ipaconsultancy.co.uk

IPA Consultancy update – February 2011

Ian — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:39:23 +0000

I’m reaching the end of my second year as an independent consultant and it’s been another fascinating year for IPA Consultancy. Once again, I’ve undertaken a varied workload for clients, this time encompassing providing support with quality assurance issues (predominantly PQASSO), helping to draw up a detailed action plan in partnership with community groups in one of Sheffield’s council wards, undertaking a national evaluation for Mencap and carrying out quality assurance audits for NAVCA. Some of this work has been done with Hugh Polehampton, another independent consultant who I was fortunate enough to encounter during an earlier piece of work.

Current and recent work:

Mencap: evaluation of the national ‘In Control and Me’ project.

SYBEPN (South Yorkshire BME Engagement and Participation Network): providing assistance to develop the network and promote its sustainability.

NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action): Quality Award audits.

Sheffield City Council: action plan for Broomhill Ward on behalf of the Central Community Assembly and local community groups.

George House Trust (Manchester) and Remedi (Sheffield): providing support with their work on PQASSO.

I’m still very much enjoying the variety of work I’m involved in and am looking forward to what IPA Consultancy’s next year will bring.

IPA Consultancy’s list of current clients

Ian — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:52:58 +0000

It’s been an interesting first year for IPA Consultancy. I’ve undertaken a varied workload for clients, which has encompassed providing support with quality assurance issues (predominantly PQASSO and Investors in People), strategic planning, staff and volunteer surveys, the mapping of local community organisations in connection with an NHS health intervention programme, and database design/data cleaning.

Current and recent work:

Sheffield City Council’s Central Community Assembly: developing an action plan for one of the city’s council wards.

SYBEPN (South Yorkshire BME Engagement and Participation Network): providing assistance to develop the network and promote its sustainability.

NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action): undertaking my first Quality Award audit.

Sheffield African-Caribbean Mental Health Association: providing support with outcomes mapping, a staff survey and a skills audit.

I’m enjoying the mix of work I’m involved in and am looking forward to what IPA Consultancy’s second year brings.

IPA Consultancy is now an NCVO Approved Consultant

Ian — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:04:27 +0000

Well, the votes are in and I’ve just been informed that my application to be an Approved Consultant for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO for short) has been successful. What does that actually mean? Mostly, it’s recognition from a respected third sector infrastructure organisation that I’ve got some robust systems in place and that my work is guaranteed to be of good quality. Note that NCVO members will qualify for a discount when using my services. Click here to view my listing on the NCVO website.

IPA Consultancy article in ACEVO ‘Valuing Performance’ publication

Ian — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:23:01 +0000

IPA Consultancy has had its first article published! It’s included in a document called ‘Valuing Performance: making the case for investing in performance management’, which is now available from the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary organisations (ACEVO) – see the ‘Links and Resources’ page for a link to the relevant page of their website.

The piece (‘Investing in the front line: the benefits outweigh the costs’) is actually a shorter and somewhat rearranged version of an article I was asked to write for the National Performance Programme about the work of the South Yorkshire Quality Project (until a few weeks ago, I was employed by this project as a Quality Development Officer). The article focuses on the value of providing dedicated quality assurance support to frontline voluntary sector organisations. As such, it looks at the benefits reported by clients, but also covers some of the problems encountered by SYQP.

The full article should appear in a National Performance Programme publication in the near future. In the meantime, please have a look at the ACEVO report (which contains some useful stuff) and let me know what you think.

By the way, no one can accuse me of not recycling… I’ve entirely rewritten the piece, this time focussing on the use of PQASSO with frontline voluntary sector organisations, for possible inclusion in the next edition of the ‘PQASSO Mentor’ newsletter!

Welcome to IPA Consultancy’s new website!

Ian — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:50:21 +0000

Here I am writing my first post on ipaconsultancy.co.uk, so welcome all!

I plan to keep this blog up to date with the issues surrounding my area of expertise: quality assurance and management consultancy, as well as a few more fun things such as my interest in music.

Please do leave a comment whenever you see something of interest, disagree or have something you’d like to add.