Issue - meetings

The Board received a report setting out proposals for a Strategic Commissioning Framework (SCF) that would guide commissioning activity in relation to the HSP’s Area Based Grant allocation.

It was noted that the Enterprise Partnership Board (EPB) was currently piloting the Framework and that a draft Commissioning Prospectus had been produced. The Framework had drawn on other models of good practice and had looked particularly at the ‘Team Hackney’ model.

In response to concerns that the Community and Voluntary Sector did would not have sufficient time to build capacity within the Sector, if the SCF was adopted in the timescale proposed, the Board was advised that representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector sat on the Commissioning Group tasked with developing the SCF.

It was noted that the Commissioning Group had been meeting regularly over the last nine months and that representatives sitting on the Group were responsible for ensuring that their respective organisations briefed on the development of the SCF.

Although the SCF was broadly welcomed by the Community and Voluntary Sector it was suggested that there should be more analysis of how the Area Based Grant (ABG) was allocated by sector and that this should be built into the SCF.

It was suggested that there should be provision within the Contract Monitoring part of the commissioning cycle to analyse cost effectiveness with a view to decommissioning projects where appropriate.

In response to a query the Board was advised that the SCF would be phased in as funds were allocated to the Thematic Boards over the next financial year.

It was confirmed that the SCF would begin to be phased in before the Pilot was complete therefore the pints raised during discussion would need to be fed back to the Commissioning Working Group.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Strategic Commissioning Framework be endorsed.

2. That a review of the effectiveness of the arrangements should be undertaken in twelve months time.  

3. That there should be further analysis by sector of the how the Area Based Grant was allocated.