Supporting people to live good lives: how to make the most of what’s on

your doorstep

Lucie Stephens, Head of Co-production, New Economics Foundation

• About the cultural commissioning programme• The value of arts and culture• The Care Act 2014• Co-producing commissioning• Resources and sources of support

• Arts & cultural organisations better able to engage with public sector commissioning

• Public service commissioners more

aware of potential for arts & cultural organisations to deliver outcomes

 

Outcomes

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Value that arts delivers

Encourage sustained participation

Addresses inclusivity and difference

Effective working in preventative agenda

Use of existing community assets

Place and inclusion

Health and well-being

Life skills

Identity

Safe way to explore difference

Regeneration

Engaging with seldom-heard

voices Route into education

Pride and

identity

Reduced social isolation

Social bonding

Personal communication

tool

Physical health

Addressing stigma

Community cohesion

Cognitive and

creative skills

Social skills (confidence,

teamwork etc.)

Route into employment

Mental health recovery

Reintegration into society

Heat maps of activityOutcome

Mental healthWell-being

Education and learningEmployment and training

Physical healthInclusion/ participation / community

cohesionCrime and public safety

RegenerationConservation and environment

Substance useHousing

Finance / legal

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BeneficiaryChildren

Young peopleOlder/ retired people

People with disabilitiesSeldom heard communities

Local communitiesGeneral public

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME)

Refugees / Asylum seekersAdults

Gender specific

The Dragon Cafe

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shg5KyrfBgI

There is a duty to promote well-being

The Care Act:• Places well-being at its heart: the

primary responsibility of local authorities is the promotion of the individual wellbeing of both those with care needs and carers

• Shifts responsibility from providing services to meeting needs

• Focuses on the need for services to be preventative, and stresses the importance of using the existing strengths and assets of individuals and communities an assets based approach

What is wellbeing

• Connect• Be active• Keep learning• Take notice• Give

Co-production in the Care Act

“Local Authorities should actively promote participation in providing interventions that are co produced with ‑individuals, families, friends, carers and the community. ‘Co-production’ is when an individual influences the support and services received, or when groups of people get together to influence the way that services are designed, commissioned and delivered”.

Department of Health. (2014). Care and Support Statutory Guidance: Issued under the Care Act 2014. p.11

Defining co-production

‘Co-production is a relationship whereprofessionals and citizens share power toplan and deliver support together,recognising that both partners have vitalcontributions to make in order to improvequality of life for people andcommunities’.

Co-production critical friends group, 2012

Recognising co-production

• Seeing people as assets: working with people’s expertise by experience

• Building on our capabilities: supporting people to put their skills to use

• Developing two way relationships: mutual responsibilities and expectations

• Growing peer support: supporting networks• Blurring distinctions: reconfiguring how services are

designed and delivered• Facilitating not delivering: enabling people to achieve their

own personal goals

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The commissioning role is one in which the authority and its partners seek to secure the best outcomes for their local community by making use of all available resources. (IDeA)

Successful commissioning means delivering the right outcomes at the right cost.  Compare that with our definition of good value for money: ‘the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes’. Successful commissioning is, almost by definition, good value for money. (NAO)

Under the Social Value Act authorities must consider(a) how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area, and(b) how, in conducting the process of procurement, it might act with a view to securing that improvement.

The role of commissioning

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• A commissioning approach that involves working collaboratively with local people and providers

• Looks for outcomes across the social, environmental and economic bottom-line 

• Co-produces support to meet people’s needs, help them achieve their aspirations and promote high well-being for all.  

Triple bottom line focus• Social outcomes: services are expected to meet needs and

promote outcomes that contribute towards well-being for all, such as stronger social networks, improved physical health, or greater autonomy

• Environmental outcomes: services are encouraged to address negative environmental impacts, such as their waste and carbon emissions, and to promote positive environmental changes, such as using renewable energy sources or promoting the use of green spaces locally

• Economic outcomes: services should consider their role in – and impact on – the local economy. This might include specific outcomes around local money flows, investment or provision of good quality jobs at a living wage.

Co-producing commissioning

Co-production in commissioning

• Everyone involved from the beginning and through-out commissioning cycle

• Commissioners partners in co-production

Co-producing commissioning

• Commissioners set focus on co-production through service specifications

• Providers are expected to co-design and co-produce work with people using services

Commissioning co-production

Spectrum of practice

Ladder of participation What do commissioners do?

Type of commissioning

Co-production

Doing with people.Working together in an equal, give

and take partnership. This is co-producing commissioning. Co-design

Engagement

Doing for people.

Engaging and involving people (asking for their views).

This is commissioning co-production.

Consultation

Informing

Doing to people.

Doing things to or for people without involving them or asking for their

views. This is market management/control.

Educating

Connecting with commisionersFactors influencing commissioner behaviour • A personal commitment to arts and culture• Existing arts and cultural commissioning in place when they came into

post• Arts development officers within the same division/ department as them

Messages from commissioners about how to engage them• This can’t be about new money• Focus events or topics on solving commissioners perceived problems• Be aware of peoples time pressures and make things as close to home as

possible• Get senior strategic sign up (directors and elected members crucial)

artscommissioningtoolkit.com purposeThe arts and cultural funding landscape is changing. To support arts and cultural organisations looking for new funding opportunities we created artscommissioningtoolkit.com.

Commissioned by Royal Opera House Bridge, Artswork and Kent County Council (KCC), it is a step-by-step guide through the commissioning process - a new process to many organisations.

The site includes practical real-life learning and advice from people and organisations who took part in a wellbeing commission in 2014.

It aims to share the learning from the commission with the arts and cultural sector as widely as possible for the maximum benefit and sustainability of the sector.

artscommissioningtoolkit.com audiences

Primary audience • Arts and cultural organisations looking to diversify

their income

Secondary audiences• Voluntary and community organisations• Commissioners and funders

https://www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/public-services/cultural-commissioning-programme

http://thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/co-production-in-commissioning-tool/