Community Services in Victoria: where are we headed ?? Agency and workforce development forum Jasper Hotel 6 December 2012

Victoria has three major reform processes underway in the community sector Human Services systems reform Business process reform in government service delivery arms and Whole of community sector reform

Community services will be required to juggle the 3 reform processes

The reforms will interact

Change in government service systems

Broad overview of the service sector reforms implicit in the reports and papers… Comprehensive and strategic Whole-of-government objectives are ambitious and forward-thinking There are subtle and not-so-subtle potential game-changers Overall management of the tension between being prescriptive and enabling Cross overs with reform agendas in other sectors: community mental health, housing, drug and alcohol, family violence, child and family services etc. Connolly, Marie (2012), Analysis of Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, (unpublished)

The Government/Community Services relationship… “…this strategic relationship needs to be long term and based on an explicit understanding of the respective and different responsibilities and roles of government and the community sector” (PVVC 2012, p. 435) Strategic collaboration…

How can we understand the agenda... Governance monitoring & accountability Establishing and strengthening Performance framework Governance monitoring accountability Accountability systems Training, support and development Development of Services Population-based approaches Area-based approaches Responses to our most vulnerable Integrated service provision Child centred family focus Collaborative approaches Legal Responses

Capacity of Community Service Organisations “ a... more pro-active role” for Government aimed at improving the overall structure and capacity of CSOs (Cummins et al. 2012, 441). 3 elements of capacity identified Governance Quality: able to evidence outcomes Financial viability in community service organisations

Accountability and Transparency Strengthening data collection Enhancing IT effectiveness Collecting data to inform improvements and changes Outcomes evidence: capacity to engage in research Performance measures and indicators Evidence of greater participation in services (in service design and governance) Build capacity to demonstrate links between services and with other providers – collaboration at the local level Accountability systems Registration, Department of Human Services Standards: external audits Review: Children’s Commissioner new regulatory functions ACNC: legislation for Australian Government registration and governance review of CSOs December 2012

Victoria has committed to whole sector community sector reform Vertigan Review of State Government finances see also Whelan, James (2012) ‘Big Society’: How the UK Government is dismantling the state and what it means for Australia, Centre for Policy Development, Haymarket, New South Wales

Victoria has committed to whole sector community sector reform Better Services Implementation Taskforce “Departments and service providers, both inside and outside of government, need to be accountable and must deliver results,” Mr Baillieu said.

Victoria has committed to whole sector community sector reform What might it look like ? Lessons from other jurisdictions? Western Australia has undertaken a major system reform in their community sector….from 2010 Arising out of an economic audit process Establishment of Partnership forum comprising ceos of agencies and senior public servants Process led by WACOSS and senior public servants High level political champions Discussion paper and consultations Partnership Forum chaired by Peter Shergold

Public policy and the relationship between government and community sector Current key themes in public policy about the relationship between government and the community sector are: cross-sectoral collaboration, in order to stimulate more innovative ways of developing and delivering public policy; embracing open government, actively encouraging people to access publicly- funded data a crowd-sourcing approach to the improvement of public programs and drafting of legislation; experimenting in new forms of deliberative democracy, on-line or in-person; empowering citizens to ‘co-manage’ and ‘co-produce’ the services they need Programs which focus on more pro-social individual behaviours catalysing additional finance from the private sector to create social impact and public benefit; and auditing and measuring the full social, environmental and civic returns on public investment in human services. Peter Shergold at torquay/

Opportunities and challenges? We have a chance to… Reinforce whole-of-government responses Change the way we do business through family & community focus Start measuring things that matter to the constituencies we serve (children young people families and communities) Develop better accountability and monitoring frameworks Develop better understandings of real cost and need Build a workforce and organisational capacity and capability through training and system clarification and through collaboration The challenge is to decide where to invest limited resources … and to work out smart ways of maximizing the investment Build engagement with our communities Change the lives of vulnerable individuals and their families

Further information Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare

References Callister, Gill (2012) Service Reform- what will it mean for CSOs, presentation to the Centre for Excellence Governance Forum, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, 3 September 2012, available at Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, 2012, Position Statement: Sharing social responsibility- a position statement in response to the Victorian agenda for vulnerable children and their families, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, Melbourne. Connolly, Marie (2012) Analysis of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, unpublished. Whelan, James (2012) ‘Big Society’: How the UK Government is dismantling the state and what it means for Australia, Centre for Policy Development, Haymarket, New South Wales. Peter Shergold, 2012, Public sector innovation, accessed at csi.edu.au/2012/02/public-sector-innovation-the-view-from-torquay/