effective collaborative working

• There was a perceived lack of focus and direction regarding the operation of the Compact and the implementation of the Action Plan from some respondents.

• Steering Group members did not feel that the Compact’s activities were meeting the stated aims within the Terms of Reference

• Concerns were expressed relating to the implementation of the action plan. Some overlap with other initiatives was observed and it was noted that the plan was perhaps too ambitious.

• Compact Stakeholders felt that the Steering Group would benefit from regular attendees and a strong representation from the HR fraternity.

The Review concluded that:

Year One Review – Summary (2)

• “Workforce planning / workforce development could be addressed by the Compact. Collaborative planning around common training programmes and more widely a look at recruitment and retention strategies”

• “Articulating employer demand for future workforce skills”• “Providing/developing tools or frameworks to support the

process of documenting training needs”• “Enabling more strategic planning and collaborative working to

meet the training needs and secure or pool resource”

… the above are a selection of comments recorded

The Review noted that stakeholders wanted a definite focus on workforce development

Year One Review – Summary (3)

• The Compact secure the commitment of the larger public sector employers within the county to ensure that the benefits of collaborative working are reaped. Specifically, it is recommended that the Compact explore the possibility of deploying a ‘Members Charter’ to encourage high-level commitment from a wider representation of public sector organisations.

• The Terms of Reference are reviewed to acknowledge the changing priorities of the Compact. It is further recommended that the Terms are underpinned by a statement of annual priorities that describe the current aspirations of the Compact.

• The Steering Group is supported by working groups• For session 08-09 the Compact engages the services of a facilitating

agency that are equipped to make a professional input into the work of the Compact in addition to providing administrative and secretarial support

• It is recommended that all Compact activity is underpinned by a complete set of documentation that describes transparently the operation of the Compact.

The Review recommended that:

…and so the Annual Priorities for 08-09 were established they are:

… and to address the Annual Priorities ..

The Compact formed two Task Groups !

The Workforce Development Group The Skills Pledge Group

… and by Jan 09 we have achieved …

Skills Pledge – 18 (non schools) sector organisations now committed to the Pledge – with a further 11 on our ‘hit list’

Workforce Development – Six organisations took part in a mini-project (culminating with a a workshop) to share TNAs and to explore collaborative planning and working (NB the sector has also noted an increase in the number of apprentices working in the sector)

Good Practice Events – Skills Pledge Breakfast Briefing in November very well received and very well attended – Workforce Development Workshop in December productive and promoting partnership working

The Breakfast Briefing – Nov 08

A catalyst for much of the progress ! Very impressive presentations from Bolsover District Council, Derbyshire County PCT and Derby Homes.

• Feedback from the event was very positive

• Over 40 delegates attended the session with 18 different sector organisations giving a clear indication that they want to pursue their interest. The Compact is now working with East Midlands Business to ensure that those organisations who have demonstrated their enthusiasm will now ‘sign up’ to the Skills Pledge.

• Job Centre Plus are supporting organisations who indicated an interest in committing to the complementary Jobs Pledge

Beyond March 2009

The last Steering and Task group meetings decided to draft priorities / targets for 09-10. Subject to adoption by the Steering Group these are:

• ALL public sector organisations in Derbyshire commit to the Skills Pledge

• To support the development of 3 new collaborative arrangements (partnerships) in the sector by March 2010

• To identify the number of apprentices in the sector by the end of March 09 and to support a 20% increase in the numbers by March 2010 (there are already examples [e.g. the Police] of increases in the number of Apprentices partially attributable to the

work of the Compact) • Two further Good Practice Events to be delivered before the end of March

2010 (watch out for the ‘Public Sector Skills Showcase !)

Gathering Pace …..

There are now 213 individuals listed on the distribution list for Compact Communications. All categories of Public Sector organisations are represented –

• Social Care• Prison Service• Police• Probation Service• Youth Justice Board• Fire Service• Ambulance Service• Health and Blood Service

There is an aspiration to engage with the third sector soon ..

•Central Government Agencies and Departments•Local Government•Armed Forces•Universities•Schools•Further Education Colleges•Court Services

•Children’s Services

… and not forgetting the web site …www.empscompacts.org.uk/derbyshire.asp

… and not forgetting the Newsletter ..

The Derbyshire Public Sector Compact

There is a lot going on !

???? Questions ????