SDVS Headlines

Trustees Week

September 2nd, 2010

The first annual Trustees Week is to take place 25th to 31st October, organised by the Charity Commission, in partnership with Charity Trustee Networks, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Reach Volunteering, Getting on Board and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. Other voluntary organisations are encouraged to organise related events and activities. News release at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/RSS/News/pr_trustees_week.aspx, or go to the dedicated website at http://www.trusteesweek.org.uk. Do note that the latter uses Blogger, which may make it rather slow in some web browsers.

Posted in Charity Commission, Governance, Media, Trustees | No Comments »

Improving access to websites

September 2nd, 2010

Guidance on search engine optimisation (SEO), otherwise known as making websites easier to find, has been produced for charities by the Internet Advertising Bureau, the trade body for digital marketing. The ‘Search Toolkit for Charities and Public Sector’ includes an Oxfam case study and can be found via For access to the toolkit click here. (From Third Sector, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/1023411/)

Posted in Accessability, Governance, IT, Media | No Comments »

How Government departments are implementing coalition policies

September 2nd, 2010

Each government Department is producing a Structural Reform Plan to outline how it will implement proposals in the Coalition Agreement which was produced at the start of the new government. This includes issues such as localism, public service reform, and the Big Society. The plans (SRPs) replace the Public Service Agreements introduced by the last government as part of the Spending Review process. Urban Forum has selected highlights of the proposals contained in two departmental plans, Communities and the Cabinet Office. This also has links to other SRPs, but the definitive list is on the Number 10 website, along with monthly updates on progress, at http://www.number10.gov.uk/other/2010/07/structural-reform-plans-53023.

Posted in Big Society, Funding, Government, Local/Regional, Research Reports, Resources | No Comments »

Government halt the Place Survey

August 27th, 2010

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has today scrapped the Place Survey, one of the largest surveys in Europe that was due to be conducted by local authorities this autumn.

Today’s move to scrap the survey is part of concerted efforts by the new Government to release councils from Whitehall control – leaving them free to respond flexibly and effectively to the needs of their residents.

It follows the scrapping of Comprehensive Area Assessments by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in June, instead making councils more accountable to residents rather than ministers in Whitehall.

The announcement also follows on from the new Government’s plans to require councils to publish online their spending over £500; to stop Town Hall publications which compete with local newspapers; and to block the practice of councils and quangos hiring agencies to lobby Government.

The Place Survey is a postal survey conducted by every council in England. Introduced in 2008, it involves over half a million residents and is estimated to cost more than £5 million to run.

Results have been fed back to central Government and used to measure councils’ performance on a range of centrally-imposed targets.

A new regime of town hall transparency, publishing spending and service information online; http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1606882.

Tougher rules against ‘lobbying on the rates’; http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1666074.

People power, allowing residents to veto unwanted council tax rises; http:www.communities.gov.uk/newsstories/newsroom/1658293.

Using the internet to help end the town hall ‘non-job’; http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1631912.

Stopping anti-competitive ‘propaganda on the rates’ killing off local newspapers; http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1625181.

Posted in Consultation, Finance, Government, Red Tape, Research Reports | No Comments »

Social Reform in the UK: Building the Big Society

August 27th, 2010

Wednesday 1st December 2010, Central London, 09:00 – 16:15
- View the full agenda by clicking this link: http://insidegovernment.msgfocus.com/c/1GDl7WpxRkCeuvTeX

Neil O’Connor, Director, Communities and Neighbourhoods, Department for Communities and Local Government. Neil will be providing essential insight with his session ‘Big Society: Transferring Power from Central to Local Government.’ His key points for discussion will include:

- What will the Big Society mean for local government?
- Drawing on the skills and expertise of local communities to respond to the social, political and economic challenges they face in their community and neighbourhoods
- New powers to help communities save local facilities and services threatened with closure
- Giving communities the right to bid to take over local state-run services
- Reforming the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitant live
- Review of local government finance

With the ‘big society’ upon us, stakeholders attending this knowledge-based, one-off forum will learn more about how the ‘Big Society’ will be implemented and what it will mean for them.

