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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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