Commissioning takes centre stage

Local businesses and organisations moved a step closer to providing services on behalf of Worcestershire County Council at Finditinworcestershire’s first birthday celebration this week.

More than 250 members of the county’s free business network gathered at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways Stadium on Tuesday, February 21 to hear from the County Council and discuss its new ‘commissioning’ approach to providing services.

The breakfast meeting included more than 70 dedicated one-to-one meetings between county companies and project leaders from the council. Topics on the table included Adult Social Care, Fleet and Transport Services, Highways, Early Help for Families, Country Parks and Green Spaces, a Joint Museums Trust, Support Packages for People with Social Needs, Safeguarding Services and IT Support.

Presentations from the council’s Director of Planning, Economy & Performance, Diane Tilley, and its Head of Commissioning & Partnerships, Richard Keble, explained the practice of commissioning and outlined the opportunities that are likely to be available soon.

The meeting marked the first birthday of the Finditinworcestershire network, which was launched to an audience of 350 special guests in February 2011. Attendees at the breakfast and networking meeting heard about Finditinworcestershire’s first year successes, which include attracting more than 2,000 members, averaging 120 delegates at each monthly breakfast meeting and providing at least £20 million of contract opportunities to local companies through its online business portal.

Kathryn Wagstaff, Project Manager of Finditinworcestershire, said: “Welcoming so many local businesses was a fitting way to mark Finditinworcestershire’s first birthday. We’ve achieved a great deal for the county in our first 12 months and established a first-class networking and online business platform that match-makes local buyers and suppliers. I’m very pleased that Finditinworcestershire could offer companies from the county the first chance to talk to the County Council about the opportunities it could be offering in the near future.”

Richard Keble, Head of Commissioning and Partnerships at Worcestershire County Council, said: “We were delighted to meet so many enthusiastic local businesses and organisations at the Finditinworcestershire breakfast meeting. In our Corporate Plan, we make a clear commitment to becoming an excellent commissioning-based authority. What this means in practice is putting the commissioning discipline at the heart of the organisation. For councils, the commissioning process is driven by fulfilling the needs of our residents, being open as to who delivers services across all providers in the local economy and having an absolute focus on outcomes for communities. Commissioning means that across the organisation we need to apply a consistent and joined up process to source the right service from the right provider at the right price.”

Finditinworcestershire was developed by Worcestershire County Council and aims to boost the county’s economy by giving local businesses the support and contacts they need to pitch for, and win, more and bigger contracts – and to 'match-make' local businesses that can trade with each other.

Becoming a member of Finditinworcestershire is free and local businesses can sign up at www.finditinworcestershire.com

Next month’s breakfast meeting, which will focus on modern marketing techniques, will take place at Sixways Stadium on Tuesday, March 20 and members can book a free place on the Finditinworcestershire website.

Finditinworcestershire can be found on Twitter as @finditinworcs