The Board Development Agency - Improving Governance, Empowering People, Driving Performance

Working with as many Resident Scrutiny Groups as we do, it is interesting to see how these groups are regarded by the officers that serve them.

All new teams of course go through the ‘Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing' stages, and in the early stages the reliance on the serving officers can be great. However, as the group develops, with proper training and support, the mission of the officers should change from one of support to one of promoting the groups independence; as a good scrutiny panel should think for themselves, act for themselves and do the right things.

Do not forget that they are a vital part of your Governance. You cannot do Co-Regulation without them and they need to be given the status they deserve. In our book Scrutiny members are as important as Board Members.

Signs that a Scrutiny Panel is finding its feet are that they will be pushing to:

• Control the budget (don't make them have to ask for stuff!)
• Draft the agenda for meetings
• Book the rooms for their meetings
• Choose their own topics for scrutiny
• Read around the subjects without prompting
• Draft their own reports
• Devise their own logo
• Find and book suitable training
• Organise their own sub groups and meetings to move reviews forward as they see fit
• Meet socially to build better teamwork

‘Letting go' means more consultation, asking and requesting instead of ‘telling' or ‘organising' them. This is not a time for feeling threatened; you should be congratulated for bringing them to this position and they should make you look good with their success.

Here are some ideas about how you should continue to act:

• Enable them to meet and work with the Board now again
• Move from supporter to facilitator
• By all means help them but do not try to ‘control'
• Make sure your standard of service to them does not slip
• Keep an overview of their performance - you will still have to address any non-performance issues but delegate this upward - could you discipline a Board Member?
• Work on your relationship with the panel's officers - ideally this would look like a positive non-threatening ‘Critical friend' relationship.

A brief look at ‘Transactional Analysis' theory can explain what often happens here. (Adult, Parent, Child)

Forming a new group is a bit like having a ‘Child' around as they take their first steps and this promotes the ‘Parent' in us which may be OK to start with but should switch to ‘Adult' as soon as possible to remove the emotion from this relationship that keeping the classic Parent/Child connection will generate.

A Parent/Child relationship can cause a lot of pain - Parents can be too controlling just as the Child wants to try things for themselves. A Child can throw a tantrum if things are not working out their way. I could go on but hopefully everyone gets the picture?

Adult/Adult is the way to go with both sides treating each other with understanding and respect. This will generate good communication, synergy and well-being all around.

"For safety use a third party, to review the panel's effectiveness once per year. The report from this should go to them and to you and this is your chance to see how they have matured".

said Hugh Laird, a Director of BDA.

For help with Resident Scrutiny facilitation recruitment training or review contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text3403 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

22 June 2012 at COSLA Haymarket Edinburgh

Building on the success of last years conference in Edinburgh, we are pleased to announce the agenda for this year's Governance Conference for RSLs.  Governance in RSLs continues to change and the pace of change shows no sign of abating.  This year the Scottish Housing Regulator has taken over regulation of RSLs with a new regulatory framework. The Scottish Government wants to introduce sustainable whole life cycle procurement.  Prepare your organisation for the transformation it needs to make to meet the new governance challenges. Join our  Governance Raising the Bar Conference, where we aim to assemble a range of experts on social value and impact assessments, CEOs, Board members and other leaders in the social housing field.

Draft Agenda

AM
9.0 Registration, Tea and Coffee

9.30 Chair's Opening Remarks

9.35 Regulation in Scotland - what needs to change Mary Taylor CEO SFHA invited

10.15 The Sustainable Procurement Bill what this Scottish Government Bill will mean for and RSLs Alex Neil MSP invited

10.45 Coffee

11:45 Appraising Governing Body Members - Lorna Pattison Chair of Fife HA and Hugh Laird

11:45 12.00 Paying Governing Body members: Question Time style debate. Speakers invited: Hugh, Mary Taylor, Yvonne Summers Chair of   Dunedin Canmore HA John Mulloy, CEO Hillcrest HA and, OSCR invitee

12.30 Lunch

PM
1.30 Workshops
1. Developing a Code of Conduct: Discussion. SFHA
2. Transforming Procurement to meet Sustainable Procurement Bill action planning session. Hugh Laird
3. Bonds v Private Lending - financing the future risk free Morton Fraser & Jackie Bowie (Bonds)
4. Effective Audit Committees and risk based regulation : Yvonne Atkinson

2.30 Tea
2.45- 3.45 Workshops repeated

 

 

Action learning is a dynamic problem solving approach to learning where participants come out with an action plan.  Join our three action learning days and make sure your organisation  understands and commits to actions it needs to take in the coming months to comply with economic regulation.

