Staff

The Performance & commissioning team are responsible for the Programme Management of the NDC Scheme. Established since June 2005, the team took over responsibility for the monitoring of the programme from the City Council Accountable Team. The team have played a key role in ensuring that the programme has spent to annual targets and processes such as the Performance Management Framework have been managed effectively.

The team's responsibilities include:

• The management of the commissioning process and performance management systems at NDC, including evaluation, in relation to achieving programme, outcomes, outputs, milestone and spend;
• Preparation of programme finance and delivery plans;
• The management of effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems for all expenditure, outcomes and outputs relating to NDC and other external funds;
• Provide appropriate information, advice and options to enable Theme leads, project managers, facilitators and partners to facilitate decision-making;
• Produce and present performance reports detailing progress made on priority area, floor targets, baseline data, NDC outcomes and core indicators to a range of audiences;
• Ensure that all programme expenditure is properly accounted for within available resources.

The team are:

Wayne Brewster – Head of Operations and Performance
Wayne.brewster@coventry.gov.uk

Plays a key role in all aspects of the NDC Team, but has specific responsibility for the commissioning process and performance management systems of NDC, including evaluation.

Performance & commissioning Officers:

Mona Afzal
Mona.Afzal@coventryndc-wehm.org.uk

Vanessa Millar
Vanessa.millar@coventryndc-wehm.org.uk

The role of the Performance & Commissioning Officer is to ensure that all performance data from the projects funded through the Coventry NDC programme is regularly collected, recorded, analysed and reported.  Working to the Performance & Commissioning Manager, these posts are responsible for ensuring that all approved project delivery agents are fully appraised of the requirements of the monitoring regime and the format in which information is required so that it can be reported on a regular basis to the Performance & Commissioning Manager, the Coventry NDC Partnership Board, the Accountable Body and GOWM.  The officers are also responsible for evaluating performance and the effectiveness of projects in delivering outputs and making the desired impact

Maurice Allen - Finance Manager (Acting)
Maurice.allen@coventryndc-wehm.org.uk

The role of the Finance Manager is to support the Performance & Commissioning Manager and NDC Director on financial accounting matters and other issues as required – to lead and be responsible for the day-to-day financial management of the NDC. The finance manager provides comprehensive financial support to the NDC programme, Partnership Board and colleagues. He is responsible for the efficient administration and implementation of the annual financial cycle for the NDC which includes budgets, action plans and completion of financial returns to Coventry City Council and Government Office.

He also provides advice and support to NDC's successor body in setting up and establishing financial and processes, including overseeing the development and monitoring of budgets for grants, contracts and/or general funds.

Kanta Kataria – Finance Assistant
kanta.kataria@coventryndc-wehm.org.uk

Whilst the Finance Manager supports the Programme, the Finance Assistant supports individual projects within the programme, assisting Theme Leads and Officers in completing quarterly monitoring returns and ensure they spend to profiles.

Lucy McGovern - Esternal Funding Officer
Lucy.mcgovern@coventry.gov.uk

Commissioning Process

Below is a brief summary outlining the commissioning process. A more detailed outline can be found in the Coventry NDC Commissioning Process.

The Commissioning Process
The process is designed to remove much of the uncertainty and lack of clarity associated with some competitive funding programmes. It is also designed to speed up the process for delivering the NDC Programme.

The Commissioning Prospectus
The Prospectus consists of documents that explain what Coventry NDC wishes to fund and how much is available for the delivery of new work within the current Delivery Plan. The Prospectus contains specifications based around the Programme themes explaining what is required from potential delivery organisations. The specifications will also indicate the period for which NDC funding would be available. The Prospectus provides more detailed information on what criteria proposals will be appraised against including the desired outcomes and outputs sought by NDC.

Proposal Submission Process
For organisations interested in delivering or being involved in providing commissioned services on behalf of Coventry NDC there are 4 stages to follow:

Stage 1	Preparation
Stage 2	Expression of Interest/Proposal Development and Submission
Stage 3	Assessment & Appraisal
Stage 4	Contracting & delivery

Characteristics of Proposals Likely to Be Considered for Funding.
Preference will be given to proposals that have a combination of some or all of the characteristics below:

