Agenda item

The Director of Corporate Services submits a report to provide an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

The Director of Corporate Services submitted a report to provide an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

Additionally, the report included a status update on the CrowdFund Leicester platform, highlighting its role in supporting community projects throughout the city, and updated the Commission on the arrangements in place for managing volunteering in the Council using the Assemble platform.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Adult Learning, Jobs and Skills introduced the report and noted that in September 2023 a report had been brough t the Commission.  Since then, the first VCSE strategy was launched in November 2023 by the Council.  He further noted that it was most important that once the strategy was in place it was necessary to think about how it would be implemented and how various sectors would be worked with including business sector.  The action plan had been worked on and was now being brought to the Commission.

The Director of Corporate Services, the Executive Support Officer for Corporate Services, the Volunteer Coordinator for Arts & Museums (coordinating volunteers across Culture) and the VCSE Engagement Manager attended the meeting to assist with discussions.

The VCSE Engagement Manager highlighted some key points, including:

• The VCSE Strategy had been launched on 28 November 2023 and valuable insights had been gained form sector members and partners.  The strategy spanned until 2027 and contained the six pledges as discussed at the Commission in September.  The strategy showed outcomes and acknowledged the need to be adaptable.
• The internal delivery plan was developed to help with the effective execution of the strategy, such as actions and timelines, the responsibility of the engagement team, and the optimisation of resource allocation.
• There was a commitment to transparency and engagement and work was being carried out both internally and externally to support the sector.
• An inclusive approach was taken to deliver the strategy, such as reviewing the delivery plan, being involved in in Leicester City Council project forums, and fostering a sense of ownership and alignment with community needs and aspirations.
• Efforts to explore joint working on funding bids were being monitored and were progressing.
• The sector was being supported in the context of ongoing budget cuts such as the work with the Community Foundation, where the VCSE engagement team’s role focussed on enabling collaboration, providing infrastructure support and empowering self-sustainability within the VCSE sector, emphasising that adaptability and active listening to sector leaders, and initiatives to develop relationships between the VCSE and business sectors.
• This included an event upcoming in June 2024 to help to build relationships between businesses and the VCSE and encouraging meaningful collaboration.
• Engagement with ward councillors aimed to strengthen ties and understand local needs better. It also aimed to support for VCSE initiatives and promote effective local solutions tailored to each ward.
• The CrowdFund Leicester update noted 32 different projects had been supported and over £430k had been raised with community backers.
• 27 successful projects had reached their full target.
• The Community Engagement Fund had supported 20 projects.
• The Spring Funding Round had over 49 sign-ups with 20 potential projects.

The Executive Support Officer for Corporate Services highlighted some key points, including:

• A Volunteer Management System was in use, known as Assemble.  This was preconfigured so that service areas could use it within their own service area.  The system was not specific to service areas, but service areas could use the system to work on projects that involved volunteering.
• The system had two types of users: Managers and the Volunteers Group.  The role of Managers was to recruit and create opportunities.  They were supported through the provision of templates that reflected the system with the information required for the opportunity.
• Volunteers went through an interview process, however, this was not a formal process and was in place mainly to understand the motivations of volunteers.
• Once the volunteers were on the system the work they undertook could be viewed and volunteers could also be informed of activities such as events and they could be updated on work that was going on.  The news option could be updated, and this could explain what was happening in the area of a volunteer.
• The system included a dashboard to support managers with functions such as monitoring applications.  Tasks and notifications could also be done through this function.
• The analytics function showed performance as well as reporting on aspects such as volunteer hours and training.  Through this, volunteers could be supported to improve and identify opportunities available.
• It was ensured that volunteers could control their personal information, activities and schedules and that they had access to training materials and expense claims.
• Volunteers could have more than one role and could join multiple teams. 
• There were currently 13 opportunities on Assemble covering a range of areas including Environmental initiatives, Youth Justice, Independent Children's services, Neighbourhood Services, and external VCSE opportunities.
• External opportunities with partner organisations were promoted, however, these were not managed through Assemble. 

Volunteer Coordinator for Arts & Museums (coordinating volunteers across Culture) highlighted some key points, including:

• There were approximately 485 active volunteers across all culture areas.  Assemble was used to streamline the process.
• Anybody could apply to become a volunteer and the online process was open 24/7.
• Volunteers had personalised calendars so they could see what they had signed up for.  They could also cancel opportunities they had signed up for through the calendar should they need to.
• Opportunities were still open for volunteers who were not online.  Many teams provided opportunities for non-online volunteers who continued as they did before the implementation of Assemble.
• Recruitment had increased since the previous year.
• Volunteers could communicate with each other through the Assemble messenger function.  The meant that they did not have to exchange personal information such as phone numbers, which would be a risk.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

