Winter 2008
Wrapping Up 2008
We approach the end of what has been an extraordinary year of contrasts. The highlight of the first black president to be elected in the US and western world comes at the same time as an economic downturn mooted to be the worst since World War 2.
Over the past few months we have been working flat out to deliver critical pieces of work that have direct resonance with emerging social policy issues:
- assessing the role and impact of financial capability and exclusion on economic wellbeing;
- the role of asset transfer in supporting community empowerment;
- developing approaches to support Prime Contractors as they develop supply chains for welfare to work and skills contracts; and
- helping FE institutions to articulate their role and impact in supporting local economies.
Our insights can support organisations going through this period of change as the ramifications of the economic climate start to affect people, communities and businesses.
We have drawn together some of these insights in this e-newsletter but we are happy to talk through these with you in person, please get in touch with Caroline Masundire.
Recent Commissions
- Management of the City Strategy Learning Network on behalf of Department for Work and Pensions.
Contact: Mark Morrin - Developing sector-led guidance for delivering economic assessments led by IDeA.
Contact: Caroline Masundire - Understanding the role of Regional Development Agencies in supporting financial exclusion strategies for Friends Provident.
Contact: Francesca Hopwood Road - We have also been successful in securing a number of research and consultancy framework agreements for organisations like the National Audit Commission, the Greater London Assembly and Newcastle University, which demonstrates the variety of organisations we work with across the country.
Latest News
Financial Inclusion
Whilst the Credit Crunch has marched into the public consciousness over recent weeks, Rocket Science has spent this year working with agencies and organisations to understand financial exclusion and capability and start to identify solutions.
At the beginning of this year we worked with the East of England Development Agency to help them understand the breadth and depth of financial exclusion and capability across the region. Our research found that of the 4.6 million working age people living in the Eastern region:
- 1,293,000 (28%) have no savings account
- 205,000 (4%) have no current account
- 624,000 (13%) have been refused credit in the past
- 1,332,000 (29%) have no home contents insurance, and
- 2,184,000 (47%) have no credit card
As well as understanding the extent and geographical location of the financially excluded, we also started to explore and map financial capability. Our starting point was identifying proxies for financial capability and over-indebtedness; peoples' attitudes to savings and debt; and their use of sub-prime loans, mortgages and credit cards.
Our research showed that whilst there is a strong correlation between exclusion and deprivation, there is no such correlation for financial capability. Therefore a different approach is required when designing and targeting solutions for the financially excluded and the financially incapable.
Our work with SEEDA took this one stage further and looked at developing a financial inclusion strategy for both individuals and enterprise.
What is also crucially important is understanding how people experience exclusion and the impact debt and poverty has on their lives. Cripplegate Foundation and Rocket Science did a study on the lived experience of poverty in Islington with a particular focus on debt and isolation. The report's findings were welcomed by Cllr James Kempton, Leader of Islington Council and Professor Anne Power of the London School of Economics.
We have also shared our findings with our peers and colleagues and earlier this month we hosted a breakfast seminar 'Fighting financial exclusion, building financial capability'. Mike Rogers, Chief Executive of LV= (formerly Liverpool Victoria), the UK's largest friendly society shared his thoughts on the challenges for the financial inclusion agenda in the current financial situation.
Further Education Colleges
Further Education (FE) Colleges are growing ever more significant in terms of their engagement in widening access to FE (and through this to Higher Education ), their strengthening role in employability and the emergence of new areas of job growth and their contribution to the environment of their towns and cities. This is taking a number of forms:
- The only significant growth area in access to Higher Education is through the provision of 'HE in FE' or in progression to HE from level 3 delivered at FE Colleges. This is important as it suggests that the best way of helping those in disadvantaged areas gain the skills and qualifications they need for higher paid and more sustainable jobs is to improve access to FE and sustain progress through to HE at the same site. The importance of this strengthens as we enter a recession with relatively long term skill development routes becoming more appealing. We have been working with Tyne Metropolitan College and North Tyneside College to develop their idea of a local 'multiversity' which brings together a range of FE and HE institutions to offer joint pathways to available jobs which require HE qualifications. Contact: Cherri Blissett
- The match between qualifications and the jobs market has long been a tricky but vital area. Recently we worked with Halcrow to assess the match between available qualifications and the jobs market for the SQA. Contact: Richard Scothorne
- Some FE Colleges have been thinking very hard about their appropriate role in Flexible New Deal and how this can contribute to the strengthening of their significant local role in raising employability. We are working with a number of Colleges in England and Scotland to help them think through their positioning and the relationships and structures that they need to develop to create viable and appealing models for their involvement in FND. Contact: Richard Scothorne
- Colleges are taking a leading role in the emergence of major new areas of job growth. We have been working closely with Newcastle College in the development of its proposed Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Construction and Renewable Energy. This is an ambitious project that is seen as a key driver of awareness and demand as well as a provider of the skills and techniques needed to support new construction and energy solutions. Contact: Cherri Blissett
- Finally, the development of College campuses is a source of continued investment and jobs and these developments often provide great opportunities to reshape and enhance their immediate environment. We are currently working with Barnsley College to help it raise the funding it needs to ensure that its major new development can contribute to the creation of a new civic square and the installation of public art and renewable energy technologies. This will have a significant impact on the regeneration of its immediate area and also help to enhance the image and status of FE. Contact: Cherri Blissett
Innovation Seminar
Rocket Science brought together some of the North East's key movers and shakers on 13 November to meet Jonathan Kestenbaum, Chief Executive of NESTA at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. At a time of economic challenge, Jonathan gave a stimulating presentation as to why now is a critical time for us to be innovative in the way in which we design and deliver public services. Jonathan made it clear that the driver for innovation must be focused on trying to improve people's lives, otherwise it can be just an academic and indulgent exercise - a sentiment the audience mirrored. Jonathan gave us his perspectives on the six conditions that are necessary to encourage innovation:
- An organisation needs a vision, a sense of purpose and strong leadership;
- A deeply embedded culture of risk-taking and experimentation is critical;
- Recognising the power of unexpected networks and collaborations, e.g. bringing together different disciplines;
- Adequate finance, that can accept risk-taking and accept failure;
- The push and pull factors are both necessary. The 'push' will stimulate innovation, but the 'pull' of early adopters is also important; and,
- Getting the right scale of activities and identifying the conditions that allows replication.
