Commissioning is about achieving best outcomes and this is most effective when partners work to a common set of principles.
All partners across the East Midlands region have adopted these principles in their commissioning activity.
At the simplest level there is one over-arching principle.
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR COMMISSIONING
- Put the needs of children, young people and families first and ensure that they are engaged and consulted.
- Provide leadership for commissioning at the highest level in the system.
- Provide preventative services at the earliest appropriate moment.
- Work in partnership to maximise effectiveness and reduce barriers to services.
- Ensure that people have the right skills to undertake the work.
- Look beyond the immediate circumstances of current service users and develop a long term view of their needs and the wider needs of communities.
- Provide timely information to providers and work constructively with them.
- Continuously evaluate current and developing services and ensure they represent best practice and have clear impact on outcomes.
- Spend money wisely to secure effective and efficient services, decommissioning services where necessary.
- Use open and transparent processes that build confident partnerships.