Tuesday, 13 February 2007

Connexions and the Common Assessment Framework

I arrived at the office early and had a final few discussions before the LSP meeting.

At 10:00 I met with Louise and Des and Farzana to discuss our Connexions contract. It was a very productive meeting and lots of things were clarified. Hertfordshire Connexions are piloting the Common Assessment Framework for 13-19 year-olds. This seems to be a national initiative to stop professionals asking 13-19 year-olds the same questions over and over again. Instead, they will only be asked once by one professional. I know what you’re thinking: more new technology … answers held on a master database … shared access … data protection … police computer state … But on this occasion: no. I am told that the answers will be recorded only on paper, and then sent to a central location for filing. So how will the answers be shared? Have I missed something?

Meanwhile, we have still not got clearance form the Criminal Records Bureau to employ Saud. It has now been over six months. He has got clearance to work for a local school so there is nothing sinister in his profile. It appears to be sheer bureaucratic incompetence.

One Watford – many questions

Helen and I left for the One Watford meeting at Vicarage Road, home of Watford FC. One Watford is the name of the group that oversees Watford’s Local Strategic Plan. The group is chaired by Mayor Dorothy Thornhill and apart from myself includes WBC’s CEO, the head of the local Chamber of Commerce, and senior representatives from Herts County Council, the Town Centre partnership, Watford Enterprise Agency, Watford Football Club, the Watford Observer, the Health Service, the Children’s Trust and others.

The “Guest Car Park” is as far as it’s possible to get from the Elton John Suite without actually being in a different county. Helen carried her box of promotional materials all the way, brushing aside my genuine (but not very forceful) offers of help.

The meeting itself went very well. Helen made some useful contacts and our presentation went well: we explained the LAA targets, lauded the voluntary sector, promoted the Volunteer Centres, all with Helen positively exuding professionalism. We were very well received and the presentation was followed by a lively debate. It’s difficult to see how it could have gone much better.

But there is a stumbling block.

Targets targets

A year into the LAA we are still struggling to identify baselines and targets. One LAA target agreed with the Government is for Hertfordshire to “increase volunteering”. So Hertfordshire conducted a MORI survey in June 2006 interviewing about 1,000 people across Hertfordshire and found that 14% of adults currently volunteer for two or more hours a week. The target agreed with the Government is that this should be increased to 17%. If the county achieves the target, it will earn a “reward” of £2.5m from central government. Deceptively simple.

The fact is that the targets have to be delivered at local level, within individual Districts and Boroughs. And here, the picture isn’t simple at all. There isn’t an even picture across Hertfordshire: some areas produced a baseline volunteering rate of 19% and others produced a rate as low as 6%.

And none of these rates had any statistical significance at all because the MORI survey was only designed to give any confidence across the county as a whole. And then the Government decided that the survey wasn’t even sufficient to give confidence across the county as a whole and more work was required. So there was a second “top up” survey of a further 500 people across the county. This reduced the volunteering baseline from 14% to 12%. And this has reduced the county-wide volunteering target from 17% to 15%.

But Watford’s own notional “baseline” was unaffected by the top-up survey and stayed at 6%. So is our target now 15%? Or is it 6% multiplied by 15/12? Or is it something else entirely?

The answer could be worth £2.5m to the county. But a year into the LAA, no-one can tell us the answer.

Doubtless this is something that will be addressed should Hertfordshire win “pathfinder” status for two-tier local government.

More on targets

A second presentation highlighted the problem with targets: it appears that the police operate under so many measures and targets that their effectiveness and efficiency is significantly impaired. And the measures and targets reveal little about the true efficiency and effectiveness of the police force. The story is the same in the Health Service and elsewhere. There is an obsession with counting things. This is unhelpful. And unhealthy. And very often suffers from the (nearly always fatal) flaw of being Not Thought Through.

Networking

As the meeting broke up, I had a brief talk with Jenny Tomley of John Lewis, who I still hope to lure onto our trustee body. I spoke at more length with Yasmin (from the Hertfordshire Police Authority) about the future of the Watford Sunflower Centre. We updated each other on recent discussions and developments and talked about potential future difficulties. This was very helpful.

Audentior awards

Back at the office, I finalised the WCVS’s nominations for Watford’s 2007 Audentior Awards. I have consulted with my staff and trustees, and with many individuals. I suspect that some of the nominations may be a little controversial but you can’t keep everyone happy and they are only nominations. I am sure WBC will make the right decisions.

I left the office about 8:00 pm. Jackie welcomed me home with dinner and a big hug. How lucky am I?