• Plausible and based on evidence of what has worked elsewhere;
• Innovative – pioneering into new areas of work or new types of delivery where there is none or limited funding currently committed;
• Be multi-agency, bringing together different community and voluntary organisations and cutting across traditional professional and sector boundaries to target underlying factors;
• Demonstrate a clear link between the project aims and the Coventry NDC high level outcomes;
• Have a measurable impact – so that the effect of specific interventions are clear at each stage of the activity;
• Demonstrate a clear community engagement;
• Use community groups and facilities within the design and delivery of the project;
• Empower NDC residents, involving them in both the design and delivery of the project;
• Use existing evidence to demonstrate that residents want the project;
• Be preventative wherever possible;
• Have a robust programme infrastructure including an accountable project steering group with clear roles and responsibilities, a Project Officer and Implementing Officer, and a designated project team with clear roles and responsibilities;
• Promote sustainability through the project, ensuring that the project or some of the activities will continue post NDC funding;
• Ensure that project champions both within the Coventry NDC area, city wide, will adopt good practice and lessons learnt from evaluation regionally and nationally.

Building a Legacy
Coventry NDC is about kick starting new initiatives and promoting innovative ways of working, as well as being about changing the way services are delivered in the long term.  Proposals must indicate how they envisage building a legacy and what things are being put in place to ensure that best practice generated will be continued beyond the lifetime of the project funding (September 2008).

 

NDC Monitoring Timetable for Existing Projects

It is in everyone's interest that projects succeed and resources are used well. To help this the NDC Performance & Commissioning Team are developing a monitoring and evaluation framework. The quarterly return, an example of which is available to download below, is a key component of this framework.

It is vital that quarterly returns are completed properly and on time so that the NDC Perofmance & Commssioning Team can report to the Government Officer for the West Midlands (GOWM), the NDC Partnership Board and the Strategic Teheme Groups. Also, projects cannot be paid unless returns are completed.

Please see monitoring timetable for reporting so that the new deadlines set by GOWM can be met.

Please note that we now expect forms to be sent electronically to us, please let us know if this causes any problems.

Quarterly Performance Management

Performance Management is obviously the major role of the NDC Performacne & Commissioning Team and covers multiple areas. One of the major areas is the quarterly information we receive from projects.

As part of the NDC grant each project is required to complete a quarterly claim form. This form, and our knowledge and interaction with the project, enable us to assess individual project progress and report to the various theme groups on a variety of successes and challenges being faced, as well as the all important question of what impact are the projects having.

If you have any queries on how to use the form please contact Wayne Brewster.

Example Claim Form (For all NDC Projects)

Monthly Returns

The monthly monitoring process has been in place for approximately 2 years now. It is becoming increasingly important due to closer scrutiny of funding against spend targets, and GOWM require Coventry NDC to report to them on a monthly basis on the performace of spend targets set for the NDC Programme. The Monthly return is therefore purely a fiancial update on how the individual project is performing.

Example Monthly Claim Form (For all NDC Projects)

 

This section presents results for Coventry New Deal for Communities partnership, showing change between 2002, 2004 and 2006 and comparisons with the NDC aggregate. National comparisons are included where available.

2006 results are based on 421 interviews conducted face-to-face in home among residents aged 16+ between May-October 2006. 2002 and 2004 results are based on 500 and 494 interviews conducted between July-October 2002 and June-November 2004 respectively.
NDC aggregate results are based on interviews conducted across all 39 NDC areas; 19,574 in 2002, 19,633 in 2004 and 15,792 in 2006.

Data are weighted to correct for multiple dwellings or households at addresses. Data based on individual responses are also weighted to reflect the number of adults aged 16+ in each household and by gender and age profiles for each area based on updated census information.

The source for national comparisons are shown as footnotes. Note that many of these should be viewed as indicative, given slight differences in how questions are asked, differences in timing and fieldwork approaches.

For questions based on all respondents differences of more than 7 or 8 percentage points are required between the 2002 and 2004 and 2006 figures for Coventry to be sure they represent actual changes and are not due to chance. Similarly, differences of 8 percentage points are required between findings for Coventry and the NDC aggregate/national to be sure they represent actual differences.

For further information, please contact Leon Page or Hayley Muller

MORI Charts

• Managing Performance 2009 – 2011
• Coventry NDC Commissioning Specification
• Coventry NDC Expression of Interest
• Example Quarterly Claim Form
• Full Project Proforma Template
• Monthly/Quarterly Monitoring Timetable 2006/2007
• Project Development Form Guidance
• Coventry NDC Commissioning Process
• Example Monthly Claim Form.xls
• Record Keeping guidance
• QMR Completion guidance
• Milestones Guidance
• Delivery Plan - 2007 / 2008
• Our Achievements Leaflet

What does QMR stand for?

