Strategic thinking

Strategic commissioning is an important change in the way that public services, and the resources used to deliver them, are organised. Many arts organisations are already embracing the opportunities presented, but many more are not aware of the processes, opportunities and challenges that commissioning presents. Over the next few pages we aim to introduce the key concepts and signpost further resources. Commissioning is the way in which local authorities, Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and other public bodies such as primary care trusts (PCT) deliver services. It is the latest development in public service reform to focus on efficiency and effectiveness. It is a cyclical process that places users and communities at the centre of all the activity. This model is applicable to a wide range of services, including arts and cultural services.

Communities and service users are at the heart of commissioning, this is a statutory requirement. Many arts organisations have strong relationships with communities and can support them in exploring and articulating their needs, particularly those individuals and groups who may not traditionally have had access to decision -makers. In brief, the commissioning cycle includes the following elements:
Needs: Identifying the current and future needs of a community. This process is led by the LSP, and recorded in the joint strategic needs assessment which must be completed every three years. Understanding the needs of a community can enable arts organisations to offer innovative, creative ways for public bodies to achieve better outcomes and for great art to reach even more people.
Resources: Understanding what resources exist, within the public body and more broadly. This could be money, buildings, expertise or equipment. Organisations should ensure that they are considered in this process as it will help them to influence how service delivery is designed.
Priorities: Communities will work with decision makers, including elected members of local councils and commissioners, to identify the outcomes they want to prioritise. The priorities an area selects will be linked to the National Indicators (NIs) that the LSP has agreed in their Local Area Agreement (LAA). NIs are outcome based targets, including specific outcomes for arts and culture, for example NI11: Participation in the Arts. However, the arts can make a significant contribution to other, non-arts specific NIs, such as NI110: Positive Activities for Young People. Arts organisations engaged in the commissioning cycle can use their local knowledge to help define priorities.
Delivery options: At this stage, commissioners will explore how best to achieve their priority outcomes, based on the resources available. Arts organisations can offer innovative solutions to achieving outcomes, such as arts-based training to re-engage young people who aren’t in employment, education or training. Best practice in commissioning encourages market development, and some local authorities have dedicated officers and support programmes to enable the third sector to engage with the commissioning cycle.
Procurement: At this stage, a tender is created and advertised. This is the point at which many organisations currently engage in commissioning. This puts organisations at a disadvantage: the turnaround time for a tender may be quite short and understanding of why the tender has been presented may be limited. However, it is important to note that early engagement with the commissioning cycle is not a guarantee of success: tendering must be a genuinely open and transparent process.
There are a range of technical requirements to be aware of including Pre-Qualification Questionnaires, quality badging, issues of state aid, demonstrating value for money and quality assurance. These are not easy, but they are achievable and there is a huge range of support available.
Delivery: As with all stages of the commissioning cycle this should be done with users and communities.
Monitoring: This is a shared responsibility between the commissioner and the delivery organisation, working in partnership to capture the most appropriate data.
Review: The commissioner and the delivery partner assess the evidence of work undertaken to determine if outcomes have been met, and to develop future practice.
In addition to understanding the cyclical nature of commissioning, it is important to understand the levels at which commissioning happens and the various functions. Not all commissioning is strategic: the rise in direct payments and putting decision-making closer to users will see in an increase in individual commissioning. This presents an exciting opportunity to impact on the relationship between artists and their audiences. Locality-level commissioning happens within a neighbourhood, estate or parish; many youth services are commissioned at this level. Strategic Commissioning happens at the community or local authority level, for example services for children with a disability in a certain area. Groups of local authorities often work together on more specialist services for smaller groups of users. National commissioning of very specialist services most commonly occurs in the health service.
There are a range of roles within the commissioning process. Governance usually takes place at the LSP and sub board levels. Managerial and support functions (including research, policy and contract management) will normally be within the local authority or PCT. Each authority has its own organisation structure. There is therefore no single point of contact for arts organisations, consistent across authorities. I have described an ideal world and local authoities are all at very different levels. However, there is significant support available and the articles that follow offer practical advice and information.