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Compact Awards 2009 Winners Announced
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4 Nov 2009
The winners of this year’s Compact Awards have been announced today at a ceremony in London hosted by Sir Bert Massie CBE, Commissioner for the Compact.
The Compact Awards recognise excellent partnership working taking place between local and national government and the third sector. The Compact is the long-standing agreement that sets outs shared commitments and guidelines for working between the sectors.
Organised by the Commission for the Compact in partnership with Compact Voice and the Office of the Third Sector, the award categories include Compact Champion of the Year, Local Compact of the Year, a Compact Award for Innovation, National Excellence Award and a Commissioner's Award, given in recognition of exceptional achievement.
Sir Bert Massie, Commissioner for the Compact, said:
"I would like to congratulate all the winners and finalists who took part in this year's Compact Awards. They represent Compact working at its best, illustrating the standard to which everyone should aspire. The Compact is both practical and symbolic. It plays a vital role and has made a huge contribution to developing partnership working, based on shared values, transparency and mutual respect. Our winners and finalists show that Compact principles improve the quality of partnership working, focusing on delivering the best services and providing maximum benefit, as well as promoting the building of long-term, sustainable relationships built on trust and commitment."
Simon Blake, Chair of Compact Voice, said:
"Local partners have produced a fantastic crop of Compacts this year, which are making a real difference. Compact Voice will ensure that the growing success of the Compact movement inspires other areas over the coming year."
The awards ceremony for the Compact Awards forms part of Compact Week, which takes place from 2 to 8 November 2009. Events and activities are taking place across England to promote the Compact and its achievements and to encourage wider implementation of the Compact. For more information about this national awareness week, please visit: http://www.compactweek.org.uk/
News and pictures from this year's awards ceremony will be available on the Compact Awards website from Wednesday 4 November 2009. Please visit: www.compactawards.org.uk
Results of the 2009 Compact Awards - the winners and finalists:
Local Compact of the Year
Winner: The Compact Plus for Solihull 2008 - 2013
This Local Compact has made rapid progress in a short time. In 2008/09, Solihull published its Compact Plus and its launch event was attended by over 100 partner organisations from across the public, private and third sectors. Promotion and awareness raising has led to improved engagement between the third sector and statutory partners, accompanied by improved trust and confidence between the partners.
Finalists in this category awarded Compact Excellence Awards:
- East Sussex Compact
During 2008/09, the East Sussex Compact Steering Group led on many activities that were aimed at the further implementation and embedding of their Compact across both sectors. Their entry demonstrated a good approach to process, which is now well-established. - Merton Compact
This was a strong entry demonstrating the impact a Local Compact can have on the relationship between local public agencies and the voluntary and community sector. A number of new developments were highlighted such as the development and launch of the council's third sector strategy; the establishment of Merton's Local Involvement Network (LINk) and development of a strong work programme to add value to health and social care services; and the establishment of a volunteering board. - The Hackney Compact
Awarded in recognition of the huge step forward the Hackney Compact has taken over the last 18 months. In this time, they have developed and launched a new much improved Local Compact and started to put it into practice. Relationships between the voluntary and community sector and the Council and their partners have been rebuilt and strengthened. - A Local Compact for Warrington
Good work reflected in their review of the relationships between the third sector and the council in Warrington, followed by an effective revision of its Local Compact. - Wolverhampton Compact
The judges were impressed by this entry, which demonstrated evidence of progress towards meeting the outcomes identified in their action plan including the establishment of a new network bringing Compact Champions together.
Highly Commended Certificates awarded to:
- Redcar and Cleveland Compact
- North & North East Lincolnshire Joint Compact
- Sutton Compact
The Commissioner's Award
Winner: One Hull LSP
Awarded in recognition of One Hull LSP's commitment to developing its Local Compact as a framework for good practice across all partner agencies in the private, public and voluntary and community sectors. In particular, the involvement of the private sector impressed the judges. Their work has included: two high-profile multi-agency events around commissioning; the development and implementation of a Compact Conciliation and Learning Code; and initiating new Codes around Community Assets, Social Enterprise and Commissioning to reflect the changing nature of the relationship between the voluntary and community sector and its partners.
