Scottish Government

Funding Services for Children & Young People
VOLUNTARY SECTOR FUNDING

This document is also available in pdf format (93k)

CONSULTATION ON THE MERGING OF VOLUNTARY SECTOR FUNDING STREAMS

Introduction

1. The Scottish Executive is keen to achieve greater coherence in its funding for services for children and young people, particularly in the key priority areas of early years intervention and voluntary sector capacity. This consultation paper concentrates on the area of voluntary sector capacity.

2. The proposal is that a new funding scheme should be introduced to support voluntary sector organisations dealing with children and young people and their families. This new scheme would incorporate existing Executive funding schemes in this area. This consultation paper aims to elicit opinion from the voluntary sector and other interested parties in Scotland on this.

Context

3. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Children's Services, which is chaired by the First Minister, has been pushing for better integrated services for children. It has overseen a range of work seeking to take a more outcome-focused approach to the planning and delivery of children's services - to ensure that services are centred around each individual child's needs to help each child achieve his or her full potential.

4. The report For Scotland's Children: better integrated services for children published in October 2001 underlined the actual and potential role of the voluntary sector in services for children, young people and families. We have recently issued draft guidance on partnership funding relationships between the voluntary and statutory sectors at local level in services for children and young people. We are now seeking comments on our proposals to join up the Executive's national funding streams in support of children and families voluntary sector work in a more coherent and strategic manner.

5. Ministers value the role of the voluntary sector generally, and specifically in relation to children and families. The voluntary sector can contribute significantly to this through:

• The ability to attract additional resources and the added value this provides.

• The commitment made by volunteers which can add significant value and increase human capital.

• Drawing on the easier relationship that exists in some circumstances between children and young people and voluntary organisations. For example, some care leavers may feel that they would prefer to receive their services from a non-statutory provider to demonstrate that they have moved on to a different stage in their life. Some clients may feel happier dealing with a less formal organisation.

• Experience of service delivery and working with children and families. This can enable voluntary organisations to contribute specialist knowledge and experience to service planning and delivery, for example in relation to children with disabilities.

• Experience of innovative and flexible approaches, which may have important lessons for core and mainstream services.

This is why Ministers see benefit in providing funding for the voluntary sector. Equally, the value placed on the independence and non-statutory role of the voluntary sector implies that Executive funding should only be one element of the sector's financial support, with a key role for raising funding through voluntary donation (recognising that scope for this may vary between voluntary bodies). And of course local statutory agencies have an important role to play in providing support.

6. This proposal is underpinned by the Scottish Compact between the Scottish Executive and the voluntary sector (currently being reviewed) and related good practice guidance. It will also feed into the Strategic Funding Review which has been established jointly by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Executive to review the scale and pattern of funding to the voluntary sector (including, but not only, from the Scottish Executive). The present consultation paper relates only to direct Scottish Executive funding to the voluntary sector and does not affect other public sector funding.

Scope of New Fund

7. The Scottish Executive gives a range of funding to voluntary sector bodies serving children and their families. In some cases these organisations relate very clearly, and solely, to children. In other cases children will figure among a number of clients.

8. Sources of funding that relate clearly to children, and seem very naturally to fit within any unified fund include:

• The Education Department's Children and Young People's Group schemes of funding for voluntary sector organisations in children's services. This includes funding through Section 10, FE Regulations, SDET and National Development Projects. It mainly supports headquarters costs of national voluntary organisations but also covers some project funding for projects that are nationwide or that pilot new and innovative approaches that may be capable of further rollout.

• The Social Work Services Inspectorate's Section 9 funding for training costs of national voluntary sector organisations. Some relates directly to children's services although additional funding goes to other organisations where children are only a proportion of the clientele It would seem appropriate to include an apportioned contribution to cover these organisations as well.

• The Education Department's Special Educational Needs Innovation Grants Programme (which also provides funding for agencies other than in the voluntary sector).

While many of these schemes focus exclusively on children and young people, other Executive grant schemes have a wider scope. These include:

• Relevant Section 9, 10 and 16B funding from the Health Department to voluntary organisations. Some have a primary focus on children's health although there is a range of other organisations covering conditions or disabilities affecting children and adults alike. In any one year the amount channelled through organisations focusing on children's health fluctuates. The Health Department will be reviewing its support to the voluntary sector generally this year but it seems sensible, subject to the conclusions of that review (which we expect early 2004), to include a relevant proportion of this funding in the new fund to reflect children's health interests.

• An important, but rather different, strand of funding from the Justice Department under Section 10 for voluntary sector organisations dealing with marriage and relationship support. This is primarily for core running costs, although there is also some support for training. Funding is in support of Justice Department goals for family law. There is a case for extending the new children and families voluntary sector fund to include these bodies too. This would, of course, require inclusion of appropriate objectives recognising the inclusive and universal character of this funding. A resource management study is currently underway in one particular area (family mediation services). It would seem sensible to consider, subject to the outcome of that study, whether the children and families voluntary sector fund should aim in the longer term to include bodies providing these sorts of broadly-based services to couples, families and children.

In many cases, in accordance with Scottish Executive Compact principles, existing funding agreements with the voluntary sector extend over more than one year. It is emphasised that in moving to any new unified fund any existing funding agreements will be respected for their duration and, in this sense, there will be an evolution towards a unified fund. The size of the new fund would depend upon its exact scope but should be at least 6 million by 2006.

Consultation Point: Comments are invited on the scope of the new fund.