1. Action learning of how to develop a VFM Strategy  to meet the VFM standards 26 June Manchester
2. This Month (May 2012) the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 will become law. The new Act is extremely important and will have wide ranging implications to your future procurement processes. Don't rest on your laurels, this Act will affect your organisation so be prepared and join this action learning day!  19 June ~ London, 2 July ~Birmingham, 11 September ~Bristol. The Act means ‘social value', ‘economic and environmental well-being will have to be taken into account when commissioning contracts for products or services, below the EU commissioning threshold.
3. How to calculate Social value is an important part to both meeting the VFM standard and the Public Services Social Value Act 2012. Join our action learning days mentioned above.

These important one day workshops, will enable you to gain a firm grasp of the changes you need to make to fall within the new regulations.

Alternatively, why not  ask us to facilitate this learning in-house.  Many organisations are particularly interested in training in-house on the public Services Social value Act 2012 and Social Value training. It can make sense save money and is the sustainable option that can cut down on travelling.  For more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

BDA has developed two pilot programmes for Local Authorities and Housing Associations intended to ‘test' delivery of the Government's aspiration to achieve better value for money in public spending, whilst ensuring that all public money spent can demonstrate its perceived social value of return on investment. The pilot programme will test whether LAs and HAs adopting SROI (Social Return on Investment) methodology in conjunction with process review tools, including LEAN, can secure better value for money and real savings whilst delivering enhanced social value to the communities they serve.

Is your organisation interested in leading the way and becoming a pilot?  The cabinet office have said they would like to observe the pilot process to see what best practice lessons can be learned. Hugh Laird said ' We are offering a low risk, low cost Procurement Transformation process based on Social Value with self-service or low management input options'.

The Optima Project requires:

• A VFM project team conversant with SROI as a concept ~ A group of staff members trained to Assessor level in the disciplines of SROI, with a mission to cascade the new value of social value throughout the authority via an easy SROI calculation tool available ‘online' to everybody, so that they can calculate and see the real value behind their decisions.

• A Data Capture process that enables a new visibility of spend ~We want to ensure that organisations have a data capture system that enables an authority wide visibility of spend by: service, geography, number of suppliers and volume of transactions, seasonality and trends. This system will automatically reveal this and the priorities for review without the need for manual effort or complex and time consuming spreadsheets.
• A link to every ‘live' contract ~ All contract details in one place and ‘online'; with an automatic reminder system to notify those responsible in appropriate time where a renewal is approaching. When renewal is due, that there is a link to the procurement process which includes SROI methodology and complies with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. (see below)
• Process Optimisation processes permanently underway ~ A series of system reviews (driven by the spend data) which seek out waste and cost reduction opportunities to save money on a continuous improvement basis; with the decisions around potential savings made using SROI principles and methodology to ensure social value is properly considered.
• Procurement decisions which have the proper regard to SROI methodology ~ All buying decisions comply with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and the procurement methodology has proper regard to the social return of bids, as well as the usual tests such as price and quality.

The weighting given to Social Value will reflect the authorities' local situation and mission.

All of this should be cost neutral, with the approaches used above identifying savings in excess of the costs of the programme.

Fore more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hugh continues: 'we are offering a low risk, low cost Procurement Transformation process based on Social Value with self-service or low management input options'.

Transforming Governance .......... is a conference to consider changes in governance required to meet economic regulation and the new commercial focus for the housing sector

15 June 2012 Birmingham

Target audience is Governance officers and those who support governance in housing organisation and board members

Draft  Agenda
AM
9.0 Registration, Tea and Coffee

9.30 Chair's Opening Remarks

9.45 Regulation and the Regulation Committee a HCA Speaker has been invited and changes under the new regulatory standards.

