Decision details

To utilise £200K of Better Care Fund resources, as agreed by the Place Plan TCG (transforming commissioning group) on 24.1.18 to procure an innovation and insights partnership.
The Business Case agrees to £200K over 3 years.

The Doncaster Place Plan is at the heart of the “Doncaster Caring” theme of the ambitions reforms of Doncaster Growing Together, the four year borough strategy focussing on key reforms for the borough.
With the step change in public service reform comes the opportunity to bring forward innovative approaches to tackling to complex societal problems and Team Doncaster is seeking an innovation partner to support this.

Some areas of work, namely associated with the Caring Theme and Learning Theme, have benefited enormously from a range of innovation and design partners who have brought new ways of working and modern methods to the table. These include:

The Design Council – Winning bid to the LGA to be part of the Design Council’s Design in the Public Sector training and coaching programme. This centred on deriving insight and creating prototypes to support individuals in Denaby with COPD better self-manage their condition.

Eclipse Experience – Children and Young People’s Ethnographic Research driving the development of the Children and Young People’s Plan
?The Innovation Unit – A number of contracts including supporting Complex Lives, The Place Plan’s strategic development, VCF sector development and Big Picture Learning. The Complex Lives work, for example, allowed an in depth understanding of the individuals’ stories and lives allowing stakeholders an opportunity to understand ‘the system’ from the users’ perspective and therefore subsequently make commissioning changes as a result.

The Open Data Institute – linked to SMOA, the ODI are the data partner for the open data careers site(s) being developed to support young people better access Information, Advice and Guidance for skills and careers information.

UsCreates – Partner behind ‘Doncaster Talks’ - a design research led piece looking at motivations and behaviours linked to health for Doncaster residents. Allowed an in-depth understanding of specific resilience factors in Doncaster which now allows commissioners and leaders to focus in on connectedness and openness to change.

These examples have allowed a better, in depth and more nuanced understanding of residents’ needs and provide a clearer picture for commissioners and service leads as to the problems that need to be solved. By having this work linked to the commissioning cycle and applying findings to commissioning and service management has allowed better strategic commissioning decisions which has/will in turn lead to better outcomes and savings.

Each of the contracted or partnership work so far has had an element of training and capacity building within it to ensure that Doncaster staff are upskilled in different approaches. We are looking to procure a single contract to solidify a longer term partnership for three years. This will be the central contract for this innovation and insights work and will ensure that we achieve economies of scale and that the ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ rather than the separate contracts as outlined above. This partnership would therefore ensure that no additional Place Plan innovation work should need to be contracted in addition to this contract.

We are seeking an innovation and insight partnership to provide challenge and support to Team Doncaster services and organisations by bringing on board innovation frameworks and modern methods to support the public service reforms in Doncaster Growing Together.
The partnership will be one of “learning by doing” where capacity is built at every stage with the expectation that Team Doncaster’s representatives will be the ones doing the ‘heavy lifting’ of the work required. It is a facilitation and coaching role rather than an outsourcing model and Place Plan and Team Doncaster will be a partner not a recipient for pieces of work. This will be built on the foundation that capacity has already been built across Place Plan and Team Doncaster organisations through each of the partnerships so far with innovation and design organisations. This will ensure sustainability of the model and approach.

The innovation and insight partnership will be successful when Team Doncaster organisations and officers are adept in innovative methods and thinking and have their own clear and coherent approach to designing innovative solutions to complex challenges through a depth of insight not previously developed.

A partnership will be formed of a dynamic network of innovators, designers, social researchers and systems thinkers. Partners will make use of their network and be a conduit between TD and a wider network of people and organisations. Each/any supplier will recognise their strengths and weaknesses and bring on board organisations and contacts across their networks to ensure maximum capacity and impact.

By using insight techniques to focus on citizen needs and assets rather than service needs, it is expected (and previously shown in current/previous innovation projects) that services are more coherently and appropriately designed. This in turn manages demand as services are designed in a way that is relevant and suitable for them – encouraging early and better engagement and self-motivation/self-management.

Option 1 - Do nothing
This option was dismissed due to the requirement to gain insights to drive the development and delivery of the transformation.
Option 2 - Option 2: Separate and specific procurement – procuring individual contracts for individual project work.
This option was dismissed due to not deriving the economies of scale nor ensuring that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’.
Option 3 - Option 3: procure and set up an innovation and insights partnership
By setting up one specific and holistic partnership to support our transformation, the greatest benefits will be realised.
Option three is the recommended option and agreed at the TCG.