Developing effective relationships between health authorities, local authorities and third sector organisations to improve public health and social wellbeing in a period of austerity

Professors Tony Chapman and Fred Robinson, together with Professor John Mawson, Director of the Institute for Local governance have won an ESRC Impact Acceleration Award to assist health organisations, local authorities and third sector organisations to develop complementary policy and practice strategies to improve public health and social wellbeing in North East England. Based on shared learning drawing on a parallel project, Keeping it Simple, health authorities will be encouraged to reflect upon and embed new ‘ways of thinking’ about their working relationships with external organisations working in the field of health, mental health and social care.

In order to better understand interactions between organisations, the work will explore activity using the following dimensions of policy and service delivery where impact can be achieved by 2019:

• Working in complementary ways (Health authorities, LAs and TSOs, to a large extent, shape the way they choose to work autonomously or collectively. But the acquisition and allocation of resources is a complex process which interferes with value systems, restricts notions of autonomy and can upset relationships. This impact of this work is to help organisations recognise when it is best to use formal partnerships, complementary relationships and when to work autonomously),
• Commissioning and procurement (Health sector organisations can achieve better impact by working with local government and TSOs in designing processes which are more responsive to innovative delivery solutions. The impact of this will be to improve the quality and outcomes arising from outsourcing decisions and thereby produce stronger social impact and best value for service delivery).
• Assessing the impact of autonomous and shared interventions (The impact of the programme will be effected by encouraging organisations to think about how to measure and make clearly evidenced judgements about the efficacy of appropriate objectives for autonomous, partnership or complementary interventions).
• New thinking about co-production (Co production can involve the pooling and sharing of ideas, effort and resources – which is hard for autonomous organisations with different levels of power and capability to achieve. The impact to be achieved in this case study centres on demonstrating where, how and with what effect health sector organisations have already developed effective joint-working models with LAs and TSOs and determine if these good practices are replicable in areas which have previously not been considered or where partnerships have failed)

The project will involve work with four health organisations (South Tees Foundation Trust, County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS (mental health) Foundation, NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees CCG), seven local authorities (Darlington Borough Council, Durham County Council, Gateshead Council, Northumberland County Council, Redcar and Cleveland Council, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, Sunderland City Council), and the regional third sector infrastructure organisation, Voluntary Organisations Network North East.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, sets out an ambitious vision for global development. The 2030 Agenda aligns with the Charter of the Commonwealth which affirms the importance of sustainable development to ‘eradicate poverty by pursuing inclusive growth whilst preserving and conserving natural ecosystems and promoting social equity’.

There is much potential for sport to contribute to sustainable development and, particularly, to help young people unlock their potential – but this requires policy makers to think critically about how they marshal the resources of national, regional and local government in Commonwealth countries whilst also capitalising upon, in complementary ways, the contribution of big business, national and international NGOs and locally based charities and civil society groups.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has recently appointed Dr Iain Lindsey and Sarah Metcalfe (School of Applied Social Sciences) and Professor Tony Chapman (Policy&Practice, St Chad’s College) to update and build upon current policy guidance, as reported in the Commonwealth Guide to Advancing Development through Sport, by Professor Tess Kay and Oliver Dudfield, published in 2013.

The work, which began in February 2016, involved a substantive evidence review followed by wide-ranging consultations with policy makers and practitioners from NGOs, Commonwealth governments and international sport organisations. The findings from the study and recommendations for future approaches to policy formulation were published in 2017 by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The guide builds on the work of previous Commonwealth publications that have presented analysis of the role of sport in progressing sustainable development. Aimed at governmental policy-makers and other stakeholders, it provides evidenced and balanced policy options to support the effective and cost-efficient contribution of sport towards six prioritised SDGs.

The report is underpinned by an emphasis towards strengthening the means of implementation and the measurement and evaluation of progress, as emphasised by the SDGs and existing Commonwealth principles. Developed through extensive Commonwealth Secretariat-led consultation with relevant experts and organisations, it represents an important addition to the growing body of SDP publications, guides and research.