• The volunteer community and Social Enterprise groups were worked with on a day-to-day basis.  Their needs were supported through the needs assessment and identifying departments to support internally.  Additionally, infrastructure support was examined, such as funding bids and business acumen.  These were added to the network and when opportunities were seen, volunteers were informed.  Further to this, it was important to engage with Ward Councillors as they were in touch with what was going on in their communities.  Therefore, it was important to keep communications open in order to find out what was happening in the local area so that the needs of the area could be directed towards.
• Regarding a query about other volunteer groups, it was noted that there were many in the community who already had systems in place.  In the Council strategy it was aimed to identify smaller fledgling groups (although not exclusively these groups) who might be limited on resource, so as to promote possibilities.  In terms of the 13 opportunities available internally, there was a need to focus on how to convey the message that the platform was available.
• Each department had its own areas and levels of volunteers.  There were currently around 2500 volunteers on the Assemble system covering various areas including the environment, adult education, libraries, active travel, neighbourhood services and looked after children.  It was again noted that some volunteers did not use assemble.
• Volunteers in culture were relatively visible, which meant that people could see people volunteering in these areas and be inspired to volunteer themselves.  Other areas were less visible.
• Compared to other organisations, the Council had healthy numbers of volunteers.
• It was clarified that Assemble was only used internally and was the Council system for its own volunteers, therefore people recruited by the Council were usually managed through Assemble.
• Theoretically there was a maximum number of volunteers, although this was dependent on the activities across the service.  New opportunities would emerge for volunteers to engage, such as the Renoir exhibition.  The numbers of volunteers needed fluctuated, however there was currently lots of capacity and many areas were looking for volunteers.  It was further noted that many service areas had closed volunteer teams due to projects coming to an end, and the capacity for volunteers depended on service area need.  Further to this it was acknowledged that whilst having more volunteers added cost to the Council, there was no set maximum number of volunteers.
• An understanding with the Trades Union Congress had been signed up to, to the effect that volunteers did not replace staff, but were rather about service enhancement.  The example was given of volunteers at DeMontfort Hall, where volunteers aided visitors and enhanced their experience, but did not undertake the roles of paid staff.
• Analytics were undertaken and these were useful for funders such as the Arts Council.  Assemble made these analytics easier.  Information such as ethnicity, gender and disability could be declared at the application stage should a volunteer wish to, but this was anonymised when analysed.  Around 50% of volunteers chose to declare their sensitive data, more people declared through Assemble than did when the application process used paper forms, as with paper forms the information could be seen more readily by staff.
• Ad Hoc work was done with other groups such as Spark, who asked the Council to share opportunities with volunteers.
• Assemble was useful as it kept opportunities visible and as such pools of volunteers remained engaged.
• Parks had provided 11,000 volunteer hours and as such volunteers were visible in parks.  Volunteers wanted to contribute to the community and wished to meet like-minded people.  Many were also environmentally conscious and wished to become involved in activities such as tree planting.
• Around 77,000 volunteers were available.  These did not directly substitute Council services.
• There were always opportunities for volunteering and the Council did good work with ward engagement and through libraries and museums, but there was always scope for more.  Therefore, ward councillors were asked to promote volunteering opportunities in their wards.
• The demographics of the volunteers was largely reflective of the demographics of the city, but slightly skewed to be younger, more disabled and more female.  However, the details of around 50% of the volunteers was unknown as they had not declared it.  A survey system had been signed up to in order to find out more about the needs of volunteers.  The data on the demographics could me shared (anonymised) with members.  In terms of what was declared for volunteers’ ethnicity, it was important to note that there were nuances in terms of the language used to describe an ethnicity.  The data analysis was based on how the Council conducted analytics across all areas.
• An ethnicity breakdown of volunteers could be provided to help engagement with different communities.
• A view of volunteer effort and the opportunities that volunteers were taking part in could be brought to the Commission.
• A summary of the delivery plan could be brought back to the Commission showing the starting point and the current situation in tabular format. 
• In terms of the financial implications.  There was a contribution from the Council in terms of an officer contribution from the budget of Corporate Services.  It was important to note that the activity of volunteers had financial value such as the work with communities.   The financial information could be factored into the delivery plan.
• It was noted that businesses played an important role in bringing communities together.  An event would be held on 17 June which would be an opportunity for businesses and VCSE representatives to encourage volunteers.  Ward Councillors would be invited and were asked to promote the event in their wards.
• It was asked that consideration be given to volunteer opportunities and engagement being set up outside working hours as many volunteers were working people.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That a review of the strategy come to the commission in 18 months’ time.

3)    That an ethnicity breakdown of volunteers be provided.

4)    Date of event to be circulated.

Councillor Karavadra arrived at the meeting during the consideration of this item.

Councillor Aldred left the meeting during the consideration of this item.