Voluntary Sector Commissioning

The Council is moving towards incorporating the Voluntary Sector Funding programme into its service led commissioning frameworks, once the current funding rounds end in 2011 and 2012. The Council currently invests approximately £8 million in the voluntary sector, the majority of which is distributed through existing commissioning frameworks and approaches such as the Quindrat Boards within Children and Cultural Services and procuring services through contracts. It is envisaged that these frameworks will be extended to include the Voluntary Sector Funding programme. The Council is also working in partnership with NHS Richmond to develop a shared approach to commissioning from the voluntary sector.

The Council recognises the importance of involving the voluntary sector in all appropriate stages of the commissioning cycle, such as identifying need and participating in the marketplace. The Council is therefore embarking on a programme of listening and training events for the voluntary sector and commissioners to manage and implement this transition and develop current practice.

Commissioner Contact Details

Each service area e.g. mental health or young people has a named Commissioning Link Officer(pdf, 47KB) within the Council and NHS Richmond, that can be contacted to discuss current and future commissioning intentions.

Voluntary Sector Commissioning: Initial Action Plan

The Council in partnership with NHS Richmond held a Voluntary Sector Commissioning Conference on 22 June 2010 to outline how the voluntary sector can become involved in commissioning and listen to the voluntary sectors views on how this best can be achieved.  Following on from the Conference the Council, in partnership with Richmond Council for Voluntary Service and the funded Strategic Leads, is developing a package of support and resources to support the voluntary sector.  The Conference was themed around four main discussion areas based on the commissioning cycle.  You can view the Initial Action Plan(pdf, 89KB) based on the discussions.

Below are the embedded documents found in the Action Plan.

Page one:

• Rachel Rhodes’s presentation(pdf, 115KB)
• Themed discussion groups’ questions(pdf, 43KB)

Page seven

• Information(pdf, 611KB)
• Application Guidance Notes(pdf, 84KB)  
• Application Form(pdf, 42KB)