Book TODAY by clicking the following link:
http://insidegovernment.msgfocus.com/c/1GDlxaKtF8ZvFgc1K or call 0845 666 0664.

Posted in Big Society | No Comments »

Professional Development for Third Sector Leaders

August 27th, 2010

We have expanded our Professional Development programme with the introduction of new initiatives such as the online CEO Toolkit, and workshops on Increasing your Charisma and Developing Difficult Messages. Our latest free offering is Cross Sector Peer Mentoring with NHS and BT Leaders, supported through Capacitybuilders Leadership and Governance workstream.
The benefit to you
Cross sector peer learning offers free and effective leadership development opportunities for third, public and private sector leaders alike. As part of Capacitybuilders Leadership and Governance workstream, it is open to any CEOs or senior managers working in third sector infrastructure or support organisations.
Your Mentoring options
ACEVO has negotiated two twelve month cross sector options for you to choose from:

NHS Top Leaders NHS Peer Mentoring and Peer Action Learning

BT Peer Mentoring

NHS Peer Mentoring and Peer Action Learning
Available through the ACEVO/Department of Health ‘In Better Health’ programme, this will be of interest to leaders of third sector organisations working in health and social care. You can register for Peer Mentoring or Peer Action Learning. Where appropriate we will match you with leaders working within your area so that you can benefit from connecting with your local NHS agencies.

Leeds Launch event – 19 October
London Launch event – 27 October

BT Peer Mentoring
Members of the BT Talent Pool will be available for Peer Mentoring. The BT Talent Pool consists of ten business leaders reporting to the Vice President. They have responsibilities for managing multi-million pound third party contracts with strategic intent. There are also another twenty five ‘high flyer’ managers with significant delivery responsibilities and high level skills. You will be matched with a member of the BT Talent Pool based on your development criteria.

Launch events to be held in November. Dates to be confirmed.

How to apply
Go to the ACEVO website to find out more and complete an online registration form for either the NHS or BT. All applications must be submitted by 17 September.

Posted in Events, Management, Training | No Comments »

Coaching Individuals and Groups

August 27th, 2010

Staffordshire University has a training day scheduled for Tues 7th Sept from 10am-4pm on Coaching Individuals and Groups. The cost is £40 and includes a light lunch/refreshments. Should you or someone else you know be interested in this course please get in touch by Wed 1st September to ensure a place.

On the day we will be covering:-

• Coaching Contracting & Ethics

• Learning & Decision Making Styles

• • SMART Goals

Question Techniques

• The GROW Model of Coaching

If you are looking for a longer course on coaching and mentoring we will be offering a 6 day course starting at the beginning of February 2011. For further information please contact Sarah Duffy, Mentoring and Coaching Award Leader and Senior Lecturer, Staffordshire University T 01782 294532.

Posted in Events, Management, Training | No Comments »

Councils get power to decide how best to support service improvements

August 27th, 2010

A major new ‘localism’ proposal to cut red tape and hand over financial control of council service improvements and training to local government leaders was announced recently by Communities and Local Government Minister Bob Neill.

Bob Neill

Under new proposals, the Local Government Association (LGA) or a similar body will take control over how to use funding that gets redirected, or ‘top-sliced’, by Whitehall from the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) councils receive each year.

The LGA is to deliver greater openness and transparency. The LGA has from the 1st September committed to publish details of all future expenditure over £500. The LGA already seeks to abide by the principles of the Freedom of Information Act and the Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles recently called for them to be formally subject to the same FOI rules as central and local government.

At present Central Government directs the funding to be received by each of nine local government improvement organisations. In 2009-10 this ‘top-slice’ amounted to £45m.

In future, the total grant would be unringfenced and delegated to the designated local government body to allocate to funding programmes in the best way to improve council services, build strong local leadership, meet learning and development needs, and nurture robust local economies.