10.45 Coffee

11.0 The new VFM standards in housing - the strategy required Yvonne Atkinson Director The Board Development Agency

11.30 Getting your assurance right -what does this mean? Balancing risk and borrowing against assets and opportunity costs Housing Finance expert has been invited

12.0 Resident Scrutiny and Tenants panels - their respective roles under consumer Regulation and the Localism Act 2011 and complaints. Have you prepared - Hugh Laird, Director at BDA,

12.30 Lunch

PM
1.30 Is a new breed of chair board member and tenant required to meet the new challenges housing organisations face Chair invited to speak

1.45 -2.45 Workshops.
1. Developing a Value for Money strategy and embedding in Co regulatory Governance ~ Ita Cooke.
2. The Social Value and Governance ~ Jeanette Mcgarry and Tony Lightfoot.
3. What changes to the code of Governance are required?
4. Empowering the audit Committee

2.45 Tea
3.00 - 4 ~ Workshops repeated
1. Developing a Value for Money strategy and embedding in Co regulatory Governance ~ Ita Cooke.
2. The Social Value and Governance ~ Jeanette Mcgarry and Tony Lightfoot Chair of North Lincolnshire Homes.
3. What changes to the code of Governance are required?
4. Empowering the audit Committee

Two workshops should be chosen for the afternoon

So all you hard working governance officers we hope you will find time to come and learn from peers and share what you know and as this is  our 5th Annual Conference for Governance officers we will be putting on a bit of  a festive mood. There is so much GOs have to celebrate.

The cost of attendance is £185+VAT with the usual discount for Go members .  To book your place email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 

This year the National Association of Governance Officers is 5 years old.  We think it is time to celebrate the contribution that the  new breed of Governance Officers are bringing to housing organisations.  BDA launched GO- or  NAGO because we recognised the importance of organisations having a  governance specialist  supporting board and executive teams.  If we go back 10 years most boards in housing associations  were supported by the CEO's PA.  More often than not  this meant  the PA had 2 jobs.  Time constraints often dictated how much time the PA could devote to supporting and servicing the boards.  By setting up Go we wanted to help support  and develop the PAs and other officers in this board facing role and to get sector acknowledgement that we need to create a new role of Governance officer.  In supporting the development of the role we  set up GO the National association of Governance officers. This gave GOs a network of peer to peer support through emails and round table meetings and training and development programmes like the Governance Officer Leadership Programme -  Go Gold.

Yvonne Atkinson BDA's director says "We are proud to have contributed to the  development of Governance Officers and  sector recognition of the importance of this role  "

What does a Governance Officer look like today?   Well not surprisingly since most governance officer progressed from being the CEOs PA a lot of them are women. What skills do they need to demonstrate? Being well organised and diplomatic are vital as well as an in-depth grounding in what good governance means in the sector they are in.  "One of the first things we did with  GO was to help develop a job description and person specification with governance officers.  Many GOs used this to negotiate the development of the GO role. If you would like to see that please contact  me" says Yvonne Atkinson.

"It is always good to take time to see the distance that has been travelled and the the improvements that have been made. Promoting  good governance through governance officers was  in our view a major break through in taking the sector to a more dynamic  and commercial approach to being a  housing social enterprise  " says Hugh Laird

"We have enjoyed working with this hard working and committed group over that last 5 years and look forward to the next 5 years"

For more information about how we can support you as a governance officer or expert in your organisation contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Written by Yvonne Atkinson

During BDA's recent ground breaking Conference on Value for Money- incorporating Social Value in February, we were pleased to have Chris White M.P. for Warwick and Leamington as a keynote speaker. Chris has achieved what only a few M.Ps dream - that is, to get their private members bill adopted with all party support. On 8 March his bill became the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.

Under the Public Services (Social Value) Act, for the first time all public bodies in England and Wales are directly required to consider how the services they commission and procure might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area.

All English and some Welsh bodies will have to comply with the new law, including: local authorities, government departments, NHS Trusts, PCTs, fire and rescue services, and housing associations.

