GoldStar is calling for applications for small grants to hold regional good practice events. They welcome applications from organisations that can demonstrate specialist expertise in working with volunteers at risk of social exclusion. The deadline for the first wave of applications is 12pm on 29 August 2008, with a second wave closing on 26 September 2008. Please visit their website to apply.

Volunteering England response to Conservative Party Green Paper: ‘A Stronger Society - Voluntary Action in the 21st Century’

The document outlines a broad policy agenda to expand the role and influence of voluntary organisations, including measures to:

• Increase volunteering
• Encourage more charitable giving
• Improve government contracting with the voluntary sector
• Encourage social enterprise

Volunteering England welcomes the positive contribution which this Green Paper makes to the policy debate about the future of volunteering and the development of policy and practice. In our response, we highlighted the need for the next stage of policy development to focus on how local volunteering infrastructure can be strengthened. This would provide an environment in which volunteering by individual citizens and the work of voluntary groups can be sustained and encouraged. Read the Conservatives' Green Paper.

Children in Need Funding Workshops

Children in Need are holding a series of workshops across the North East and North West.  For more information and to download a booking form click here.

Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power - the Communities and Local Government White Paper.

CLG has published it's long awaited empowerment white paper - Communities in Control.

The white paper is focused on engaging with citizens and local communities and many of the proposals could have a profound impact on the voluntary and community sector.

View the full document by clicking here

View a briefing of the white paper by clicking here

Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) Disclosures, Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)

There are a number of developments taking place this year in relationship to child protection issues and CRB disclosures.   One of these is the introduction of an ISA register.   The South Tees Local Safeguarding Childrens Board (LSCB) in conjunction with the ISA and Stockton LSCB will be hosting a briefing session around the ISA in October. This will be a half day event aimed at senior managers in all sectors, including the VCS, school governors, the LSCB members and the Children's Trust.   The ISA will be presenting a DVD and case studies and there will also be a panel to answer questions at the end of the session.  They have also provided a briefing document for the ISA which is in a Question and Answer format this can be accessed by clicking here.   Also available is a guidance document on child protection policies produced by the South Tees Local Safeguarding Childrens Board..

Fears for the future of £140m 'community anchors' funding

Third Sector, 18 June 2008

Concern is growing among third sector leaders that £140m earmarked for community enterprises will be cut because of a row over how it should be distributed.

The Communities and Local Government department is in charge of the funding for so-called 'community anchors' - social enterprises and community organisations working to regenerate local areas. The money remains unallocated nearly three months after the start of the 2008 spending round.

Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, first discussed the fund with community organisations last November and has since been under competing pressures to give the money to local authorities, community support bodies or the Big Lottery Fund.

The Office of the Third Sector has confirmed it will provide £10m. Stakeholders have said CLG discussed giving £130m, but they fear this has been reduced to £80m. CLG denies it has confirmed a precise figure.

"We understand the desire in the sector for this, but we have never announced a launch date or level for this investment," a spokeswoman said. "We have already committed to investing in community anchors and are working closely and productively with the Office of the Third Sector."

Steve Wyler, director of the Development Trusts Association, said any reduction in funds would be a bitter disappointment. "Demand for this money is massive," he said. "Even £140m is a very small amount, given the scale of the need."

Jonathan Lewis, chief executive of the Adventure Capital Fund, said he was concerned that CLG was under increasing pressure to make a quick decision and might give the money to the Big Lottery Fund, bypassing a tendering process.

"We think the first characteristic that the funder must have is a commercial mindset," Lewis said. "The lottery grants money - it does not create and nurture businesses."

Lewis, who acknowledged that the ACF would be interested in tendering to run the fund, added: "Investing in these organisations is a very specialist function."

The Big Lottery Fund said it had not been in discussion with CLG about the fund, but had "substantial experience" of working with local businesses and social enterprises.

RCVDA awarded Payroll Giving Quality Mark Gold Award             16 June 2008

Rcvda has been awarded the Payroll Giving Quality Mark Gold Award from the Charities Aid Foundation. The Quality Mark is part of a government-funded programme designed to reward employers that enable staff to give from their pre-tax pay and foster a culture of committed giving in the workplace by actively promoting the scheme..

Three new rights to right local wrongs - new Community Empowerment Bill to harness petition power

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears today outlined plans to give every citizen in England three new rights to have a greater say to trigger action on local issues they care about. These could range from directing more money from councils to tackle anti-social behaviour and graffiti, to taking over the running of local assets like community or leisure centres, or forcing a public debate on local issues they are concerned about.

The UK is one of the biggest petition signing countries in Europe and the World and Ministers are to harness this as a key way of giving local people more say.

Hazel Blears set out early details of a new Community Empowerment, Housing and Economic regeneration Bill expected later this year that would harness 'petition power' and enable local people to trigger action and influence decisions on local services and issues they care about in three new key ways.

These are:

• A new right to ask for a stronger say on spending decisions that affect them or their communities. This could mean for example asking councils to direct more money from multi-million pound budgets on tackling drug dealing on estates, more community wardens and facilities like more skateboard parks or youth clubs.

• A new right to ensure councils consider the sale or transfer of under-used properties, lands or parks to local community groups, co-ops and social enterprises. So a disused shopping or community centre could be handed over to local people to ensure publicly owned assets properly benefit local people rather than just being left redundant.

• A new right to force a debate on specific local issues onto the council agenda. So if local people are unhappy with the closure of a local swimming pool or the standard of local housing they can hold their council to account by forcing a debate to get action on the issue.

The Community Empowerment Bill is a key part of Prime Minister's vision set out yesterday in the Draft Legislative Programme to deliver a fairer Britain and hand more power back to local people. It is central to the Prime Minister's new vision to devolve more power to the communities as part of 'a reinvention of the way we govern.' It will also help in increasing the personalisation of local services by giving people a greater say and influence on decisions.

Ahead of her speech this afternoon to Local Authority representatives, Hazel Blears this morning visited a flagship example of how communities could revive derelict sites into thriving facilities that they could own and run. South Bank's social enterprise and development trust, 'Coin Street Community Builders', kick started by local residents in 1984 transformed a largely derelict 13 acre site back in 1984 into a now thriving mixed-use neighbourhood.

Hazel Blears said:   "This is a watershed moment for communities. People will have three new rights to right wrongs they see in their community through petitioning. These new proposals will enable people to petition their council to take over and transform underused buildings into facilities that will energise, rather than drain the community, better hold councils to account and influence local spending decisions.

"One of Britain's best resources is the talents of all its people. It's time that good ideas and petitions are put to good use - not filed away and forgotten or prompt a generic 'not-today-thank you' response. With more power, people will be more inspired to preserve, promote and be proud of their community."

Hazel Blears also called for a stronger, more talented, and more diverse league of Councillors - what she described as a 'new generation of leaders' of all ages and disciplines to recruit to local Councils, and for employers to release more talent from the business world into councils.

Principles of Representation                                                              10th December 2007

Full discusion paper can be downloaded from here