Commissioning Framework Background

The Commissioning Framework produced by the Department for Work and Pensions was based on the earlier Freud report and makes clear there is a strong belief in the creation of a market for welfare to work services.  The Framework, and subsequent initial implementation through Flexible New Deal (FND) creates regional prime contractors (with Scotland having between 3 and 4 regions) with long-term (5 years) contracts.  So the competition will be for markets, rather than within markets. 

This context makes it clear that a local partnership focus on what is happening within markets is appropriate, though it is also clear from the choice of a large Council as one of the Prime Contractors in Phase 1 of FND that with ambition and resources it is possible for public bodies to compete at the market level.

The Phase 1 contract winners reveal a wide range of models, from Prime Contractors who will manage the contract and performance and deliver very little themselves to Prime Contractors who will deliver up to half the services themselves.  The impact on the local infrastructure and the ability of local funding and delivery partners to mesh with this successfully will therefore vary significantly from area to area.

The recently announced aware of Phase 1 FND contracts included the award of the contract for the area from Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway across to Lothian and Borders to two Prime Contracts:  a Scottish based social enterprise company, The Wise Group and Work Directions.  The selection of the Wise Group is likely to enhance the likelihood of a sensitive approach to local infrastructures and certainly a strong awareness of the issues that apply in these areas.

The policy direction indicated by the city strategy pathfinders is that there may be benefits from local flexibility at a city or city regional level.  What the 15 city strategy areas have been asked to do is to show how they will do things differently at this level, how this will enable them to engage with key target groups who are currently excluded from the labour market, how this will enable them to improve performance and results, identify what flexibilities and resources they need to do this, and identify how they will manage this at the local level.  In theory, if such local flexibilities can demonstrate that they lead to improved outcomes and outputs then the door is open for giving more local flexibilities in the future.

To connect this with the DWP Commissioning Framework, it implies that within a regional market, there will be scope for more local flexibility in recognisable labour market/TTWAs.  Again, what will be critical here will be the ability to create effective supply chains and to manage and invest in them.