Not only that, but other bodies who are regulated by ‘public bodies' like registered housing associations are indirectly required to consider how the services they commission and procure might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area.

It applies to all public services contracts and those public services contracts with only an element of goods or works. It doesn't apply to public work contracts or public supply (goods) contracts.

This Act should, over the coming year, transform the way public bodies like local authorities and regulated bodies like housing associations, commission and choose services.
In the past, public bodies could take into account social value in the services they commissioned above the EU public procurement threshold, but few did, and many assessed tenders only against quality technical ability and price criteria. Now in the recession, and in response to the recent Bombardier case - where the Thameslink contract went to Siemens based in Germany rather than Derby based Bombardier. More public bodies and housing associations are looking at how suppliers will add value to local communities, to avoid possible deleterious effects on the well-being of local communities, through redundancies and the recession.

This is a complex area and setting the weight to be given to social value in contract assessment, is an art not a science. It needs to be supported by evidence and be proportionate, based on a sound methodology for assessing social value.

We have been exploring not just how to assess social value, but how to integrate social value across the way organisations commission and provide services, and through their processes.

Our Optima SV methodology, recently praised by procurement gurus in the cabinet office, could be the value for money solution your organisation needs.

 

Want to Know More

To find out more about the new Act, come to one of our Public Services(Social Value) Act 2012 Action Days:

• 19 April ~ Birmingham (places still available, book now)
• 26 April ~ London
• 9 May ~ Manchester

Or sign up for Optima!

 

 

 

 

New  VFM outcome:

Registered providers shall articulate and deliver a comprehensive and strategic approach to achieving value for money in meeting their organisation's objectives, taking. Their boards must maintain a robust assessment of the performance of all their assets and resources (including for example financial, social and environmental returns). This will take into account the interests of and commitments to stakeholders, and be available to them in a way that is transparent and accessible. This means managing their resources economically, efficiently and effectively to provide quality services and homes, and planning for and delivering year on year-going improvements in value for money.

Comment

The new standard includes the new words in bold and makes it clear that Board must have a strategic overview of what VFM means and this must include not just financial returns as in the past but social aND environmental returns.

Specific Requirements

1.1 Registered providers shall:

• have a robust approach to making decisions on the use of resources to deliver the provider's objectives, including an understanding of the trade offs and opportunity costs of its decisions
• understand the return on its assets, and have a strategy for optimising the future returns on assets - including rigorous appraisal of all potential options for improving value for money including the potential benefits in alternative delivery models - measured against the organisation's purpose and objectives
• have performance management and scrutiny functions which are effective at driving and delivering improved value for money performance
• understand the costs and outcomes of delivering specific services and which underlying factors influence these costs and how they do so.

Comment

• maximising was replaced with optimising
• a rigorous approach to assessing options for value for money improvement, including where there are potential benefits in alternative delivery models that may involve partnerships, mergers and/or contracting with third parties has been replaced with' rigorous appraisal all potential options'

1.2 Registered providers ' boards shall demonstrate to stakeholders how they are meeting this standard. As part of that process, on an annual basis, they will publish a robust self assessment which sets out in a way that is transparent and accessible to stakeholders how they are achieving value for money in delivering their purpose and objectives. The assessment shall:

• enable stakeholders to understand the return on assets measured against the organisation's objectives
• set out the absolute and comparative costs of delivering specific services
• evidence the value for money gains that have been and will be made and how these have and will be realised over time

Comment

The self assessment is will now evidence gained realised over time rather than year on year so that a longer strategy than an annual one is envisaged

To find out what you need to do to set up  and embed a Value for Money Strategy come to BDA's action learning  workshop  in Birmingham on 22nd May .  Click to find out more.

Or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

There is very little change from the consultation except to the Value for Money Standard which iwe discuss in a in a separate article .

