Help to Grow: Management - voluntary mentoring: webinar questions and answers
Updated 17 May 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-grow-management-grant-funding-to-develop-a-voluntary-mentoring-scheme/help-to-grow-management-voluntary-mentoring-webinar-questions-and-answers
1. Will BEIS be sending out a copy of the expected Grant Funding Agreement and grant terms and conditions?
The Grant Funding Agreement and terms and conditions will only be sent to the successful applicant for their review.
2. Will the successful organisation be expected to market the HtG programme?
The successful applicant is not obliged to market Help to Grow: Management. It is up to the successful applicant to determine how best to promote the mentoring opportunity to deliver the policy objectives as set out in the specification document.
3. Will there be any TUPE requirements existing between current Business School delivery and the organisation appointed through this process?
It will be the Grant Recipient’s responsibility to determine whether TUPE may apply to the Funded Activities. It is not the Department’s responsibility to determine whether TUPE may apply between a current grant recipient and the new Grant Recipient of similar Funded Activities and/or any other provider the Department may select to provide the Funded Activities.
4. In terms of geography, is the programme England or UK-wide?
HTGM is a UK-wide programme including Northern Ireland.
5. Are images/diagrams allowed in the document?
Yes, images and diagrams are allowed as part of the application. It can be attached to an email and then referred to in the application. For example, “please see Table A attached in email”. Please note that any additional text included as part images/diagrams will not be scored.
6. Are Appendices allowed in the main document?
Yes, appendices can be uploaded but they will not be scored so please keep these to a minimum.
7. Are the 9,000 estimated mentorship relationships mentioned in the deliverables to be achieved only with the voluntary model or in combination with the paid model?
The estimated figures refer to the voluntary model. Please refer to the table in Q24 for indicative profile.
8. What percentage of the £8 million for the pilot will be used for evaluation costs, or are those in addition to the £8 million?
An evaluation partner has been appointed by BEIS to evaluate the whole scheme. They will assess the delivery of the HtGM programme and outcomes. It will incorporate quantitative and qualitative primary data collection through surveys, interviews and case studies with programme participants, business schools and wider stakeholders involved in the design and delivery of the programme. The costing for this is outside of the £8m indicative budget.
As the evaluation partner is already in place we don’t anticipate large amounts of additional evaluation being required by the successful organisation at large additional cost.
It is encouraged for the applicants to have in their bids how they expect to work with the evaluation partner where necessary.
9. Do you expect any of the existing paid mentors to transition into voluntary mentors?
Paid mentors transitioning to voluntary mentors will be encouraged but should not be relied upon.
10. Are CVs for members of staff or organograms permitted as an annex?
In the body of the application BEIS would want a summary of the team and their key experiences. A couple of lines on key individuals and how’re they’re going to work together would be beneficial. If applicants want to attach full CVs as part of an annex, they are welcome to do so.
11. Would BEIS expect mentors to hold professional indemnity insurance?
Provisionally the answer is no as mentors are not providing advice. BEIS will seek further advice on this and confirm with the successful organisation.
12. Will grant money be linked to mentor recruitment and or performance, if not, what criteria will Year 1 be assessed on?
Payment of grant money is linked to the mobilisation, recruitment, and delivery of voluntary mentors. It is for the applicants to pitch what is achievable with the budget and time constraints. Year 1 will be assessed against the outcomes outlined in section 4.4 of the specification and any additional evaluation that is conducted throughout the funding period.
13. What feedback mechanism will exist to communicate between the grant recipient, business schools, CABS and BEIS?
We would expect the grant recipient to work closely with BEIS and CABS to ensure effective delivery of outcomes. Details of how this works will be finalised with the successful grant recipient however your bid should set out how this relationship will work.
14. How are businesses “passed over” to the delivery partner?
Your bid should set out how you intend for this to work. BEIS is flexible about different approaches and will judge each on its merits.
15. What are the successes of the scheme to date in terms of meeting targets and setting milestones as well as any surveying that’s been done so far?
To date the scheme has been successful. There has been high rates of satisfaction with support with the Growth Action Plan and businesses being helped with their wider objectives.
