Making the Connections Project
Local Service Board Development and
Priority Delivery
Project Timescale
Start Date: 1st February 2012
End Date: 31st March 2015
Funding Stream
Convergence, European Social Fund, Priority 4, Theme 1
The objective of this priority is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public
services in the region.
Theme 1 - Transforming public services through more effective collaborative working
will focus on implementing changes in service design and delivery through the redesign and re-engineering of services, systems and processes on a collaborative
basis to make public services more efficient, integrated and responsive to the
communities they serve. .It will build on current and planned pilots, feasibility studies
and other foundation work enabled through the Making the Connections Programme
as well as initiating innovation. .It will reflect the Welsh Assembly Government’s
commitments to equality and sustainable development, and the activity will also be
underpinned by a commitment to engaging the public and partners in service design
and delivery.
Summary
As part of the Welsh Government Local Service Board Development and Priority
Delivery project this project will make a major contribution to enabling the third sector
to fulfil the expanded role needed in support of the further development of LSBs by
adding value and additional resource to what is already being undertaken. It will
provide staff and additional capacity to enable county voluntary councils, as core
members of (LSBs) and other strategic partnerships concerned with local public
service planning and delivery, to strengthen and deepen their impact on the LSB
agenda, complemented by support and coordination from WCVA. Through this it will
strengthen the capacity of third sector organisations to contribute effectively to public
service delivery, development and redesign through involvement with the LSBs.
Objectives
The objectives are:

To provide a wide range of support to the activities of the third (voluntary and
community) sector in delivering the priority activities of their relevant Local
Service Boards (LSBs) and related public service planning groups,

To provide strategic support and advice to complement the work carried out
locally by the CVCs.
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
To allow third sector representation at the different levels of service planning,
provide much greater, structured, two-way sharing of information between
LSBs and their local third sector organisations

To support citizens to get involved in the planning and scrutiny of services.

To support the key local priorities identified by the local LSB, helping them
contribute expertise, experience and specialised resources where applicable.
As part of the Welsh Government Local Service Board Development and Priority
Delivery project this project will directly contribute to towards two of its overall project
objectives:
Collaborative agreements:
 The project will enhance the potential for collaborative agreements between
the CVCs and LSBs or other public service delivery providers and facilitate
work to identify other providers, either within the third sector or in the public or
private sectors that could also enter into collaborative agreements.
Secondment places:
 CVCs will put forward proposals to LSBs to consider how secondments and
other interchanges between third sector and public sector organisations can
be used as part of their public service improvement programme, to foster
cross-agency understanding and cooperation.
Activities
The project will enable CVCs to provide locally based project officers offering
proactive and targeted support within each of the 15 local authority Convergence
areas. It will support the development of the Local Service Boards through the full
participation of the third sector in public service planning and delivery, providing
opportunities to work with public service planners. It will target organisations
directly engaging in public service planning and/or delivery, and groups
representing and involving citizens whose views and experiences can inform or
shape public service design.
The project officers will:




Link with partner organisations in membership of the LSB and other relevant
joint public service groups to ensure that the project strengthens and adds
value to local arrangements as the LSBs develop further
Publicise and promote the work of LSBs and other public service initiatives to
voluntary and community groups
Support citizen engagements strategies
Deliver bespoke support to third sector representatives involved in local public
service planning and scrutiny
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Roles
WCVA
The project involves a strategic partnership between the Welsh Government and
WCVA as joint sponsors. WCVA will co-ordinate the project through:

A Project Development Officer - responsible for leading and managing the
effective delivery of the project, identifying best practice, sharing innovative
work and encouraging continuous improvement throughout the lifetime of the
project

A Senior European Projects Officer - responsible for co-ordinating the
reporting and monitoring of the project between the CVC’s, WCVA and WG.
They will take the responsibility for ensuring that project meets all WEFO and
WG compliance requirements.
CVCs
The project will enable County Voluntary Councils to provide a wide range of support
to the activities of the third (voluntary and community) sector in delivering the priority
activities of their relevant Local Service Boards (LSBs) and related public service
planning groups. The project will employ dedicated staff in each local authority area
and they will be fully integrated into the wider resources each CVC offers to link up
the third sector with public services.
Outputs and Results
Outputs
Number of dissemination initiatives
Total
Project
Outputs
15
Number of initiatives to support LSB development
1
Outputs Per
CVC
1
Results
Collaborative agreements between CVCs and LSBs
13
1
Secondment places
12
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Project Structure and links with related projects
The project will complement and add value to other proposals under consideration
for this Priority. These focus on developing the corporate role and programmes for
which LSBs are responsible, and developing the leadership capacity to modernise
public services. The Improving Public Services, Connecting with the Third Sector
will complement these, by ensuring that the third sector, as an individual member of
each LSB, is able to participate fully in and benefit from these programmes, and by
ensuring the crucial link to citizens and their organisations.
In addition the WCVA input to the project will also be supported by the Third Sector
European Team (3-SET) that is being delivered through technical assistance funding
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(Convergence and RCE) by WCVA. Technical EU Structural funding support will be
given as ongoing aftercare. 3-SET will also provide a link to the wider SET network
in disseminating information and feeding back possible links to the project team.
A project steering group, comprising representatives of WCVA and partner CVCs,
will meet regularly as part of the project and the group will report to WCVA’s board.
The project will report to the WG Local Service Board ESF team.
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