Benefits of rationalisation

9. As will be seen, at present there is a variety of grant schemes which are channelling funding to organisations in the voluntary sector that are providing services to children and their families. Ministers are committed to achieving a rationalisation of the wide number of existing schemes in this area. Rationalising funding in this way would bring the following main benefits:

• Allowing a more strategic and integrated approach to funding of voluntary organisations in the field of children's and families' services, through the establishment of an agreed and explicit set of common objectives for children that the Executive is committed to deliver through its work with the voluntary sector;

• To achieve a more optimal distribution of resources against these objectives (while recognising that good practice, set out in the Scottish Compact, means that any changes to existing patterns would need to take place over a number of years to meet existing commitments and allow reasonable stability);

• A more integrated approach within the Executive, which in turn assists and supports local community planning.

• The reduction of burdens on the voluntary sector through the simplification of the application, decision and monitoring process; and

• Increased efficiency in management and monitoring within the Executive.

10. It is to be stressed that the intention to achieve a more integrated and coherent approach to funding for the children and families voluntary sector is not intended in any way to reduce the overall amount of funding going to the sector. Indeed, additional resources are proposed. The aim is to improve the overall balance of resources and to reduce bureaucracy for both the voluntary sector and the Scottish Executive.

Scope of Fund: Key Principles

11. The Scottish Compact Good Practice guide to Funding indicates that, in line with best practice in the strategic funding of voluntary organisations, Scottish Executive funding is available:

• for activities that promote Scottish Executive objectives;

• to support capacity building within organisations on the basis of agreed outputs;

• to fund core management, administrative and relevant training costs where an organisation has a continuing role in the delivery of particular policy objectives;

• for national infrastructure organisations and associated local networks to promote the growth and effectiveness of voluntary and community organisations;

• on a time-limited basis, for innovative projects where the Scottish Executive has a particular interest in taking forward an experimental approach.

The Good Practice Guidance goes on to make it clear that only exceptionally will funding be made available for local service delivery organisations. (Public sector funding for local bodies would normally be expected to come from other agencies, such as local authorities, NHS boards, local enterprise bodies and some non-departmental public bodies.) These principles would be reflected in the new grant scheme. Where funding is for projects, it would be valid to apply for a contribution towards a relevant proportion of overhead costs.

Consultation Point: Are there any comments on these key principles?

Objectives

12. One aim in bringing together existing funding schemes in a more coherent way would be to enable applications from across the range of voluntary organisations to be assessed against a common set of objectives. Given the range of interests covered however, these would have to be reasonably broad. They would also need to take account of final decisions on the scope of the fund (discussed in paragraph 8).

13. We propose that applications should support the work of voluntary organisations in achieving at least one of the following objectives:

• to deliver better outcomes for vulnerable and deprived children and young people and their families;

• to protect children - through effective early intervention with children and families and/or support when they are in need of protection;

• to improve the health, education and care of children and young people who are affected by disability and/or affected by special educational needs/additional support needs;

• to deliver better outcomes for children, young people and families from ethnic minorities;

• to promote the rights and reflect the views of all children - especially vulnerable and deprived children;

Clearly closing the opportunity gap for children, and thereby making an impact on the effects of child poverty will be an important theme of the new fund. It will also be recognised, however, that there is a place for funding for services to children and young people generally. And it is clear that many services that do not directly relate to closing the gap, can nevertheless have an impact in tackling it. There may be a case for revisiting the priorities periodically, for example to target areas where Ministers wish to see particular progress.

Consultation Point: Do the proposed objectives seem right? Should they be added to or amended?

Administration and Organisation of Assessment Process

14. It is important that the new fund should be well administered, in line with Scottish Compact requirements. With the greater "critical mass" that a larger, more unified fund will provide, there should be opportunities for handling administration more efficiently. It is proposed that any new scheme would take effect for the 2004 - 05 financial year, with applications being sought in summer 2003, with a view to decisions by December 2003.

15. It is clear that any new unified fund would span a number of interests across the Scottish Executive. It is therefore proposed that an assessment panel would be set up, reflecting those interests, to come to decisions on applications.

16. In addition, there may be a case for a voluntary sector input into the assessment process. Such approaches have been followed in other areas. For example, there was a voluntary sector member on the assessment panel for the Changing Children's Services Fund and the Special Educational Needs Innovation Grants Programme panel. One way forward might be to have a voluntary sector assessor on the panel. Because of the wide range of voluntary sector organisations likely to apply to the unified fund, it is proposed that this should be someone nominated by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, who would not have a current close connection with a particular voluntary organisation or organisations, but who would nevertheless have a reasonable knowledge of the sector. The assessor would have a particular role in verifying that the decision making process had been properly handled.

Consultation Point: Should the voluntary sector be involved in the assessment process? If so, by what means, bearing in mind the need to avoid conflicts of interest? Are there any other comments related to administration?

Responses

17. This consultation paper aims to elicit opinion from the voluntary sector and other interested parties in Scotland on this proposal to set up a single integrated funding scheme for voluntary organisations providing services to children and young people and their families. The consultation period will run until 20 June 2003. The Scottish Executive would be grateful to receive any views and comments by this date. Responses should be sent to:

Gareth Jones
Scottish Executive Education Department
Area 2-B(N)
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ

e-mail: gareth.jones@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Telephone: 0131-244 0271
Fax: 0131-244 0978

18. It would be convenient, where possible, to receive responses in electronic form, although hard copies will certainly also be fully taken into account. In accordance with normal Scottish Executive practice copies of all responses will be made publicly available in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, unless it is specifically requested that this should not happen. In addition, a copy of each response will be sent to the Scottish Parliamentary Information Centre, again unless it is specifically requested that this should not happen.