Smarter commissioning is the key to developing local authority relationships with the third sector, according to a new report by the Audit Commission. The report, Hearts and minds: Commissioning from the voluntary sector, finds that councils are spending £3bn a year on services provided by the voluntary sector, but concludes that neither party is making the most of the relationship. According to the report, the relationship is being blighted between councils and the third sector because of poor commissioning practice. Some councils have introduced more strategic commissioning with a greater use of service level agreements for grants. ‘What the voluntary sector needs is clarity, not charity, and that means improving bidding processes and demonstrating its worth in clear and measurable ways,' said Audit Commission chairman, Michael O'Higgins. IDeA's director of third sector commissioning, Sarah Wood, said: ‘The report is a positive addition to the growing volume and importance of work being done in this area. The first steps of the IDeA programme for local authorities will be to establish a base on which to measure performance, and identify some 2,000 commissioners to receive training.'
