Professor Fred Robinson is working with Professor Keith Shaw of Northumbria University on a new study looking at structures and processes of governance in North East England. They will be finding out who runs public services in the region and assessing how accountable they are. They will be looking at different models of governance — some elected, others appointed. And they will be asking what works best and how we can make governance better.

It’s certainly a timely project. There is considerable disenchantment with the people who run things. Many people distrust elites, politicians and the ‘establishment’. There are widespread feelings of powerlessness and alienation – as the EU Referendum demonstrated. But there is no simple answer to the problems facing us. Electing people to run things like Councils or the Police seems attractive, but turnouts are so low that there’s really only limited democratic legitimacy. Appointing people to run services – the boards of NHS Trusts, or the Governing Bodies of universities, for example – may bring in expertise, but can be seen to be about recruiting the ‘usual suspects’. And referendums — making decisions by asking the people — don’t seem to work all that well either.

Fred and Keith want the research to inform, but also to be the basis for challenge and reform. They’ve looked at these issues before, back in 2000, when much of the concern was about unelected quangos. They helped influence the debate then – institutions in the region started thinking more about the gender balance (or lack of it) on their boards and the need to have representation from BME communities. Since 2000, some things have changed for the better – but there’s certainly room for a lot more improvement. Many institutions are still dominated by the ‘male, pale and stale’.

The project has secured funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Institute for Local Governance and Newcastle-based Law firm Muckle LLP. It started in September 2016 and will run for a year. It’s a practical project, which aims to encourage better practice and make governance more accountable, transparent and representative.

The final report can be found Who Runs the North East Now — Main Report Oct 2017 FINAL (2).

In September 2016, the Third Sector Trends study will be formally launched across the North of England. We need to hear from all types of voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises, whether large or small, thriving, struggling or going on as normal. The study will take place in each northern region in three separate surveys:

In North East England (funded by the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland). Link to the survey questionnaire:  https://durham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/third-sector-trends-in-north-east-england-2016

In Yorkshire and the Humber (funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation); Link to the survey questionnaire: https://durham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/third-sector-trends-in-yorkshire-and-the-humber-2016

In North West England* (funded by IPPR\North and Garfield Weston); Link to the survey questionnaire: https://durham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/third-sector-trends-in-north-west-england-2016

*In Greater Manchester, the study started in July 2016 to complement a separate study by a consortium of local third sector development agencies.

We will be able to tell you what is happening, in big picture terms, in the sector in your area, region and across Northern England?

These are just a few of the issues the Third Sector Trends study can explore

• We can make well evidenced estimates on the changing shape, size and structure of the sector as a whole (comparing with previous TST data and from a major national government study in 2010 on each local authority area).
• We can also produce data reports for any local authority area, sub region or county so you can see what is happening in the area your Community Foundation serves.
• We can explore the different experiences, practices and expectations of organisations by size, purpose, geographical location, legal form, and so on – this will help funders identify the kinds of organisations which may be able to benefit most from grants.
• We can make good estimates of the level of employment and volunteering in the sector and determine where employment or volunteering is growing or contracting.
• We can show which areas of beneficiary need are doing well or experiencing difficulties.
• We can calculate the economic value of the sector using robust estimates and also monetise the value of volunteering.

We need third sector, public sector and private sector organisations to encourage voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises to respond to this major study. It is vital that as many organisations and groups as possible find out about the study so that they have a chance to respond – so we need you to tell them about it in newsletters and to send links to the survey through by email to your address lists.

Each study will result in a separate regional report together with one report, published by IPPR\North for the whole Northern Region.

If you would like to know more about the study, please contact Professor Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University: tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk

Dzulfian Syafrian is an economist whose research covers public policy, financial institutions and economic development. Since January 2016, Dzulfian has been undertaking his PhD at St. Chad’s College and Durham University Business School.

Dzulfian’s PhD project is focusing on the impact of Japanese inward investment in manufacturing Industry on the economy and society of North East England. This research concentrates on the relationship between Japanese companies and indigenous British companies.

The project aims to:

• understand how the Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) and the process of “Japanisation” of Western companies works in Britain;
• define what the effects of Japanese FDI are on the economy and society of the North East; and,
• determine what challenges companies face and how they overcome these.

This project is the under supervision of Professor Tony Chapman (St. Chad’s College – Durham University) and Professor John Mawson (Director of the Institute for Local Governance, Durham University Business School).

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.