Ministers believe that removing the centrally-imposed restrictions on how funding is used will help to reduce overhead costs, red tape and waste in local improvement support, promoting better use of resources, better productivity and stronger local leadership.

The level of 2010-11 RSG top-slice funding would be set following the 2010 Spending Review in October, but the LGA has suggested a 30 per cent reduction in return for the whole amount being paid to a single specified body.

The consultation asks whether the RSG top-slice funding should go to a sole specified local government body and whether that should be the LGA or LGID (formerly IDeA). Full details of the consultation can be found

at: For further information and the consultation

Posted in Funding, Government, Grants, Social & Voluntary | No Comments »

Good progress on end of life care but more to be done

August 27th, 2010

Good progress has been made in improving end of life care, but more needs to be done to make sure everyone gets the highest quality of care, in the setting of their choice.

That is the conclusion of Care Services Minister Paul Burstow as he received the Second Annual Report on the End of Life Care Strategy published today.

Key areas of progress highlighted in the report include:

* the allocation of a £40 million capital grant for hospices to allow them to improve the environment in which they provide care;

* the launch of e-learning on end of life care for health and social care staff;

* the launch of the Dying Matters Coalition to raise public awareness of issues around death, dying and bereavement;

* the establishment of end of life care locality register pilots to improve co-ordination of care;

* the pilot project to inform a national survey of bereaved relatives (VOICES) which will be launched this summer; and

* the launch of the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network.

Further action in the coming year will include:

* The National End of Life Care Programme will do more work on when the end of life pathway should start for people with progressive disease, focussing on individuals with COPD/respiratory disease and neurological conditions. The Cancer Survivorship programme will address the same question for cancer patients.

* The Department will continue work on ‘locality registers’ – information portals about the end of life care being provided to patients in a given area, so that essential information can be shared more easily between agencies.

* The Department will complete the three foundation projects on e-learning, core competences and communication skills training to develop and support staff.

* The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network will identify and share valuable evidence and information to assist in the improvement of services.

* The National Programme will also implement its communications strategy on end of life care.

The second Annual Report on the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Strategy can be found at: For further information

Posted in Bereavement, Health | No Comments »

New Emphasis on Cafe Culture Learning

August 27th, 2010

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Skills Minister John Hayes today called on all UK businesses to promote informal learning at work, following pledges from sixty-four innovative companies to increase informal workplace training for their staff.

These companies, including 11 from the FTSE 350, represent nearly two million employees. They formed part of a recent ‘Café Culture’ campaign run by Business in the Community on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to improve workers’ skills.

They include:

*Barclays Bank
*BT
*Channel 4
*FirstGroup
*Ginsters
*Google
*McDonald’s Restaurants
*Microsoft

The central aim of ‘Cafe Culture’ is to promote good practice among employers, so BIS and Business in the Community have today published ‘Building the Cafe Culture Movement’ to help other organisations to see the benefits of informal adult learning at work.

The resource includes case studies showing how successful companies have seen the business benefits of informal learning, alongside guidance on how to follow in their footsteps.

The ‘Cafe Culture’ campaign, which has been running since 2009, has involved a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, finance, construction, utilities and food and drink companies.

It took its inspiration from the idea of a wider cafe culture, where people meet informally to share ideas in a fun and relaxed environment. By translating this to an office environment, the intention has been to encourage people to work together as teams to support creativity and improve skills.

‘Building the Café Culture Movement’ can be downloaded from the Business in the Community website at: http://www.bitc.org.uk/workplace/skills/index.html

Posted in Training | No Comments »

Work gets underway officially on Reconnect Homeless Centre

August 27th, 2010

The partners involved in the development of the Reconnect Project for homeless people in Burton will be represented at the official launch of the work on site.

The £800 000 project has been inspired by Burton and District YMCA with most of the funding coming from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). They will be represented at the ceremony with the YMCA along with representatives of East Staffordshire Borough Council, Midland Heart the owners of James Court, and Mansell Construction who are main contractors for the redevelopment work.