For full details of the publication, go to this web address: http://books.thecommonwealth.org/enhancing-contribution-sport-sustainable-development-goals-paperback

Over the past two years, Professor Fred Robinson has been working with colleagues on a major national research project called ‘Imagine’. This practice-based project is concerned with using research to help imagine and develop communities. It is about the ‘social, historical, cultural and democratic context of civic engagement’. Imagine is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council under the Connected Communities programme.

The whole Imagine project comprises four parts, one of which focuses on the historical context of civic engagement. This part involves revisiting the sites of three Community Development Projects (CDPs) which were implemented during the 1970s. Two of these were in Tyneside (Benwell and North Shields) and one in the West Midlands (Hillfields, Coventry). In each of these places, researchers from local universities (Durham and Warwick Universities) and community organisations are exploring the imagining, planning and impact of the CDP and are tracking subsequent regeneration programmes in those areas.

Fred’s role has been to look at the history of regeneration in Benwell and North Shields. He has been developing accounts of the implementation and impact of regeneration policies, drawing on both documentary material and interviews. He says:

“As you look at these policies over a period of 40 years, you can feel a sense of frustration that lessons often aren’t learnt and problems aren’t solved. But there has actually been some real progress in terms of health and housing, for instance, and a better understanding of the need for active community engagement in the regeneration process”.

In July 2015, the Northern Rock Foundation published a history of its work and the impacts it has had during 17 years of grant making. Researched and written by Professor Fred Robinson, this independent assessment, whilst sympathetic to the mission of the Foundation, takes an objective view of its history and achievements.

Funded by Northern Rock bank, the Foundation spent over £225 million on community projects and initiatives in the North East and Cumbria. Its work has ranged over many different areas of social need including support for older people, homeless young people, refugees and asylum seekers and those with mental health problems. It sought to tackle issues like financial inclusion, penal reform and domestic abuse but also invested in the development of the arts and cultural infrastructure of the region.

Key achievements identified in the report include:

• Focusing attention on disadvantaged people and communities, including difficult and unpopular causes, like child sexual exploitation.
• Using research to influence national and regional policy in areas such as dementia and domestic and sexual violence.
• Helping the voluntary and community sector to develop their skills and capacity and fostering collaboration and enterprise.

Important lessons from the history and work of the Foundation are:

• A regionally based foundation can know its area in a way that a nationally based foundation, based elsewhere, almost certainly cannot.
• There is a value in concentrating some grant making on particular organisations that will develop and grow through long term support.
• Expert and dedicated Trustees and staff help to ensure good and effective grant-making
• Reliance on one corporate benefactor has both strengths and weaknesses.

The financial crisis that hit the Northern Rock bank had a profound impact on the Foundation, which is now expected to close down in 2016. Professor Robinson said:

“The Foundation made an important contribution to the well-being of the North East and Cumbria. It helped to enrich the lives of many people. For some organisations its funding has been beneficial, but not crucial; for others it may have been transformative, a really important input that helped them to survive or grow or become what they are today. It was very much an organisation rooted in the region which was prepared to fund unpopular things at times, but things which made a real difference”.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Fred Robinson and Richard Else are undertaking an intriguing collaborative project about Middlesex. They’ve worked together on all kinds of things in the past, but nothing quite like this. They wanted to explore a place that’s important but usually ignored –and decided they would focus attention on the North West London suburbs, the area covered by the old County of Middlesex.

Many people think of this area as a boring, monocultural suburbia: Metroland. But actually it’s a complex set of communities. It is home to more than two million people and is, in many ways, a successful part of London. It’s ‘multicultural’ and economically vibrant; it includes Heathrow and Wembley, and also Southall and Enfield.  Middlesex may not feature in travellers’ tales, but it actually has a lot going for it.

Fred and Richard want to celebrate the vitality, diversity and importance of this area in a book of photographs (by Richard) and accompanying text (by Fred). They’ve tramped around the area a good deal and gathered a lot of material.

Fred says: ‘We want to show people what the area is really like and why it is worth looking at and thinking about. We hope that the book, and perhaps an exhibition too, will appeal to a wide audience. We want people to think about changing cities and suburbs, geographies and cultures. And we’d like people to find Middlesex as interesting as we do’.