Manchester Alliance for Community Care

Young Carers Support (Forthcoming Tender)
Manchester City Council has responsibility to support carers of all ages, including young carers. Young Carers are children and young people under 18 who provide care, to another family member who is disabled, or has some chronic illness, mental health problem or other condition connected with a need for care, support or supervision. They carry out, often on a regular basis, significant or substantial caring tasks and assume a level of responsibility, which would usually be associated with an adult.
Tender documents for providers to be included on a Young Carers Services Framework, are about to be advertised on an e-procurement website The Chest (see link below). A letter that introduces and explains the e-procurement website in more detail is also attached at the end of the document.
Before the tender goes out the City Council is inviting comments/views about the specification. Any feedback to be returned by 13th November 2009 to v.quinn@manchester.gov.uk.

Improving Safeguarding for Adults
A consultation on the review of No Secrets guidance for safeguarding adults has been launched. How can the voluntary and community sector contribute to the development of better tools to safeguard adults from abuse and improve our own processes and procedures? Reconciling safeguarding with the personalisation agenda was discussed at the Manchester Older People's Network meeting in October and voluntary sector organisations agreed to meet to discuss the review in more detail in late November.

Parenting and Family Support Commissioning
The City Council has now released details of the first part of the commissioning process for 2009-20011. The deadline for submissions is 24th November 2008. The details are available on the Council list of current tenders on the Council website - click on the link below. We’ve also put more background information on the MACC website under Commissioning 2009-11. This includes an FAQ and contact details for support. We’ll upload details of the other commissioning streams there too as they emerge.

Parenting Fund - Round Three now open
Round 3 of the Parenting Fund is now open. Here are the headlines:

The total grant fund is just over £16 million over a two-year period (£8 million per year)
It can only be used in the 23 English local government areas listed below
Grants can cover more than one area
It is open to “not for profit” organisations but excludes statutory services
The grants will be for 24 months and the first payments will be made in April 2009.
The amount applied for must be at least £50,000 for the two-year period but there is no upper limit.
Organisations can apply to work in more than one area
Funded projects are expected to deliver learning and outcomes that can be picked up nationally.
Threre remains a focus on promoting social inclusion and improving access to services and support for less well-served communities.
The localities are: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Blackburn with Darwen, Liverpool, City of Manchester, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Peterborough, Norfolk, Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Southwark, Slough, Southampton, Cornwall, Bristol.
Completed applications must be submitted by noon on Friday December 12th 2008.
Assessment, decisions and award making will take place between December 2008 and January 2009.

UPDATE - See Dates for Your Diary for details of a meeting to discuss joint working on bids to the Parenting Fund

Parenting Fund - Round Three now open
Round 3 of the Parenting Fund is now open. Here are the headlines:

The total grant fund is just over £16 million over a two-year period (£8 million per year)
It can only be used in the 23 English local government areas listed below
Grants can cover more than one area
It is open to “not for profit” organisations but excludes statutory services
The grants will be for 24 months and the first payments will be made in April 2009.
The amount applied for must be at least £50,000 for the two-year period but there is no upper limit.
Organisations can apply to work in more than one area
Funded projects are expected to deliver learning and outcomes that can be picked up nationally.
Threre remains a focus on promoting social inclusion and improving access to services and support for less well-served communities.
The localities are: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Blackburn with Darwen, Liverpool, City of Manchester, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Peterborough, Norfolk, Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Southwark, Slough, Southampton, Cornwall, Bristol.
Completed applications must be submitted by noon on Friday December 12th 2008.
Assessment, decisions and award making will take place between December 2008 and January 2009.

UPDATE - See Dates for Your Diary for details of a meeting to discuss joint working on bids to the Parenting Fund

Children Young People and Families Grant
This is a national programme to fund work by the third sector to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The outcomes expected from this funded work are embedded in the Children Act 2004, the Every Child Matters outcomes and the Children's Plan. The deadline for receipt of completed applications is midday 31 October 2008.

Hate Crime Research
Reported crime against disabled people has come to the fore in recent years, yet there is no agreed or common understanding of what disability hate crime is. Breakthrough UK has obtained funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to find out more about the way organisations define and respond to reports of hate crime, or related incidents. The main aim of this study is to develop and share greater understanding of disability hate crime, and how this compares with understanding about hate crime toward other groups.
Even if you think organisation does not do anything in this area your response will help the research. The survey can be downloaded below and should take about 20 minutes to complete. Please return the questionnaire to Breakthrough UK by Monday 27th October. There will be a conference in March 2009 to launch the report of the findings of this study.