Burton and District YMCA first recognised a need for this project when it began to support the winter night shelter at New Baptist Church in 2006. This culminated in the ‘Home at Christmas?’ appeal in the run up to Christmas 2009 during which people raised thousands of pounds, some having sampled what it is like to be homeless in mid-November.

The Chairman of Burton and District YMCA, Carl Seager, said, “I’m delighted the work is now beginning in earnest on the site. We have been waiting for this day for some time. I’m pleased on behalf of the people who have shown such a commitment to tackling homelessness in Burton.” Chief Executive Paul Laffey, continued, “I’m confident that all the partners will work to ensure we are ready to open the Reconnect project in early 2011. In the meantime I’m pleased to confirm that New Baptist Church has agreed to operate a temporary winter shelter from November until the James Court facilities are ready, for the fifth year running.”

Michael Wilson from the Places Of Change Programme at the HCA said; “The Burton ‘Places of Change’ scheme shows a strong local commitment to delivering services that will truly help vulnerable and excluded individuals make the move into a more structured and independent lifestyle. We are delighted to have been involved in the partnership and that the development is now underway.”

Graham Bettam, senior project manager at Midland Heart said: “We are looking forward to being able to make a real difference to the services available to homeless people in Burton. The building work will enable far more people to benefit from the service and hopefully empower them to regain their independence.”

For more information, contact Johanne Thomas at the HCA on 0121 234 9916 or email Johanne.thomas@hca.gsx.gov.uk

ENDS

Posted in Homelessness | No Comments »

Individual budgets – issues arise for families with disabled children

August 27th, 2010

Six local authorities are testing individual budgets for families with disabled children, which allow families to pool money from social care, health and education sources into their accounts to use as they choose.

A government pilot aiming to give families of disabled children control over money allocated to them struggled to get funding from education sources, according to an evaluation.

But an evaluation of the pilots, commissioned by the former Department for Children, Schools and Families, said securing education funding had been particularly difficult, while getting significant investment from primary care trusts (PCTs) had also proved challenging.

The report, examning the pilots in Coventry, Derbyshire, Essex, Gateshead, Gloucestershire and Newcastle, said: “Although progress had been made with some of the PCT fund holders, they had only contributed limited funds, most of which carried restrictions. However, the biggest barriers were encountered during attempts to draw in education funding streams, where only one site had really made any form of progress.”

The report said one pilot “felt their their education colleagues had distanced themselves from the individual budget work, as they did not feel that personalisation was relevant to their area of work”.

But the research said some of the pilots had been successful in broadening the scope of their individual packages “beyond social care funds”.

It concluded that overall good progress had been made by the pilots and the range of families involved suggested that “if explained properly, individual budgets can be attractive across the social spectrum and to families with young people facing a wide range of disabilities”.

Download now

Posted in Disabilities, Finance | No Comments »

Government must consider the effect of budget cuts on vulnerable groups

August 27th, 2010

The Equality and Human Rights Commission today revealed the action it has taken to ensure the government meets its legal obligations to consider the effect of budget cuts on vulnerable groups.

The aim of the Commission is to ensure that decision-makers come to their judgements based on the best information available, and that these decisions are in line with the coalition government’s own statements that such decisions should be evidence-based, fair and transparent.

Neil Kinghan, Director General of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said:

“Under equality legislation, the Treasury, like all public bodies, has a legal duty to pay ‘due regard’ to equality and consider any disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups when making decisions, including decisions about the budget. This legislation is not designed to prevent reductions in public expenditure. Its role, and the Commission’s role, is to ensure fairness is at the heart of decisions.
“When the Spending Review was announced in June, the Commission wrote to government departments, including the Treasury, asking for reassurance that they would comply with the legislation and issuing guidance to help them to do this. We have pressed the point in person with a number of Cabinet Ministers, including the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

“It is for the Treasury to demonstrate that it has complied with the legislation and assessed the impact of its decisions on vulnerable groups. If it cannot do so, then the Commission will have to consider appropriate enforcement action.”

