How Positive was Positive Steps?

NICVA

15 Oct 2008

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NICVA has carried out a twice yearly assessment of the perceived progress of Positive Steps over the past three years. This assessment was carried out via an annual NICVA membership survey and also through a panel of voluntary and community organisations.

Results show that the sector believes that there has been some progress in the implementation of the recommendations of Positive Steps, but giant steps still need to be taken by the government to ensure it fulfils it obligation to fully implement all of the recommendations.

Overall, respondents believe that there is more awareness of Positive Steps and the implementation process and progress has been made but there remains the sense it has been a missed opportunity to radically overhaul the funding environment and how the government and the sector interact. Respondents generally remained unhappy about the impact of Positive Steps and are clearly disappointed that it has not achieved more over the past three years.

Key findings include:

• 80.3% of respondents in the 2008 membership evaluation and all of the respondents in the 2008 panel evaluation stated that they are aware of Positive Steps.
• Awareness of the implementation process has remained static over the past three years in the membership survey, though awareness has increased in the panel survey.
• Just 7.9% of respondents in the membership survey felt that Positive Steps would have a great impact over the next five years, signifying a huge erosion in confidence.
• One in five respondents to the membership evaluations believed that Positive Steps has had a great deal or some impact on how they operate and interact with government, while the panel surveys show a steady increase to 29.2% of respondents who believe this.
• There were contrasting views of longer term funding arrangements, with the membership survey seeing a decrease to just 5.1% in the numbers who witnessed a significant change in the relationship with government in terms of longer-term funding, while the 2008 panel survey found an increase to 22.2% of respondents who felt that their funding arrangements are more long term in nature.
• Almost a third of panel survey respondents now feel they achieve full cost recovery.
• The earliest membership surveys found increasing numbers of respondents who believed there has been a great deal or some positive change in relation to the introduction of a lead funder approach, however this has significantly decreased in 2008.
• By the 2008 membership survey the percentage of respondents who indicated that they had witnessed significant or some change in relation to the development of departmental leads has decreased to 15%.
• The number of panel respondents who witnessed a change in relation to a departmental lead in services for people with disabilities had increased to 6.5% in 2008.
• 24.4% of panel respondents in 2008 stated that they had witnessed a positive change in a departmental lead for delivery of rural services.
• In 2008 17.4% of panel respondents stated they had seen an improvement in relation to services to marginalised young people.
• By 2008 a small increase to 19.6% of panel respondents believed they had witnessed the development of a departmental lead in relation to the participation of women in marginalised and disadvantaged communities.
• By 2008, 15.5% of membership respondents believed that there was some, if not significant, change in the visibility of a lead minister.
• In the 2006 panel survey 18.1% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that David Hanson had been an effective champion for the sector. By 2008 34.8% of respondents felt Minister Ritchie was continuing to be a champion for the sector.
• Over 50% of respondents in the panel survey stated that they do not believe that the sector is in an equal partnership with government.
• The vast majority of panel respondents continue to believe that too little is seen to be happening with regard to the implementation of the recommendations in Positive Steps.
• A gradually increasing number (55.3%) of panel respondents believe that nothing will really change despite what is recommended in Positive Steps.

For more information on this report or the entire Positive Steps monitoring programme, please contact Andrea Thornbury at NICVA on 028 9087 777 or andrea.thornbury@nicva.org.