What future for the Compact?
The future of the Compact is now being discussed. Are you representing a voluntary and community organisation? Any change may affect you and your relationship with government, including key issues such as funding and consultation. Jurgen Grotz is a researcher who has been asked by Compact Voice to collect views on the issues discussed in the Compact debate. If you would like to talk to him about your views on the Compact just email your name and number to j.grotz@roehampton.co.uk or call him on 07737 223 639 and he will call you to ask what you think about the Compact and what you would want it to look like. There’s also an online consultation at where you can fill in the Compact Voice questionnaire.

Support for Young People with Chronic Health Conditions
Staying Positive Workshops are a series of three one-day workshops delivered over a period of six weeks for young people aged 12-18 who are living with a long-term health condition. The workshops give them the skills to improve the management of their condition from both a health and social perspective. They've been developed through working with teenagers on the format and content - including delivery of the sessions by young people aged between 14 and 25 who are themselves living with a long term condition. The workshops are usually held on a Saturday, Sunday or during the school holidays to prevent the loss of school time. A trained responsible adult is always on site to assist the young facilitators if any difficulties arise during the workshops. The North West Launch of Staying Postive takes place on 7th November 2008 at Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester from 1pm till 3pm including buffet lunch and will cover:

About the Staying Positive programme
How the programme helps local trusts meet obligations under Every Child Matters and the Children’s NSF
Hearing directly from young people who have experienced the programme and find out what it has meant to them
How to make it happen in your area and network over lunch

If you are interested in attending, please contact Danielle Brown on danielle.brown@eppcic.co.uk or on tel. 01225 731328. The evaluation report on the project to date is available for download below:

About the Staying Positive programme
How the programme helps local trusts meet obligations under Every Child Matters and the Children’s NSF
Hearing directly from young people who have experienced the programme and find out what it has meant to them
How to make it happen in your area and network over lunch

If you are interested in attending, please contact Danielle Brown on danielle.brown@eppcic.co.uk or on tel. 01225 731328. The evaluation report on the project to date is available for download below:

Consultation on new legal form for charities
The Office of the Third Sector and the Charity Commission have released a proposal for a new legal structure for charities: the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). There is now a consultation on the details of the new form might look like and the rules it will have to follow. The next step in developing the CIO is to consult with the charity sector and those who will do business with these new organisations. The deadline for responses is 10th December. Follow the link below for more details.

NHS Constitution
The Government has published a proposed constitution for the National Health Service. This is intended as a statement of the values of the NHS and people's rights to free services. The consultation runs until 17th October 2008. If you have views to you wish to feed in, you can send them directly to the Department of Health via the consultation details on their website or contact MACC and we will include your comments in our response.

Tender opportunity: Mental Health Criminal Justice Liaison Service
The Manchester Mental Health Joint Commissioning Team (JCT) is currently tendering for a city-wide mental health criminal justice liaison service in Manchester for people who:

have a mental disorder or illness,
have a history of offending or offending behaviours,
are using substances in a problematic way and / or
have a personality disorder and multiple complex risk behaviours.

Interested organisations can obtain a full tender pack by contacting the Joint Commissioning Team by email at: jointcommissioningteam@manchester.nhs.uk or by phone on 0161 237 2826. All completed tender submissions must be received by 12 noon on Friday 12th September 2008.

Third Sector Survey
The Office of the Third Sector is carrying out a Third Sector Flexibility Survey addressed to third sector organisations that are currently delivering public services or have been involved in their delivery in the last 12 months. The survey is a follow up to the Cabinet Office publication “Excellence and Fairness: Achieving world class public services”. Through it the Office for the Third Sector aims to improve its understanding of what supports and drives innovation in Third Sector public service delivery. If your organisation is currently involved or has been involved in public service delivery in the last 12 months, please take the time to complete the survey and return it by 8 September 2008. Click here to complete the survey. Please return this survey even if it is incomplete. All answers are valuable.

'Bye 'Bye Ruth
MACC's Children and Families worker Ruth Craven is to leave us in mid-August. She's going to work for a organisation that provides support to the Vietnamese community in Cambodia. I know I speak on behalf of all of us at MACC that she will be greatly missed both as a colleague and a friend. During the last three years she has done a great deal to increase the participation and influence of the voluntary and community sector in the children and families agenda and has earned the respect of colleagues in both the voluntary and statutory sectors. We wish Ruth all the very best for the future and the exciting challenges which lie ahead.
Mike Wild, Director of MACC

Manchester Infrastructure Support Survey
Manchester City Council has launched a consultation survey on the support services currently available for voluntary and community sector organisations. These are currently being provided by Novas Scarman Trust The information provided will identify how the current service is being used and gaps in provision - which will shape the tender for the new contrct for this work. MACC strongly encourages all local voluntary sector organisations to take part in this survey: there is a clear need to develop the range of support available to the sector and this is the big opportunity to communicate that message to the people who commission the service. Follow the link below to take part. The deadline is 30th September 2008.
A hard copy of the questionnaire can be downloaded from the City Council website or is available from: The Third Sector Team, Corporate Performance Group, Manchester City Council, PO Box 532, Manchester M60 2LA tel: 0161 234 3141.