Following Jonathan's presentation, we facilitated roundtable discussions and plenary session to consider some of the opportunities and threats for innovation in the North East. Some of the issues raised were about how to change a risk-averse culture within public services as this stifles innovation and creativity. Key to some of this was how we manage risk, bearing in mind that not taking any risks is a risk in itself. The procurement process was seen to be a big stumbling block for innovation; we need to consider how we can procure innovation and look at ways of innovating procurement processes - a challenge for all of us across the region.
Finally, bringing together 'unexpected networks' was seen to be particularly important for individuals across different sectors and discplines where they would otherwise not have the opportunity to meet. This is one of the key outcomes for the Rocket Science North East Seminar series and we are really pleased with the diversity and breadth of those who attended the event. Our next Seminar is due in Spring.
The Growing Importance of Outcome Based Business Planning in Grant Funding
Comprehensive business planning is increasingly becoming a fundamental part of the fund sourcing process for non-profit organisations. Funders expect to see comprehensive business plans which are clearly structured on an outcome based approach. This means that they are more interested in the difference a project will make rather than the choice of activities undertaken. Funding is therefore granted on the basis of clearly identified outcomes which meet an identified need, how achievable these are and how well they fit with funders aims.
Rocket Science has a wealth of experience supporting organisations (statutory and voluntary) to produce business plans, increasingly outcome-focused plans. Some examples include producing a business plan for the Whiteinch Centre Limited which outlined a range of options to develop the community centre into a sustainable social enterprise and providing support to ensure the Centre has the structure, governance, skills and partners to achieve this, support for Momentum Scotland to develop a Business Plan to underpin its BIG Lottery application, with the aim of extending the range of provision it delivers across Scotland, and business planning support for Volunteer Centre West Lothian's MAP project, which provides a range of services on a one-stop-shop basis to address barriers experienced by marginalised and excluded individuals in West Lothian. Some of these initiatives were funded via Investing in Ideas (IiD) applications.
Funders are increasingly looking for organisations to invest in rather than grant aid. As well as providing a valuable template for future activity, the business planning process is an effective means of demonstrating the organisation's commitment to growth and development.
If you would like to hear more about our work on business planning please contact Debbie Adams.
Independent Research Study Findings
According to the findings of a recent research study undertaken by Rocket Science, the Commission for the Compact has been successful in creating an environment which encourages and supports central government departments in their efforts to observe the independence of third sector organisations and their right to campaign, but there are still challenges ahead.
The research study, entitled The State of Independence, involved eight central government departments including the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Communities and Local Government (CLG), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The information and findings presented in the report were drawn from a number of complementary pieces of research. Data was gathered from one-to-one interviews with a sample of civil servants working in the eight departments in order to assess their understanding and commitment to the Compact. This analysis was also informed by an e-survey.
The report findings are also based on a Literature Review by Rocket Science, which looked historically at the importance of independence to the third sector and, since 1998, the role of the Compact in safeguarding that independence. A brief summary of the findings:
- The third sector and its advocates see independence from government as one of its key values and fear that this will be put at risk if the sector becomes over-dependent on government funding. Receiving government money should not reduce an organisation's ability to campaign on behalf of the communities it serves.
- 84 per cent of survey respondents said that their government department either 'mostly' or 'fully' recognised and supported the sector's right to campaign and to challenge government policy, irrespective of any funding relationship that might exist.
- A high level of awareness of the Compact was reported in government third sector teams and divisions of officers that regularly deal with the third sector; however, awareness has not been developed consistently or reliably across all departments.
- There is no uniform approach to respecting the independence of the third sector in government but there are lots of examples of different good practice approaches.
- Within government departments, understanding of the importance and value of the third sector's independence is patchy beyond those whose job requires involvement with the sector.
- The report argues that in reality no organisation, whatever the sector, is entirely independent in the strictest sense of the word. There is a discussion in the report and the associated literature review about the concept of interdependence between government and the sector rather than independence.
Contact: John Griffiths