Written evidence from National Citizen Service Trust

 

Introduction

 

  1. NCS Trust is the organisation tasked by Government to oversee the delivery of the NCS programme. To date, over 300,000 young people have taken part in the NCS programme, with significant positive results not only for the young people themselves, but also for the communities they serve. Our independent evaluations are available online at http://www.ncsyes.co.uk/impact.

 

Summary response

 

  1. We welcome the National Audit Office's report which recognises the achievements of National Citizen Service. The NAO credits the positive impact that the programme has on the young people who take part, which has been shown to endure in independent evaluations. The report notes that NCS has grown rapidly from 158 young people in 2009 to reach over 93,000 young people in 2016. The NAO draws attention to the diverse mix of backgrounds on NCS programmes with a higher proportion of people from disadvantaged backgrounds than the general population.

 

  1. NCS Trust is proud of its achievements which are a credit to the 300,000 young people who have had life changing experiences on NCS, and the network of hundreds of youth, charity and voluntary sector organisations that make the programme happen in communities up and down our country. Whilst doing this, our network has reduced the cost of delivering the programme and we have remained inside our budget.

 

Response to specific findings and recommendations

 

  1. We are grateful to the NAO for their findings and recommendations, which will help us to improve in future. In the years ahead we will strengthen our organisation so we can reach more young people, deepen our long-term impact and deliver greater value for money. We are carefully considering the NAO’s findings and recommendations and will work closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and other partners to implement them. We have detailed some of the work we are already doing in response to each recommendation below.

 

Key findings

 

“NCS has had early successes but it is too early to assess its long-term impact”

 

  1. Independent evaluations by Ipsos Mori have consistently found that NCS has a range of positive impacts on young people. However, as NAO identify, there is more to be done to track long term impact. We are working closely with DCMS and Ipsos Mori to track impact over multiple years. We have also recently started work with UCAS, which will allow us to track our impact on progression to higher education for the first time. In addition, in 2016 we worked with DCMS to develop a revised Theory of Change, which will help us to track long-term impact on both young people and society.

 

“Although NCS participation has grown, this has not been as quickly as desired and the extent of potential future growth is unclear”

 

  1. In the early years of a voluntary programme such as NCS, it is difficult to accurately predict demand, which makes target setting complex. The original aim of 360,000 participants was set as a mechanism of allocating resources to make sure a place is available on NCS for every young person who wants one.

 

  1. Our targets are set by Government annually. In 2017, our target is 101,000 places, which is the result of detailed bottom-up analysis of our baseline trajectory. We have worked closely with DCMS in recent weeks to develop a trajectory to 2020 which uses public money responsibly, but avoids the risk that NCS has to turn young people down. We are also in the midst of our recommissioning process, which will help us to find new ways to boost demand.

 

“The management of NCS has not kept pace with its growth”

 

Governance: NCS will continue to invest in its processes and capabilities.

 

  1. We have been focused on improving our systems and capabilities throughout our growth. For example, we have invested in better tracking and analysis of operational data to improve our performance monitoring and forecasting capability. We have implemented new safeguarding training for all staff in collaboration with the NSPCC.  We have also established a Programme Management Office to track progress of seasonal programme delivery and strategic projects.

 

  1. We have also invested in our people. Over the past year, we have established a strong senior leadership team - appointing Directors of Strategic Commissioning, People and Strategy - in order to improve our decision making and facilitate growth. We have also recruited additional staff in key roles to support delivery of the programme. This includes contract management, improvement of internal controls and process, and increased operations capacity. We recognise there is still work to do, and will keep stakeholders updated of our progress in this area.

 

Commercial arrangements: new contracts will be in place by autumn 2018.

 

  1. Current commercial arrangements are set to encourage growth by incentivising our delivery partners financially to deliver a high number of places. We pay our partners performance payments on any places over 100%.

 

  1. Contracts with partners are structured such that the unit cost paid to partners for each participant declines every year. We have engaged auditors to independently audit delivery partners, which will allow us to better understand the true cost of delivering NCS when agreeing new contracts with partners in autumn 2018.

 

  1. The Trust are currently recruiting additional senior procurement resource, who will help to drive further savings as NCS increases in scale.

 

Cost control: ensuring value for money remains a strategic priority of the NCS Trust.

 

  1. Achieving value for money has always been one of the Trust's four strategic priorities. We are pleased that independent evaluations show that NCS generates more benefits for society than it costs. Contracts with our partners are structured to ensure that unit cost per participant declines every year. Unit costs for 2016 are expected to be £1,863 in total. This is a combination of contracted programme costs, operating costs and one-off investments in quality improvements and growth. Our total cost has always remained within the budget envelope set out in the Spending Review.

 

Recommendations

 

“Identify and understand the maximum likely voluntary participation”

 

  1. We have significantly improved our ability to forecast through rigorous and realistic bottom-up analysis. We have shared this information with DCMS, which informed the setting of our 2017 target. We will continue to work closely with Government to set realistic targets based on robust bottom-up analysis. These targets will be revisiting annually to ensure they are both ambitious and realistic.

 

“Think innovatively about how best to achieve NCS's aims cost-effectively”

 

  1. We are developing a revised Theory of Change to make sure NCS delivers a programme which maximises positive outcomes for both young people and society. We have also mobilised a team to define the future commercial model and contract structure in order to ensure we are incentivising our network effectively whilst providing value for money. This work began in autumn 2016 and is on track to be completed in time for the new contracts to be introduced in autumn 2018.

 

“Think innovatively about the best way to manage the supply chain.”

 

  1. Our recommissioning team is working closely with a range of organisations (including our partner network) to establish the most effective way of delivering NCS. As part of this approach, we are commissioning “innovation places” which will help us to test new models for delivery.

 

Work alongside Government to identify what support is possible and make sure this is given.

 

  1. The Trust have worked with DCMS to set up a Cross-Government Directors’ Group which promotes cross-Government support for NCS, and tracks progress in delivering joint projects. DCMS is also drafting guidance for local authorities, schools and colleges on how they can best support NCS. We have worked closely with DCMS in developing this guidance.

 

Establish plans to evaluate the longer-term outcomes of NCS for young people and communities.

 

  1. We are working with Ipsos Mori to track NCS participant cohorts over multiple years in order to assess our long term impact. We have recently started working with UCAS to track progression to higher education. We will continue to work with DCMS to develop these impact assessments.

 

Allow the necessary time to develop this thinking and the future approach.

 

  1. We are improving our ability to design, implement and assess innovation with the NCS ecosystem. This year, we are commissioning innovation pilots, allowing our partners to test new delivery models to reach wider audiences in advance of the 2018 recommissioning round. To support this the Trust has set up an innovation fund which our partners can apply to in order to deliver local pilots. We are also working to implement a two year planning cycle which will help to make sure there is sufficient time to assess progress.

 

31 January 2017