Free council-to-council mentoring for service improvement
Introduction
£25,000 has been made available from Defra to support mentoring for councils in England. The FREE mentoring service is intended to sit alongside WIN’s Waste Services Benchmark. Both the mentoring and the Waste Services Benchmark are national services from WIN, delivered by Improvement Efficiency South East (IESE), the region’s improvement and efficiency partnership.
To apply for FREE mentoring
By identifying areas for improvement through WIN's Waste Services Benchmark, authorities will be able to access up to £1,000 worth of FREE mentoring for their waste service. The mentoring will be on a service-wide level and provided by accredited mentors from local authorities with the skills and experience to help you improve. To find out how to access up to £1000 worth of free support contact sara.jones@southeastiep.gov.uk
Please see the below FAQs for lots more information or contact win@southeastiep.gov.uk if you can't see the advice you need.
How will WIN’s Waste Services
Mentoring Scheme work?
What do we hope to achieve through this mentoring project?
Are there any ‘
criteria’ for accessing mentoring?
Will I have any choice over who is my mentor?
Will there be mentors available for each
category/area of the waste service covered in the benchmark?
What are the timescales for the FREE mentoring scheme?
How will the impacts of the scheme be monitored and evaluated?
Will I be able to access free mentoring after the grant funding runs out?
How will WIN’s Waste Services Mentoring Scheme work?
MENTEE COUNCILS During 2009/10, funds will be provided as an incentive for councils or partnerships to complete the benchmark. They will be able to apply for up to 5 days (or £1,000 worth) of FREE mentoring support from an officer or council on our list of accredited mentors. The aim would be for between 25 and 50 councils to benefit from FREE mentoring support before end June 2010.
After the mentoring Mentor and mentee councils will be encouraged to continue the relationship beyond the grant-funded support i.e. on the basis that the mentee council covers some further costs for the mentor’s time – if both parties felt it would be beneficial (or the arrangement could continue without payment).
A legacy for the future Once the system is in place and established, councils could access mentoring into future years. They could:
- instead of receiving grant funding, negotiate some recompense for the mentor council, if that is how they want to proceed, OR
- negotiate a mentoring arrangement where no charge is made, OR
- register time to a time bank which WIN could manage.
What do we hope to achieve through this mentoring project?
The objective for the mentor programme will be for at least 50% of councils receiving mentoring to move up from basic or fair, to good or excellent, for the relevant categories, within 2 years from the mentoring having taken place. This is an ambitious target and it is likely that follow up and further support may be required.
Are there any ‘criteria’ for accessing mentoring?
1. Any council or partnership which has completed the benchmark categories relevant to their authority can apply for mentoring.
2. Only one application will be accepted from each council – however we will consider separate applications from a partnership and a council within that partnership, and we may consider 2 applications from one council if a strong case is made. However we will aim to provide FREE mentoring only once to each council.
3. Your council will need to demonstrate there is a need: in completing the benchmarking exercise, your council or partnership should have identified one or more categories to focus on for improvement. These will probably be the categories where you scored ‘basic’ or ‘fair’. You will need to state which categories or general area (e.g. ‘collection’) you would like support on. You may only have scored ‘basic’ or ‘fair’ in one or two categories, but you can still apply for mentoring.
4. You will need to provide a short statement in evidence and to confirm that your council is committed to establishing and implementing an improvement action plan.
5. You will need to confirm that your council will make every effort to follow the guidance which will be provided to both mentors and mentees with a view to ensuring the mentoring is effective.
Will I have any choice over who is my mentor?
Mentors will go through a light touch accreditation process, part of which will help us to understand what areas she or he has expertise in. We will aim to offer mentors with relevant expertise, and your council may be able to choose from a list, dependent on:
- the number of mentors we have listed as having expertise in that area
- the level of call on each mentor’s time (e.g. because their council may only have agreed to release her or him for a limited number of days).
Will there be mentors available for each category/area of the waste service covered in the benchmark?
We will aim to establish a pool of accredited mentors with a variety of expertise. It is likely that some mentors will have expertise in more than one area.
What are the timescales for the FREE mentoring scheme?
Funding must be allocated by end June 2010. Mentoring could take place after this date if that is agreed between councils.
How will the impacts of the scheme be monitored and evaluated?
Follow up calls will be made to both mentor and mentee councils asking for some feedback on the process. This will help us to monitor the impact and make improvements to the service.
Will I be able to access free mentoring after the grant funding runs out?
Yes – it is possible. Sometimes, a mentor council may see benefit in releasing its officers free of charge, for instance because it is regarded as staff development.