Why can't I write in the yellow cells in a QMR?

Why don’t the outputs match up?

What is Performance & Commissioning?

Who does the QMR go to?

What is a grant aid or guarantor agreement?  

Why do I have to do monthly monitoring?

Why is my forecast important?

What happens to my communications reports?

Why am I being asked to complete a budget profile page now?

How can I get (further) funding for my project?

What's the quarterly surgery about?

Can I carry spend over to the next financial year?

What happens if over/under spend occurs?

Do my project beneficiaries have to live in the NDC area?

What’s a monitoring visit and why is it needed?

What is defrayed expenditure?

Who should sign the QMR?

Why do I have to submit an electronic and hard copy of the QMR?

What's the delivery plan?

What if I miss a deadline e.g. QMR?

 

1. What does QMR stand for?     
   
   Quarterly Monitoring Return – A QMR should include, a signed declaration detailing the amount of money the project wishes to claim for that quarter, plus details of project progress, spend, a budget breakdown, outputs achieved, milestones reached and any assets purchased during the period.
   
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2. Why can't I write in the yellow cells in a QMR?
   
   These cells are protected as they hold information from previous returns.  If amendments are required they can be made in the white cells or by contacting the Performance & Commissioning Team if other changes are required.  
   
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3. Why don’t the outputs match up?      
   
   Prior to March 2005, the NRU allowed NDC's to provide their own outputs, however this was difficult to monitor nationally.  Therefore it was decided to have 35 uniformed outputs, which all NDC's had to monitor against.  Coventry NDC has 39 main NRU outputs and 69 local outputs.  Each project should now have a list of the new outputs that it is monitored against.  If you are unsure or have any queries please contact the Performance and Commissioning Team who will be able to help you.          
   
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4. What is Performance & Commissioning?         
   
   Performance and Commissioning is the Programme Management of the Scheme. Commissioning is about ensuring the NDC Programme has projects that meet the needs of the area. Performance is about ensuring that existing projects continue to meet the needs of the area.
   
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5. Who does the QMR go to?  
   
   Vanessa Millar, Performance & Commissioning Team, NDC Office, Hillmorton Road.  An electronic copy and a printed, signed copy need to be sent.   E-mail: Vanessa Millar
   
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6. What is a grant aid or guarantor agreement?     
   
   Grant Aid - This is a legal agreement that defines the relationship between the Accountable Body (Coventry City Council) and the external grant aided projects. If the external organisation acts inappropriately, the existence of a GAA makes it easier for the council to claw-back funds.
   Guarantor – As the accountable body for the NDC, Coventry City Council acts as a guarantor for grants awarded to NDC funded projects.  This could also be an external company.       
   
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7. Why do I have to do monthly monitoring?
   
   The monthly monitoring process has been in place for approximately 2 years now.  It is becoming increasingly important due to closer scrutiny of funding against spend targets, and GOWM require us to report to them on a monthly basis on the performance of the NDC programme.     
   
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8. Why is my forecast important?       
   
   An accurate forecast is important as it allows the project to calculate spend on a quarterly/monthly basis.  Forecasting also allows the project to move spend from month to month as well as from different quarters.  If the forecast is accurate then spend should be met and the project should meet its yearly allocation.  If the project is heading for a major under spend it should contact the Performance and commissioning as soon as possible.  The forecast from each project also forms the overall NDC forecast.   
   
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9. What happens to my communications reports?         
   
   The communications report is part of the monthly and quarterly monitoring of projects, and is collated and passed to the Communications section of the NDC. This ensures that any good news and achievements are sufficiently disseminated and publicised. Publicity is important as it evidences value for money and can play a major part in the sustainability/mainstreaming of the project.
   
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10. Why am I being asked to complete a budget profile page now?
    
    It has always been a requirement to complete a budget page, but to date we haven't chased for this to be completed.  As there is now a lot more scrutiny of projects it is a requirement that we now need.  It should be a straightforward process as normally you can receive a breakdown of the budget from the financial system.
    
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11. How can I get (further) funding for my project?                                 
    Projects should be looking at future sustainability in the form of an exit/forward strategy, so that they may carry on when NDC grant funding comes to an end. Ideally the project or elements of it could become mainstreamed.
    
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12. What's the quarterly surgery about? 
    