Compact Champion of the Year
Winner: Jaqui Ball (Arun District Council)
Jaqui has enthusiastically worked to raise the profile and credibility of the West Sussex Compact across organisations and across sectors in the county. She has been Chair of the West Sussex Compact Implementation Group for over three years and has willingly taken on this role in addition to her work as a senior executive in local government. She has been instrumental in encouraging engagement between the sectors and is the statutory sector lead for NI7. Jaqui is described by her colleagues as an "inspiring speaker" and has done much to improve awareness, understanding and credibility amongst the West Sussex VCS and Statutory Sector of Compact principles and ways of working.
Finalists in this category awarded Compact Excellence Awards:
- Sam Axtell (Wolverhampton City Council)
Sam's active involvement in Compact initiatives in Wolverhampton shows the invaluable work and influence that Compact Champions can have on Compact working. She has a strong track record and her influence can be seen in a number of recent pieces of work such as the refresh of Wolverhampton's Partnership's Community Engagement Strategy and the development of a Partnership Protocol and Framework for council staff and elected members. - Soo Nevison (Voluntary Action Calderdale)
Soo is Chair of the Steering Group for the Calderdale Compact and Compact Voice Regional Leader for Yorkshire and Humber. She led on the review of the Funding Code in Calderdale and has been actively involved in promoting the Compact at events/workshops, designing training for Compact Champions and providing induction support. As a result of her input and vision, the revitalisation and development of Calderdale Compact has benefited greatly, and she makes a huge difference to the impact of the Compact on local people and organisations. - Phil Spence (Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council)
Phil has been a driving force in developing the relationship between the third sector and statutory partners for a number of years. He was a founder member of the Compact Working Group in Tameside and is an active member of its Cross Sector Policy Group. In the last year, Phil has been fundamental in helping the sectors to develop joint responses to support people in the borough affected by the recession, and his colleagues describe him as the "glue" between the statutory and third sectors.
Compact Award for Innovation
Winner: West Sussex Compact
The Judges were impressed with consistency of this entry and how it used the West Sussex Compact to underpin the Local Area Agreement and the National Indicator 7 target ("environment for a thriving third sector"). Through the creation of a simple Influence and Engagement Evaluation Toolkit, it has been able to undertake evaluations in key areas such as inter-agency partnerships, working together locally, funding and procurement, performance management and sustainability.
Finalist in this category awarded a Compact Excellence Award:
- Compact for Hull
Hull received this award for its development of a new Conciliation and Learning Process as a means of resolving Compact disputes. This process seeks to review what has happened and then identify ways in which systems can be developed to fully embed Compact principles, with the focus on the learning element of this process. This has introduced a simpler, less bureaucratic process that can be accessed and understood by all partners whether or not they are a large public sector organisation or a small voluntary group.
Highly Commended Certificate awarded to:
- Bolsover Compact Development Group
Compact Award for Excellence at a National Level
Winner: Defra Third Sector Team
In November 2008, Defra published its third sector strategy, which set out an ambitious programme of action to improve the way it works in partnership with the third sector. Key activities included: establishing a Third Sector Advisory Board and a Social Enterprise Partnership; establishing the Third Sector Ministerial Task Force on Climate Change, the Environment and sustainable Development; and launching a blog to enable the public to monitor and comment on progress. http://blogs.defra.gov.uk/3rd-sector
Notes for Editors
- The Compact was established in England in November 1998 and was inspired by the Deakin Commission report on the Future of the Voluntary Sector. It is an agreement that provides an overall framework for promoting effective partnership working between the Government and the third sector.
- The Judging Panel for this year's Compact Awards consisted of the Commissioner for the Compact, members of the Commission's Non-Executive Board, and representatives from Compact Voice and the Office of the Third Sector.
Ends
Watch the Compact Awards 2009 video
Compact Awards 2009 For more information on the winners, finalists and highly commended, please visit: http://www.compactawards.org.uk/
Useful Download
Press Release: Compact Awards 2009 results
For media enquiries, please contact:
Rebecca Morris, Head of Communications
Commission for the Compact
Tel: 0121 237 5913
Email: rebecca.morris@thecompact.org.uk