1. Formal partnership, complementary working, or just ‘good neighbours’? Tony Chapman, St Chad’s College, Durham University A seminar organised by the Institute for Local Governance Teesside University Darlington, Central Park, Darlington, Friday 15 July 2016

2. It has become more of a challenge to meet the demand for public services in hard-pressed areas during a period of austerity. More reliance is being placed on the ‘third sector’ to fill the gap through funding and/or delivery. But there’s a problem.

4. Percentage of TSOs of different sizes experiencing significant falls income in the last 2 years by affluence of area (2014)

5. Percentage of TSOs with significantly falling income (2012-14) by beneficiaries and TSO location in IMD areas

6. If local authorities and health authorities can’t meet demand on their own, then we need a different approach. But who leads on decision making, who decides who delivers services, and in what configurations?

7. Partnership, Collaboration & Co- production These terms mean different things to different people – if we don’t talk the same language in the seminar – we won’t get far So we need a few working definitions: Collaborative working – “talking about things, prioritising, deciding, governance” Partnership working – “doing things - delivery”

8. Ways of doing things The classic ‘Public Administration’ model where the council decides and delivers. The ‘New Public Management’ model – where governance and decisions are shared by many (in theory, but purse held by few), and delivery is purchased. Where we are heading now – where control over resources is more fragmented, decisions multi-centred and often not top down.

9. What are good ‘partners’? Knowledge and understanding of each others’ interests – and prepared to ‘defend’ interests collectively Elements of trust and reciprocity built over time on the basis of reliability Mutually beneficial when times are good and stick together when times are hard Not necessarily ‘friends’ but strong sense of inter-reliance – but sometimes in competition and have to learn to manage that emotionally

10. Some problems with ‘network governance’ and ‘partnership delivery’ Over hereOver there

11. What can go wrong? Partners become too insular and driven by established interests Loss of interest in creativity and innovation Exclusivity produces barriers to other potential allies and partners Embedding interests can produce inefficiencies across boundaries Leadership becomes too hierarchical and produces organisational inertia

12. ‘Complementary relationships’ & ‘the strength of weak ties’

13. Weak ties Strong ties Over here Over there

14. With some good neighbours

15.    And some bad neighbours

16. What would success look like? A measure of commonly held / shared broad interests A measure of ‘empathy’ about and ‘generosity’ towards the activities of other organisation Maintenance of control over money, people and ideas Ownership of ‘plaudits’

17. What are the limits of success? Risk of evangelising the benefits of a ‘communion’ (all friends together) of interests rather than ‘community of interest’ (warts and all) Over optimism for what the model can achieve may lead to a temptation to formalise it through procedural/legal constraints/’shared practice’ The potential quick return to the ‘strong ties’ model once things settle down. Powerful non-cooperative neighbours may threaten / inhibit success.

18. Some sets of questions for the table talk

19. On collaborative working What happened to all those networks, does it matter to TSOs, does it matter to local authorities and health authorities? What’s happening to TSO representation – there are fewer infrastructure bodies – does that matter? What are relationships with smaller voluntary groups and larger TSO employers like now? Where are innovative ideas coming from to tackle pressing issues – and who is listening?

20. On service delivery by/with TSOs Have TSOs got used to the idea that contracts are the main approach for service delivery? Do TSOs think they have a ‘partnership relationship’ or is it just a contractual exchange? Is competition for contracts driving costs down – what is the impact on quality? Who is offering competition these days from the public, private and third sector? Have patterns of competition within sectors and between them changed?

21. Relationships between sectors Have local authorities come to terms with the idea that the number of TSOs taking part isn’t really going to grow much)? What is the quality of PSB/TSO partnership relationships – do they work well together – what causes difficulties for them? What happens when income streams move from one public sector body to another – does it damage relationships and or the equilibrium? Are charitable foundations starting to shift the debate on how to tackle problems collectively?

22. On complementary working What happens when TSOs come to LAs with ideas and prospects for leverage of big sums of money? Do we have any good examples where this seems to work? How does the local authority manage the idea of not being entirely in control of such initiatives?

23. On autonomous working outside of local government’s orbit Do we have examples of organisations that literally ‘do their own thing’ (from public, private or third sector)? What impact does this have on the way other relationships work and things get done? Do such organisations work autonomously but behave like good neighbours (i.e. knowledgeable and respectful of others’ space, contribution etc)? How does the LA and third sector deal with ‘bad neighbours’?

24. Tony Chapman Professorial Fellow POLICY&PRACTICE St Chad’s College Durham University Email: Tony.Chapman@Durham.ac.uk Website: www.stchads.ac.uk/research/Tony.Chapman@Durham.ac.ukwww.stchads.ac.uk/research/