Posted in Disabilities, Disabled, Health, Human Rights, Mental Health | No Comments »

Understanding personalisation and the third sector

August 27th, 2010

New research from Sheffield Hallam University on ‘Understanding Personalisation: Implications for third sector infrastructure and their work with organisations on the frontline’ can be found at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research web page, http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/publication_downloads.html, in full or as a summary. (Source: NCVO Research Team newsletter)

Posted in Civil Society / Third Sector, Disabilities, Funding, Health, Personalisation, Research Reports, Tendering/contracts | No Comments »

New Director at Re-Solv

August 27th, 2010

Stories surrounding legal highs may have provided shock headlines in recent months, but the issue is hardly new for Stephen Ream, recently appointed Director of national charity, Re-Solv.

“Re-Solv has been working in the drugs prevention field for 25 years, beginning with the glue-sniffing epidemic of the 1980s” says Ream, formerly Re-Solv’s Information Officer. “Today the biggest challenge is the misuse of aerosols, butane cigarette lighter refills and petrol. It’s known as ‘volatile substance abuse’ or ‘VSA’ and in the past decade alone, it has killed more young people under the age of 15 than all other illegal drugs combined.”

Thanks to years of preventative work, Re-Solv has played a major part in bringing down the number of deaths caused by this kind of legal high, but on average there is still a death a week in the UK.

Last month’s NHS report into smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England justifies Ream’s concerns. It confirms that when children aged 13 or younger first experiment with drugs, they are most likely to engage in VSA. Among the wider 11-15 year-old age group, VSA is second only to cannabis.

This is why, despite the tough economic climate for charities, Ream is confident that Re-Solv’s good work will continue. “We’ve weathered 25 years,” he smiles, “but, more importantly, there is still a great need for the kind of work we do. We may have started out as a charity combating glue-sniffing, but the landscape of legal drug misuse changes, and we’ve adapted with it.” [Ends]

* * *

Re-Solv’s National Helpline on 01785 810762, 9am-5pm except public holidays.

Posted in Health, Substance Misuse | No Comments »

MOD Open Day

August 27th, 2010

Please see details of the MOD Open Day

MOD Stafford – Open Day – 2010.pdf

Posted in Events, Family | No Comments »

Mentoring and Befriending Foundation

August 27th, 2010

The Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (MBF) are moving to more accessible offices over the August bank holiday weekend. As a result, we will not be able to answer telephone calls or respond to emails on Friday 27^th and Tuesday 31^st August, so if you need to contact us, please do so outside of these days.

Our new postal address is:

Mentoring and Befriending Foundation

No 1 Universal Square

Devonshire Street

Manchester

M12 6JH

Our main office telephone number (0161 787 8600) will be staying the same and so too will staff members’ direct lines.

Posted in Events, Information | No Comments »

Trusteeship 2010: An update for charity trustees

August 27th, 2010

New Philanthropy Capital has published ‘Trusteeship 2010: An update for charity trustees’. This builds on ‘Board matters’, a review of charity trusteeship produced in May 2009 but can be read on its own for a review of developments since then and useful resources for trustees. Registration required to download.

Posted in Governance, Legal Updates, Trustees | No Comments »

SDVS Headlines

Trustees Week

Improving access to websites

How Government departments are implementing coalition policies

Government halt the Place Survey

Social Reform in the UK: Building the Big Society

Professional Development for Third Sector Leaders

Coaching Individuals and Groups

Good progress on end of life care but more to be done

New Emphasis on Cafe Culture Learning

Work gets underway officially on Reconnect Homeless Centre

Individual budgets – issues arise for families with disabled children

Government must consider the effect of budget cuts on vulnerable groups

Understanding personalisation and the third sector

New Director at Re-Solv

MOD Open Day

Mentoring and Befriending Foundation

Trusteeship 2010: An update for charity trustees

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Blogroll