Good
Governance Yorkshire and Humber Pilot Programme
Providing
support to organisations to improve their Governance Arrangements
We
have experience of working to support and develop the capacity
of public sector organisations, such as LSPs, Local Authorities,
and regeneration partnerships, as well as voluntary and community
sector organisations. We are also a partner on the Yorkshire and
Humber Assembly's Good Governance Sounding Board which aims to
improve Good Governance and Civic Participation across the region,
and are currenlty managing the Good Governance Yorkshire and Humber
Pilot Programme, originally developed by the Assembly
The
function of governance is to ensure that an organisation or partnership
fulfils its overall purpose, achieves its intended outcomes for
citizens and service users, and operates in an effective, efficient
and ethical manner.
Underpinning
the Government's drive for public service performance improvement
is the need for all organisations that work for the public, using
public money, to have effective governance arrangements.
Good
governance arrangements provide clear structures for understanding
the roles, responsibilities, parameters, and powers of all stakeholders;
it also encourages the public trust and participation that enables
services to improve; bad governance fosters the low morale and
adversarial relationships that lead to poor performance or even,
ultimately, to dysfunctional organisations.
The
6 principles of Good Governance
1. Focusing on the organisation's purpose and on outcomes for
citizens and users
2. Promoting values for the whole organisation and demonstrating
good governance through behaviour
3. Taking informed transparent decisions and managing risk
4. Developing the capacity of the governing body to be effective
5. Performing effectively in clearly defined roles
6. Engaging stakeholders and making accountability real
The
Good Governance Yorkshire and Humber Pilot Programme Process
Good Governance is essential for the effective, efficient and
ethical running of your organisation. The Back to Work Company
is now offering you the chance to be part of their Good Governance
Yorkshire and Humber Pilot Programme which offers support to you
and your board to improve your governance arrangements. The Programme
is aimed at public sector organisations or those in receipt of
public money in the Yorkshire and Humber region. It is completely
FREE and consists of a self assessment session with your
Board, your service users, and your partners (where appropriate).
The exercise aims to facilitate discussion between board members
to identify areas for improvement in your current Governance arrangements
- and assist you to work towards prioritizing actions for the
future. The process is relatively simple, tailored to your needs,
and will help you develop your governance arrangements to be in
line with the nationally recognised Good Governance Standard for
Public Services - a generic set of 6 principles developed by the
Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services in
2004 mentioned
above.
The
following provides an outline on how it will work:
STAGE 1: The Initial
Meeting
STAGE 2 : The Self-Assessment Session for
the Board
STAGE 3 : The Service User/Partner Session - providing
a 360 degree appraisal
After the self-assessment sessions the contact within the organisation
will use the Master Copy to gather the evidence required to support
the results of the sessions, this will also be used to further
identify where the gaps are and to consider what key actions need
to be taken in order to improve Governance arrangements - all
this information and documentation can be stored in the Workbook
ringbinder for convenience.
STAGE 4 : Action Planning
STAGE 5 : After Completion of the Good Governance Process
we will re-visit your organisation after 3 months to monitor progress
on your Action Plan, and offer support and guidance where needed
The
programme is aimed at ANY organisation across Yorkshire
and the Humber that is in receipt of public money.
Organisations
currently involved in the programme include:
Sure
Start, Leeds West Homes, RtC (Leeds), North East Lincs PCT, and
Calderdale Forward (LSP).
What's
in it for you?
 |
The
short exercise involves both your Board and your service users
(where appropriate) to help you to Identify 'areas for
improvement' and develop solutions for your governance
arrangements, therefore helping you to develop a more robust,
fit for purpose Board |
|
The programme is fully funded (FREE) and you will
be provided with an experienced facilitator to take you through
the process - tailored to your needs |
|
You
will work towards developing your governance arrangements
to be in line with the nationally recognised Good Governance
Standard for Public Services - a generic set of principles,
aimed at organisations funded through public money, developed
by the Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public
Services in 2004, and available from www.opm.co.uk |
|
The programme has the full support of the Regional
Assembly, the Office for Public Management who developed the
original Standard, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. |
|
On
your Board's successful completion of the process, we will
invite you to attend their annual celebration event where
you will be presented with a Good Governance Yorkshire and
Humber glass award! |
Background
In
2005, the Yorkshire and
Humber Regional Assembly took the lead in developing the region's
work to support public and voluntary sector organisations in improving
their governance procedures by developing the Good Governance
Standard for Yorkshire and Humber. To achieve the Standard, organisations
are required to complete a process which involves a self assessment
tool in the form of a workbook, using the principles set out in
the nationally recognised Good Governance Standard for Public
Services recently developed by the
Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services.
The Standard is intended to be used as a guide to help everyone
concerned with the governance of an organisation to not only understand
and apply common principles of Good Governance, but also to assess
the strengths and weaknesses of current governance procedures,
and to work towards improving them. The piloting programme has
already begun with a small number of organisations. It has now
been taken over by us, The Back to Work Company, and we hope to
involve at least 30 additional organisations in the development
of this exciting new tool for the Region.
If you think your
organisation could benefit from being involved in this exciting
opportunity for our region, please contact:
Rebecca Williams,
Programme Manager on:
0113 2622789
rebecca@thebacktoworkcompany.com
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Renewal and Regeneration
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and Equality
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