    The quarterly surgery is designed to be a short (15 min) meeting with projects to ensure that they are on target with regard to spend, outputs and an opportunity to meet with the Performance & Commissioning Team to raise issues they may have.   
    
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13. Can I carry spend over to the next financial year?
    
    In short no, spend is allocated at the start of the project for its lifetime.  This is then used to help calculate the NDC Spend over the coming years.  Any money that is not committed or spent is lost at the end of the financial year. 
    
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14. What happens if over/under spend occurs?           
    
    The spend profile of projects, as agreed in project's annual offer letters, is extremely important to Coventry NDC. The NDC's grant agreement with Government Office for the West Midlands is that the Programme must spend to profile to within a 5% tolerance under or over. The Programme profile is made up of all the individual projects funded within it. Therefore an individual project substantially under spending or overspending can have serious repercussions for the whole programme – resulting in money being taken away and redistributed regionally or nationally.
    
    If a project does not agree with its grant offer letter profile or looks like its going to under spend /overspend, the project manager must contact the NDC Performance & Commissioning team as soon as the possibility is known.
    
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15. Do my project beneficiaries have to live in the NDC area?   
    No, but there must be some connection with the NDC area –project run in NDC area or available to NDC residents.
    
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16. What’s a monitoring visit and why is it needed?
    
    A monitoring visit usually consists of an on-site visit to a project. Its purpose is to ensure that the project is progressing as stated in the project development form and as agreed to by the NDC Partnership Board;
    
    To identify any possible problems as early as possible and make suggestions for improvement measures; to identify successful elements of the project
    To ensure that serious problems are avoided through the early identification of any difficulties, which may affect the project's successful implementation.
    
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17. What is defrayed expenditure?    
    
    When submitting a financial claim, projects must do so only for expenditure that has already been defrayed – in other words, expenditure that has already been incurred.  This means that projects must already have spent money before any corresponding amount of grant is claimed back.  Examples of defrayed expenditure include the issuing of a cheque to pay for goods and services (as detailed on an invoice) or the payment of a member of staff's salary – these are defined as 'defrayed' because the money has passed out of the control of the project by the time it is included in a claim for grant.
    
    The claiming of grant for expenditure that has not been defrayed is strictly prohibited.  The only exception to this is in Quarter 4 (January to March) when a project may submit a forecast of its committee expenditure up until the end of the relevant financial year and CFIT will pay grant on the basis of this forecast.
    
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18. Who should sign the QMR?
    
    The QMR's should be signed by the Project Officer as designated on the Project Development Officer and the Principal Finance Officer for your organisation/department.       
    
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19. Why do I have to submit an electronic and hard copy of the QMR?
    
    An electronic copy is required to be inputted directly into Coventry NDC's programme management database. However, for audit purposes, a signed hardcopy is always required for filing
    
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20. What's the delivery plan?
    
    The delivery plan is a document that outlines the projects for the next financial year, detailing budgets & outcomes.  
    
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21. What if I miss a deadline e.g. QMR?                                    
    
    The deadlines are set to allow projects enough time to complete returns and also to allow the NDC enough time to accurately process claims and performance information. Failure to meet deadlines will mean NDC cannot accurately report on actual and forecast spend for the NDC programme.
    
    Projects are required to provide NDC with monthly & quarterly returns/claims.
    
    Failure to comply with this Condition may possibly result in the NDC Partnership suspending or withholding NDC funding to your project and organisation.           
    
    Failure to submit Quarterly QMR could result in the project not receiving NDC funding for the Quarter for which it did not submit the relevant information.     
    
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Further Advice & Support

Coventry New Deal for Communities is keen to ensure that groups and organisations wanting to be tender for the delivery of the services currently being commissioned are offered as much support as possible in order for them to do so.

Therefore, in the initial stages of the process, NDC staff will be available to answer telephone queries and, where necessary, to meet representatives of organisations intending to tender to offer whatever support, advice or guidance they can.

Name

Telephone

Enquiry

NDC Staff can be contact at:

The Performance & Commissioning Team
Coventry New Deal for Communities
The Old Health Centre
Hillmorton Road
Coventry
CV2 1SG

T: (024) 7662 2964
F: (024) 7662 2964

E: wayne.brewster@coventry.gov.uk

Please Note NDC staff cannot assist with the actual completion of the forms but can advise on the process and can discuss details of the services being commissioned so that it is clear what aims, objectives, outcomes and outputs NDC expects projects to achieve.