Changes to the framework  emphasis more the role of the Board  and tenants in maintaining the 4 consumer standards.  For instance

"2.5 Consumer standards apply to all registered providers, including local authorities. The Boards and councillors are responsible for ensuring the standards are met, and others, such as tenant panels, MPs and elected representatives have a role in scrutinising that this is delivered. The regulator sets the consumer standards supportso that tenants, landlords and stakeholders know the outcomes that are expected. In this way, co-regulation. In future, is supported by the standards. The regulator does not have a proactive role in monitoring compliance with these standards, and will only intervene in cases of serious detriment." and

The examples given in the consultation about what could give rise to 'serious detriment to tenants have remained.

Tenant scrutiny is now a must.

"5.3 The regulator sets consumer standards so that tenants, landlords and stakeholders know the outcomes that are expected. This is crucial if tenants are to be able to hold landlords to account effectively. These standards therefore support co-regulation. Where necessary, they reflect directions issued to the regulator by Government .

5.4 Boards and councillors that govern providers' services are responsible for ensuring that their organisation meets the consumer standards. review recommended. Performance issues should be resolved by providers through their complaints procedures, scrutiny arrangements and/or local routes to resolution and without reference to the regulator.

5.15.5 The regulator has no role in monitoring providers' performance or routine compliance with the consumer standards. Government policy on which the Localism Act is founded advocates a localist approach to the resolution of service delivery problems, and an enhanced role in the complaints process for designated tenant panels, MPs and elected councillors. Further information about what the changes meanit means for users of these local mechanisms will be provided by DCLG

If landlords have not yet established tenant scrutiny BDA can help you facilitate, advertise and recruit for the setting up of a tenant panel; train mentor and guide an effective scrutiny panel. For more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The regulations also underline the Board's role in relation to the 3 economic standards

"3 These standards apply to all registered providers except for local authorities. Providers' boards are responsible for ensuring their organisation meets the economic standards. The regulator has a proactive role in relation to economic standards and will engage with providers to obtain assurance that they are being met. "

The Governance and Financial Viability standard is unchanged from the consultation as well as the Tenant Involvement and empowerment and Homes standard. There are quite afew clarifying amendments to the Tenancy standards and one change to the neighbourhood and community standard.  The deletion of the word public in front of agencies.

If you would like to receive a copy of our free comparison document showing all changes from the consultation email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Social impact visibility evidences the added value to communities that social  businesses like Housing Associations  bring.  As  'big spenders' in their areas Boards need to understand  the economic, social and environmental effects of their business plans. Untargeted cost savings  or poor procurement can damage communities  - as in the recent case of the  Thameslink contract awarded to a German based firm Siemens at a great cost to the local Derby community.

SROI (The Social Return on Investment) is the the current and previous Government  backed and International method of calculating  social value . This process works by finding out what changes because of actions like spending patterns, and  procurement and commissioning and enables a proxy monetary value to be calculated on  the social value gained.

For a positive example: a social landlord decides to outsource its resident consultation processes to a group of tenants who have clubbed together to form a 'Social Enterprise' on the basis that tenants are more likely to talk to tenants. This initiative created employment for 2 previously out of work people who now are off benefits and who are spending more of their money in their own community. Their well-being has improved and so has that of their families and the wider community.

Here is a negative example: a social Landlord with predominatly rural stock decides to save money by grouping together a number of small contracts for the renewal of the carpets in its sheltered homes into one big contract which goes to a 'city' firm. This was the final straw for a local firm which is put out of business with the loss of 3 local jobs.

These are both procurement issues, which landlords will need to address in their procurement processes to comply with the Public Services (Social Value ) Act 2012 for contracts below the EU Public Procurement Threshold as well as those above it.   Boards rarely get to consider these impacts.

BDA are running a national pilot programme to link SROI to  your value for money strategy including detailed spend analysis, making costs visible,  Business Process Engineering or LEAN and your procurement processes . This way BDA is confident that  it can help your organisation identify cashable and non cashable savings , understand the social impact of its services. We guarantee that the processes will be self-financing . "Whenever we look at processes or 'spend' in detail we always see scope for improvements and savings" stated Hugh Laird, "our 'Optima Social Value Model is supported by facilitation and  by web based cost saving software. We guarantee to identify savings and  at the same time we are mapping the your social value."

There are still places available for the pilots. Whatever you want to try to link your work to its social value, we would be interested in talking to you. For more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it