New opportunity for groups to run council services

Community groups and organisations will have the opportunity to 'challenge' council services and bid to run them if they believe they can bring about improvements for residents.

That's the thrust of the new Community Right to Challenge, introduced under the Localism Act 2011, and now being taken forward by the Royal Borough with an open invitation to organisations or groups - either working alone or in partnerships - to come forward with their ideas and expressions of interest.

The Right to Challenge applies to all front-line services that the Council has the power to delegate, although most involving health and social care are excluded from the legislation.

A report to Thursday evening's cabinet meeting (23 August) proposes a system that will make the process as free from red tape as possible for groups wanting to bid.

Cllr MJ Saunders, cabinet member for policy and performance, said: "Given the Royal Borough's record for direct engagement with local people, we prefer to work proactively with other agencies and organisations and put forward services that they may want to run themselves. We have been doing this with parish councils as part of the Big Society and we see the Community Right to Challenge as an extension of our existing work.

"The bottom line for any service, irrespective of who runs it, is how residents benefit and if it makes a positive difference to their lives. So, if there are robust bids from other organisations that can demonstrate a better outcome for our residents, we want to hear about it."

If the report is agreed by cabinet the door will be open for expressions of interest. There will be no set format for applications but they must contain a range of important information including financial resources, the organisation's capability of running the service and how the change would improve the social, economic or environmental wellbeing of the relevant service users.

It is the council's aim that a final decision on each bid would be taken within six months.

Cllr Saunders added: "It would be true to say we are not expecting a deluge of applications but there could be a number of organisations out there with genuinely good ideas for delivering services in a better way. Our proposed new policy framework offers a minimal red tape approach that we believe will remove bureaucratic barriers and make it as easy as possible for those groups to come forward."

Cabinet meets on Thursday evening at 7.30pm in Hurley Village Hall.

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