Comments about Sussex Consultancy Services

"Alison and I have worked, with other researchers, on a range of projects over the last decade, including evaluations of winter pressures projects, homelessness, and the CSCI user involvement programme and an assessment of the needs of carers in East Sussex. She has also been involved in work with our Community University Partnership Programme and in teaching evaluation for a Masters research module. I have very much appreciated Alison’s substantial capacity for hard work, her resourcefulness in tackling some difficult research dilemmas, her undoubted academic skills, her dependability as a colleague and her friendship”.
Professor Sue Balloch, Health and Policy Research Centre, University of Brighton

"Alison has been an assessor for the GSK Impact Award scheme since its inception in 1997. The work involves visits to voluntary and community organisations working in community health and a report assessment against demanding criteria. Alison's assessment work is excellent. She is very thorough and always puts in that extra bit more. She is particularly good at picking up when organisations need to improve their evaluation.”
Lisa Weaks, Manager GSK Impact Awards, the King’s Fund

"Alison is very knowledgeable and professional. When facilitating our staff/trustee away-day to develop our strategic plan Alison kept us focused and produced an achievable plan.  Alison also worked with our Senior Staff Team to show how our services make a difference, that we do what we say we are going to do and guiding us to make evaluation part of our daily work and not an additional onerous task."
Carol Smith, CEO, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Support Services

“I thought Alison was very perceptive and adept at understanding people’s questions/problems and responding appropriately.”
Participant, First Steps to Monitoring and Evaluation, Charities Evaluation Services’ training course

“Apart from the very useful review of services Alison did for Worthing Churches Homeless Projects a few years ago she was an invaluable source of advice when we carried out our strategic review.

Her facilitation skills were used to great effect at an away-day of stakeholders and later when the Trustees of two organisations needed to meet to explore future working relationships. There is no doubt that the intervention of an independent facilitator adds value to any such meeting. Alison carried out her role with wisdom and enthusiasm. By asking challenging questions she encouraged participants to focus on the reality of effective service delivery within the framework of current regulations and practice. Everyone attending was energised by the exercise and the Worthing Churches Homeless Projects is now moving forwards with a focussed enthusiasm and sense of purpose."
Sally Roff, Chair, Worthing Churches Homeless Projects

“At CAG Consultants, Alison worked with me on an evaluation of an important neighbourhood renewal training programme. It was good to work with someone who is so reliable with attention to detail, particularly in relation to research methodology and her knowledge of the issues confronting the regeneration, community and voluntary sector.”
Steve Lawless, Brighton & Hove Community Initiatives

"The West Sussex Public Service Board commissioned Dr Alison Penn and Penny Kocher to carry out a review of West Sussex Councils for Voluntary Service and Volunteer Development Agencies. Dr Penn and Ms Kocher were selected for this task as well-respected independent consultants who had already carried out some impressive work on Change Up programme for West Sussex.

The purpose of the study was to give an informed basis for decision making, by providing information about the financial prospects of these infrastructure bodies, and about what it is they are being expected to do by their local public sector funders to meet the needs of front-line voluntary organisations.

Their report did not make comfortable reading. It showed up inconsistencies in public sector funding. It also raised questions about the effectiveness of the services provided by the organizations as currently operating.

It pointed out the challenge to both sectors to be clearer about the future well-being agenda. In order to assist, the Consultants posed some big questions for both the statutory funding agencies, and the voluntary sector agencies themselves.

The study proved an effective catalyst to action over the next 18 months by a working party from both sectors which led to a ground-breaking agreement across all parties to set up a new affordable and sustainable volunteer support service across West Sussex."
Philip Coleman, Head of Policy, West Sussex County Council

“I worked closely with Penny Kocher on the Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) in East Sussex, which was a review of carers' services in the County. Penny brought considerable expertise and common sense to the project and made it far more than had originally been envisaged.  The HOSC manager was very pleased and said the carers' review was one of the best pieces of work HOSC had been involved in. Penny devised the project to include a steering group comprising carers to oversee the project and this added enormous credibiliity and depth to the work.  The work Penny facilitated generated increased knowledge about carers' issues in East Sussex and a closer focus on carers by health and social care agencies."
David Rogers, East Sussex County Councillor

"My experience of Penny is that she works instinctively and responds organically to the needs of a project as it develops.  During the HOSC work a key element for success was building a rapport with the carers on the steering group, which Penny managed with consummate ease as she has highly developed interpersonal skills.”
Margaret Unwin, former CEO, Care for the Carers, East Sussex

"Penny's focus group study for the East Sussex Clinical Services Review: Stroke Services was of great use to the commissioners as it gave East Sussex' stroke patients, and their carers, a voice in what is often a very bureaucratic process. Penny’s expertise in using focus groups as a means to enable hitherto 'silent' users of services to have the confidence to speak out was much appreciated.

The result of the study was that strategic planning for stroke services could go forward knowing that the views and experiences of stroke patients had been included."
Mary Colato

“David grasped the issues around disability and transport very quickly. He was able to summarise and present statistical analysis in a way that was easily comprehensible to a non-statistician and enabled us to use the research to campaign for improvements.”
Greater London Association for Disabled People

“Working with David is invariably challenging and exciting. He has a combination of statistical and programming skills which enable him to create practical solutions to very difficult problems. In short a rare talent amongst statisticians."
Ken Baker, Ken Baker Associates

"David’s most important attribute for me is his ability to simply explain the concepts of intricate processes, particularly statistical data, and this has been of particular help to my understanding of the challenges we have worked on together. Another strength David has is the skill to “think outside the box.”  He can take a step backward and in a very short space of time articulate the way forward or alternatives that are usually well received."
Ken Sutton, Chairman, Tri-Start