The following statistics are initial evaluation findings and are not yet published:
- in the first 6 months of the programme, over 750 mentoring relationships had been formed for HtGM
- feedback on mentoring was very positive from both business schools and programme participants. The majority of SME leaders who responded to the post-completion survey were very or fairly satisfied with the mentoring support they received through HtGM (89%)
- three quarters of SME leaders (75%) that completed the programme agreed that their mentor’s experience was well matched to their needs and, of those that used their mentoring to develop their GAP, around 9 in 10 (89%) reported that their mentor supported them very well or fairly well to develop their GAPs
16. Does BEIS or CABS have all data about clients in a single digital format that the grant recipient could engage with or does each school have the data in their own separate digital system?
Currently, business schools are expected to collect data on participants of the programme and provide these to CABS on a regular basis, through agreed processes and formats, to be held in the central system.
17. Via this grant, is the winning provider deemed as providing state subsidy to the businesses receiving the mentoring? If so, what are the recording requirements required by BEIS.
Each participant in the programme completes a declaration that the value of the benefit received falls within the exemptions for minimal financial assistance under the EU-UK TCA. This is based on the gross grant equivalent value of the benefit they receive. BEIS anticipates that this requirement can be met by reference to existing declarations. However, the precise terms of the subsidy control provisions within the GFA will be finalised in due course.
18. Will the grant funding agreement only be for year 1 only, with separate annual agreements for years 2 and 3, or a 3 year agreement subject confirmation of annual funds for years 2 and 3?
It will be a 3 year agreement subject to outcomes of year 1. The first year of the agreement will pilot the feasibility of the new voluntary model and, dependent on the outcomes, will continue for the remaining two years. Funding is available for subsequent years of the programme and the exact levels will be dependent on the outcome of the pilot and any efficiencies that are realised.
19. In the Financial Plan template, the Summary tab shows a line for “Indicative costs of Mentoring Delivery” and “Other costs” but these are not included on the Bid Pricing Schedule. Should these two lines be left empty in the Summary tab?
The Financial template can be amended as necessary. Please update the Bid Pricing Schedule to include these costs if applicable to your bid.
20. Please can you provide a more detailed breakdown of how you will score the cost effectiveness questions, particularly any criteria you will be using to score on basis of price.
Through the cost effectiveness questions applicants are invited to submit a breakdown of their expected project costs via the financial template. The financial templates will be used to compare costings across bids to help assess value for money, completeness, and reasonableness of forecasts. Applications will be scored relative to other bids.
Applicants should also complete question 3.2 where they should aim to explain how they would ensure further efficiencies are realised throughout project delivery.
High scoring responses will demonstrate a detailed breakdown of project costs, good value for money and strong financial governance.
21. Please can you also provide information on how you will score price fairly where applicants will be providing models with key variations around implementation period and anticipated scale of pipeline.
We anticipate to score all components of the application form using the criteria as set out in the grant specification. Models which outline the implementation period and scale of pipeline will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis provided it meets the specification outline.
22. Can you share a customer journey diagram that shows the keys steps of the customer journey for HtG Management participants?
A participant journey diagram can be found on page 10 of the Course Brochure: Boost your business’s performance, resilience and long-term growth (smallbusinesscharter.org).
23. Can you share the current list of Business Schools engaged to deliver HtG?
| SBC Accredited Business schools currently delivering HTG:M | Region |
|---|---|
| Aston | West Midlands |
| Portsmouth | South Central |
| Derby | East Midlands |
| Nottingham University Business School | East Midlands |
| Birmingham City | West Midlands |
| Coventry | West Midlands |
| Strathclyde | Scotland |
| Kingston | London |
| Nottingham Business School (NTU) | East Midlands |
| Leicester Castle (De Montfort) | East Midlands |
| Lancaster | North West |
| Salford | North West |
| UWE | South West N |
| Leeds Beckett (Leeds Business School) | Yorkshire and Humber |
| Brunel | London |
| Sheffield Hallam | Yorkshire and Humber |
| Leicester Business school | East Midlands |
| Manchester Metropolitan | North West |
| Bradford | Yorkshire and Humber |
| Northumbria | North East |
| Stirling | Scotland |
| Cardiff Business school | Wales |
| Cardiff Metropolitan | Wales |
| London South Bank University | London |
| Kent | London |
| Winchester | South Central |
| Solent | South Central |
| Bedfordshire | Ox Cam Arc |
| Liverpool | North West |
| Staffordshire | West Midlands |
| London Metropolitan | London |
| Bournemouth | South West P |
| Oxford Brookes | Ox Cam Arc |
| Aberdeen (RGU) | Scotland |
| Leeds University Business School | Yorkshire and Humber |
| Gloucestershire | South West N |
| Hertfordshire | London |
| Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University | Scotland |
| Teesside | North East |
| Birkbeck | London |
| Huddersfield | Yorkshire and Humber |
| Hull | Yorkshire and Humber |
| University of West of Scotland | Scotland |
| Brighton Business School | South Central |
| Anglia Ruskin | Ox Cam Arc |
24. Can you provide an estimate of the numbers expected to be recruited and matched in the pilot year per quarter and region?