Urgent Care in Central Manchester
Manchester Primary Care Trust, working with Central Manchester Practice Based Commissioning Group and Manchester City Council, is developing a full specification for urgent care services in Central Manchester. They are asking providers including the voluntary and community sector to contribute to the "design stage" - this will ultimately shape the service specification. If you're interested in contributing to this, you should contact the Greater Manchester Commissioning Business Service (link below) by 20th August 2008.

Job vacancies at MACC
There are currently two job vacancies at MACC: for our lead worker on children and families and a new support role which will work across our voluntary and community sector networks. Further details of both posts and application packs can be found on our jobs page:

Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care
"Consultation Workshops” at the Gujarat Centre (GHS Enterprise Ltd), Preston on the 8th September 2008. The Department of Health recognises that volunteering plays a huge potential role in the context of more flexible, responsive and patient-focused health and social care services. This consultation exercise is designed to discuss and debate the five key elements of the “Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care document”

Support for individual volunteers
Effective management within organisations
Commissioning environment and infrastructure
Promoting partnership
Leadership

This is one of nine regional workshops being held across England by the Department of Health in conjunction with CSIP NW. The consultation will end on 30th September 2008. To access the consultation on line click on the link below. If you are able to attend please complete the attached booking form and returning to philip.jones@csip.org.uk Alternatively, you can fax the form to 0161 351 4936.

Support for individual volunteers
Effective management within organisations
Commissioning environment and infrastructure
Promoting partnership
Leadership

Capacity Building Support to develop partnerships
Are you a voluntary and community sector organisation that works with children, young people or families? Would you like to improve your sustainability and increase your profile? Do you currently work collaboratively with other VCS organisations or would you like to develop closer working with other organisations? If you answered YES to all these questions then please read on....
MACC is offering practical, tailor-made capacity building support to voluntary and community organisations that wish to work together and develop their collaborative working. We recognise that developing partnerships and making them work effectively can be challenging and time-consuming. We have a Business Improvement Budget, with which we can buy in expertise and practical support to help you to develop your partnership ideas.
We will be offering this service for the remainder of 2008-09. Due to the limits this places on our time and resources, we will only be able to offer this service to groups who have already identified potential or existing partners that they wish to develop their relationship with. For further details contact Alison Tansey at MACC for further information (alison@macc.org.uk or call 0161 834 9823).

Consultation on registration of health and adult social care providers
The Department of Health is seeking views on the future of regulation of health and adult social care. It considers which health and adult social care services should require registration with the Care Quality Commission and what the requirements for registration should be. It also asks at what point providers of regulated services should be required to have a registered manager and how primary care services should be included in the new system.

Consultation on GP services in Manchester
Manchester Primary Care Trust is planning to open a new GP-led Health Centre in the City Centre and seeking comments and views on the new service. The link below is for the PCT's online survey of people's views (5 questions) and contains some information about the new service.

Paper copies of the questions are available by emailing talkinghealth@manchester.nhs.uk or telephone 0161 217 4311 / 0161 945 3178. You can also send comments and views to the PCT through their freepost address: Talking Health, FREEPOST RRSS-EKKJ-RRKY, Baguley Clinic, M23 1NA

Sowing Seeds Manchester Launches Including Men Network.
Launch of a new service for Frontline Practitioners and Managers on 15th November - Manchester’s first Online Forum for work with Men and Fathers. The Manchester including Men Network will support and inform managers and frontline staff to champion inclusive work in their services.

Sowing Seeds will be supported by Children North East Fathers Plus to manage and facilitate a series of local network meetings throughout the year. Meetings will address a variety of themes relevant to partners’ needs, such as ‘including fathers and male carers in parenting support,’ ‘developing the employment of men in childcare’, ‘including men in health promotion and prevention,’ ‘linking fatherhood, social exclusion and anti-social behaviour.’

The Manchester Including Men Network will provide a focus for managers and practitioners to feed into and respond to the way the city incorporates changes in national policy into its policies and practices across service delivery and employment. It will:

Provide a link between policy development in Manchester and its impact on service delivery for fathers and men.
Link policy development in Manchester and policy development in the rest of the North West region, enabling the dissemination of effective policy and practice.
Link practitioners in the Manchester network with the regional and national father’s worker networks.
Link agencies in statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors in order to facilitate joint ways of working to include fathers and men.

