PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

PROJECT BRIEF

Date: 6th November 2015

Author: Jackie Taylor, Contracts Manager

 HCPA Hertfordshire Information Standard
Project Brief
Date: 6th November 2015

Background:
Hertfordshire County Council approached HCPA to develop ideas for a Hertfordshire
Information and Advice Standard on a similar model to the Herts Care Partners Kite Mark.

The HertsHelp steering group are supportive of the proposal to develop an Information and
Advice Standard and accreditation for Hertfordshire to be promoted primarily to
Hertfordshires community and voluntary sector and care providers.

The standard is in response to the Care Act that puts a new emphasis on information and
advice to support people to stay independent, healthy and active for longer as well as
understanding the choice of services available and how to access them.

Its primary objective is to raise standards of information and advice in Hertfordshire and
support Hertfordshire residents to access good quality, credible information and advice.

Benefits include:

A clear focus on improving the accredited organisations information and advice

providing opportunities for people to share best practice
develop partnership working across organisations
develop a joint responsibility for quality information across Hertfordshire
developing the HertsHelp brand to be synonymous with good quality information and
advice across Hertfordshire

2 Project Definition
The following Framework Proposals have been put forward by HCC:-

The standard will be funded by HCC and developed by Herts Care Partners Association
(HCPA), engaging with service users / partners and HCC throughout the process. The
HertsHelp Steering group members must be fully engaged and consulted at each step.

The standard will have a set of criteria to measure for example:

How the organisation understands the information needs of their target population
If information is appropriate and easy to find for customers
If information is accessible to the target audience, e.g. easy read, use of interpreters,
provision/referral for advocacy
Have a clear process exists for keeping information up to date
That the quality of the information is good up to date and credible
How organisations signpost and refer to each other.
The training provided to staff and volunteers, both information producers and
information givers is of good quality and addresses all relevant aspects.

The framework must use / support other accreditations or standards as the baseline - in
particular www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/pqasso/ and
http://advicequalitystandard.org.uk/

Ideas to explore

CWB could build the HH Information Standard into commissioning contracts.

 HCPA Hertfordshire Information Standard
Project Brief
Date: 6th November 2015

The standard will clearly identify the holder as a HertsHelp partner that has certain
standards in place but not an accredited provider of information and advice.
A HertsHelp Information Standard logo will include the HH logo.

The standard:
must be simple and able to be adapted by all sectors and all size organisations
Should focus on what would add value to a Hertfordshire perspective of the above
standards
will be free to apply for
will not be overly bureaucratic
will be reviewed annually

3 Project Approach

The project would seek to implement an Information Standard for Voluntary and Community
organisations in Hertfordshire. The standard would be promoted to adult social care
providers so that those who provide an Information Service would be able to apply.
Consultation with various stakeholders will be undertaken. A draft process framework has
been identified below along with draft standards:
 HCPA Hertfordshire Information Standard
Project Brief
Date: 6th November 2015

Year 1:-

Application Stage
Applicant returns
Applicant provides Applicants signs up to HCPA forward
completed application
contact details terms and conditions Workbook
to HCPA

Workbook
Applicant sends HCPA Workbook and required
applicant completes the self-assessment tool
evidence

Workbook Assessment
HCPA collate information and send to Steering Group

Forum /Desktop Review

Decision made and communicated to HCPA with
Steering Group review workbook and evidence
feedback

Decision Notice
HCPA produce brief report and If standard awarded If standard not achieved further
send to applicant Certificate/logo sent evidence requested

The process will need to be undertaken annually and the application for the standard will be
free of charge. A Steering Group would meet quarterly to review and agree accreditation. If
evidence is not sufficient then further evidence would be requested.

In year 2 a quality assurance tool will be developed by HCPA to support organisations to

collect impartial feedback from their customers, staff and peer users, costings below have
been developed on the basis of organisations being required to distribute 30 feedback forms
to a mix of customers, staff and peer organisations. Ratios will need to be developed and
return rate requirements. This evaluation process could then form the basis of a year 2
accreditation, providing the organisation with impartial and honest feedback about the quality
of the IAG provided. A percentage satisfaction rate could be introduced to indicate that the
standard is met which would reduce the time and commitment for the Steering Group.
Completion of this service could also mean Gold standard membership accreditation for
HCPA.

To achieve the standard the organisation would have to evidence an agreed number of
standards e.g.:-
How the organisation understands the information needs of their target population
 HCPA Hertfordshire Information Standard
Project Brief
Date: 6th November 2015

Such as quality assurance process (including customer, staff and peer organisation
survey); how the service has developed
If information is appropriate and easy to find for customers
Evidence a range of formats available and that these are easy to follow and use and
customer feedback
If information is accessible to the target audience, e.g. easy read, use of interpreters,
provision/referral for advocacy
Evidence the accessibility of information and customer feedback
Have a clear process exists for keeping information up to date
Evidence the process for updating information and how staff keep up to date with
changes and new developments and customer feedback
That the quality of the information is good up to date and credible
Evidence via customer feedback, evidence of updates
How organisations signpost and refer to each other.
Evidence via customer feedback, examples of sign posting, peer reviews?
The training provided to staff and volunteers, both information producers and
information givers is of good quality and addresses all relevant aspects.
Evidence CPD Logs for staff and volunteers, training matrix, evidence from staff
feedback via surveys, evidence of customer feedback

Further investigation and discussion would need to be undertaken with various stakeholders
to ensure that the required standards are fit for purpose.

The project would seek to set up forums to gather feedback to establish and develop the
process and the standards with the Community and Voluntary organisations, adult social
care providers and other relevant stakeholders such as Herts Help, HCC Community and
Wellbeing Teams and Service User groups four separate forums to gather information and
feedback. A Steering Group consisting of representation from HCPA, Community and
Wellbeing Team, Community and Voluntary sector, Herts Help and Service User would need
to be convened. The Steering Group would then review the feedback from the forums and
develop the standards and process for the Information Standard.

It is estimated that the kite mark could be launched April 2016.

5 Project Management Team Structure

The project would be managed by the Contracts Manager with support from the Project
Lead.

4 Costing
The following costings are to develop the project to launch:-

3 weeks of project development Project manager @20 per hour 2,400

(40 hour weeks)
2 days of administrative Administrator @ 10 per hour 160
support for forums and (40 hour weeks)
development
4 half day Forums Project management time 2 320
days @ 20 per hour
Venue Hire
300
4 stakeholder/steering group Project management time 2 320
 HCPA Hertfordshire Information Standard
Project Brief
Date: 6th November 2015

meetings days @ 20 per hour

Venue hire
250
Project Overheads Building 250
costs/stationery/printing etc
TOTAL 4000

The following costings would be for year 1:

Development of the Impartial Project manager @ 20 per 2,400

Information QA Service 3 hour (40 hour week)
weeks
Project Management and 16 hours per week project 14,600
staffing costs lead plus project
management 2 days per
month
TOTAL 17,000

The following costings would be for year 2 (includes 2% inflation)

Project Management and 16 hours per week project 14,900
staffing costs lead plus project
management 2 days per
month
Cost of IIQA 50 organisations @ 150 per 7,650
materials/printing/postage organisation
/report
TOTAL 22,550

Costings for IIQA have been based on 50 organisations applying for accreditation and
organisations being required to circulate 30 feedback forms to a mix of service users, staff
and peer organisations.