The table below represent the estimated minimum number of cohorts’ schools will deliver based on current demand. More courses will come on stream in line with demand and some may be rescheduled, we also expect at least two courses in Northern Ireland in the second half of 2022-23. Applicants are still expected to demonstrate how they would deliver the estimated 9,000 mentorships for the year.
You should assume all cohorts run with 25 participants.
For the purpose of costing your bid you should assume the same schedule for each year of the programme. The table below covers April 2022 to March 2023.
| Region | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Total by region | % by region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E Midlands | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 10% |
| London & S East | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 40 | 16% |
| N East | 1 | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 5 | 2% |
| N West | - | 5 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 8% |
| N Ireland | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0% |
| Ox Cam Arc | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | - | 5 | 4 | 2 | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 27 | 11% |
| Scotland | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 7% |
| S Central | 1 | 5 | 2 | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | 4 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 10% |
| S West N | - | - | - | 3 | - | 2 | - | 4 | - | 2 | - | 2 | 13 | 5% |
| S West P | - | 1 | - | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | 3 | 17 | 7% |
| Wales | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 5% |
| W Midlands | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 26 | 10% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | 26 | 10% |
| Total by month | 17 | 28 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 38 | 22 | 24 | 6 | 32 | 20 | 35 | 257 | |
| % by month | 7% | 11% | 6% | 3% | 5% | 15% | 9% | 10% | 2% | 13% | 8% | 14% |
25. Is it acceptable for delivery to include use of Mentors who are based outside of the UK (eg, using Mentors in Republic of Ireland for delivery to mentees in Northern Ireland)?
No – all mentors should be based in the UK as this is programme is only UK-wide.
26. Would BEIS be willing to provide funds/working capital ahead of spend rather than paying in arrears?
BEIS Grant payments are paid in arrears unless there is a strong rationale to not do so.
27. We have noted that telephone numbers input into the application form automatically resolve into values. Please can you confirm if you will be re-issuing the application form with this issue resolved, and if not, how to add telephone numbers effectively?
Please submit any information you are unable to input via email with your application form.
28. Our organisation does not have a NACE number. Please confirm it is acceptable to leave this field blank.
This is required as part of the application form. If you do not have a NACE number please outline a best proxy from this list.
29. Could you confirm the respective roles of the evaluation partner and the selected organisation in terms of carrying out the evaluation of mentors. I am assuming that all beneficiary surveys will be conducted by the evaluation partner and the selected organisation will only be responsible for supplying contact details for the mentors?
The evaluation partner will assess the delivery and outcomes of the HtGM programme. It will incorporate quantitative and qualitative primary data collection through surveys, interviews and case studies with programme participants, business schools and wider stakeholders involved in the design and delivery of the programme. Ipsos currently conduct surveys with participants across their time in the programme to capture mentoring KPIs, and they currently conduct annual interviews with a small number of mentors on their mentoring experience. Ipsos have some provision to conduct additional research with mentors, such as surveys, from year 2. The grant recipient will supply relevant mentor data and will be expected to work with Ipsos and BEIS to support the wider evaluation delivery.
It is the responsibility of the grant recipient to work with CABS, business schools, and the evaluation partner, to gather any additional feedback from mentors and mentees as required throughout the funding period to ensure performance is managed effectively. The grant recipient will be given adequate notice of any additional requests for information.
30. Please can you confirm whether Ipsos will also report quarterly on Mentor satisfaction or is that something we are supposed to do as part of the delivery of the contract?
Ipsos will collect data on mentor satisfaction on a regular basis, with the support of the grant recipient. Details of the work conducted by Ipsos will be agreed and shared once the grant has been awarded.