Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Culture, Strategy and Communities. To be presented by the Cabinet Member for Communities.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST MADE FOR THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approved Haringey Community Collaborative’s priorities for the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) for 2025–2026 (Appendix 1).

2.    Approved the Council’s approach to supporting the sector’s delivery of these priorities through the implementation of the VCS Action Plan, while beginning work during 2026/27 to explore co?creation of a Community Strategy for Haringey (Appendix 2).

Reasons for decision

HCC’s priorities (Appendix 1) had been developed through a series of engagement sessions with the VCS, building on their experience of supporting the sector over approximately the previous 18 months. Two VCS Priorities Workshops were run (in person and online), engaging 42 VCS participants and 23 statutory partners, and the borough?wide survey run by HCC had 52 organisational responses. This engagement achieved more depth and breadth than the Council would have been capable of delivering with its current resources and utilised the trusting relationship formed between HCC and the wider sector since it took on the role of capacity?building partner.

In identifying its priorities for the VCS, HCC had considered alignment with the six Calls to Action in Haringey 2035: Our Vision, the borough?wide vision for the next ten years, and had been explicit in highlighting the connections between the two.

The VCS Action Plan at Appendix 2 set out the work deemed necessary to support the VCS in delivering against the priorities identified by HCC.

The VCS Action Plan responded directly to the six priorities using a theory?of?change approach and noted existing work and frameworks to ensure that current knowledge, resources and relationships were utilised and duplication avoided. The actions aimed to dovetail efforts to improve relationships and governance arrangements with the VCS—such as the Social Value Leases Policy—with the needs outlined in the priorities, such as better access to community spaces to improve health and wellbeing.

The report also highlighted the emerging national framework governing relationships between the VCS and public authorities and the need for Haringey to develop a more holistic picture of the different relationships and interactions the Council held with elements of the local VCS. It outlined a strategic intention over the coming years, building on community engagement and opportunities likely to arise from, for example, the London Borough of Culture year in 2027/28, to explore the development of a broader Community Strategy for Haringey in partnership with the VCS.

Alternative options considered:

Progressing with a VCS Strategy designed and developed solely by the Council had been considered but was not recommended due to the shift in relationship being sought between the Council and the VCS under the principles of the Haringey Deal. A Council?designed strategy would have been shaped primarily by the Council’s perspective, whereas the approach suggested—using HCC’s VCS priorities to frame Council actions—allowed the work to be led by the needs of the VCS as described by the sector itself. A strategy?development process would also have required significant officer resource to run adequate engagement across the Council and the VCS, which was not feasible due to current capacity constraints.