The network meetings will be supported by a communications strategy consisting of three key elements:

Management and administration of a database of key practitioners in the city
E-flyers to update workers about events, policy development and availability of training and resources.
The development of a network website and online knowledge bank for practitioners in the city.

Children North East will manage the database and coordinate communication with the network and between the Manchester network and other regional and national networks. Children North East will host the network website on the Including Men.com knowledge bank and will provide training and support for Sowing Seeds to update the Manchester network site.

Sowing Seeds will facilitate the network with practical events and act as the advisor for the network practitioners. Also we will send out regular updates of what is happening in the field of work with men/fathers. Forr more information please contact Barrington Reeves by email keprahinc@hotmail.com or you can phone on 0161 374 9875 or mobile 07816 211559.

Statement from Mind in Manchester
As you may have heard, Mind in Manchester is in imminent danger of closing all its services. Below is a statement from Justin Larner, the manager of the organisation:

"In recent years we've developed recovery-focused mentoring and social inclusion mental health services that have been so successful that they are currently over subscribed and we have waiting lists over a year long. More than 75% of all the people that we work are sent to us by statutory health and social care bodies. Many of our clients have some of the most complex and longstanding difficulties in a population that is recognised as having high levels of deprivation and poor mental health (including suicide).

Without significant support from the statutory authorities Mind in Manchester's mentoring and social inclusion services will close before the end of May 2007. We need your help to stop this from happening. Please visit our website www.mind-in-manchester.org.uk/funding/index.php for more information and how you can help."

VCS Involvment on Manchester Youth Matters Board
Download an update on Youth Matters and voluntary sector participation on Manchester's Youth Matters Board here.

Integrated Commissioning and District Collaboration Project - Briefing Note

Services to children across Manchester will be delivered in a more cohesive and efficient way through the forging of effective partnerships under the integrated commissioning and district collaboration project.

Introduced as a result of the Children Act 2004, integrated commissioning and district collaboration will require all agencies to work together and adopt a common approach to deliver co-ordinated services which place the needs of children and young people at the centre.

Commissioning in this context is not just about procurement and purchasing but about specifying requirements to meet the specific needs of children and young people, securing those services and evaluating their effectiveness.

It will look specifically at the five outcomes of staying safe, being healthy, enjoying and achieving, contributing positively and achieving economic well-being.

The result will be improvements in early intervention and prevention, more effective multi-disciplinary working, the removal of duplication of services and increase efficiency as well as accountability.

Pilots have already taken place in three of the six Manchester districts using Children’s Fund monies to commission Family and Parenting Support services. In North East Manchester, the Commissioning Panel decided they wanted to commission family and parenting support through services which worked with groups of schools, where there was an identified need. This would mean that services would intervene early, be preventative and work with schools in an integrated way to identify where support is most needed. The experience from these pilots is being used to help develop integrated commissioning across all six districts.

Key milestones over the coming months will be determining the Commissioning Statement for the City, together with ensuring that the district panels are in place by April 2007, and the appointment of project workers to support these panels. Once established, the district panels, with senior representation from partner agencies, will begin to analyse the needs of children and young people in their area in order that they can begin to assess which services require commissioning.

Integrated Commissioning and District Collaboration Project - Briefing Note

Every Disabled Child Matters - petition
EDCM is a campaign by four leading organisations working with disabled children and their families – Contact a Family, Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium. We will challenge politicians and policy-makers to make good on the Government’s commitment that every child matters.

Only 1 in 13 families get support from social services.
Disabled children are 13 times more likely to be excluded from school
8 out of 10 families with disabled children say that they are at breaking point

EDCM believe that disabled children and their families should have the right to the services and support they need to live ordinary lives. Every Disabled Child Matters is the campaign to make this happen.

They want 10,000 supporters to sign their petition by December. If you wish to support the campaign, follow the link here: www.edcm.org.uk

Tobacco Health Warnings
The Department of Health is running a consultation about introducing picture warnings on tobacco packs. A dedicated site has been launched: http://www.packwarnings.nhs.uk/ which shows the kinds of pictures being considered and a survey of people's responses and attitudes around smoking. The closing date for submitting your views is 25 August 2006.

Framework forJoint Planning and Commissioning of Services at a District Level (Jan 06)
This framework aims to help local planners and commissioners to design a unified system in each local area and create a clear picture of what children and young people need, make the best use of resources, and join up services so they provide better outcomes than they can on their own. You can download the framework > here <