March 2011
4 posts
Locality wins Community Organisers contract →
Locality, formed by the merger of bassac with the Development Trusts Association, has won a £15 million contract to deliver the government’s community organisers initiative. The programme aims to train 5,000 organisers to help local people develop projects in disadvantaged communities across England. Locality confirmed that the first projects would be delivered by organisers working in
...
Below the radar in the Big Society →
A recent working paper from the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) explores the debates about ‘below the radar’ (BTR) community groups and their assumed role in delivering the Big Society. It argues that the motivators for community action are, and have been, ill understood in policy circles. Further, there is and has been little systematic analysis of the power relationship ...
The Big Society Challenge →
The Big Society Challenge brings together a range of authors to explore the issues surrounding the Big Society. It is part of The Keystone Development Trust Publications series aimed at understanding issues in challenging policy areas that have a direct impact on communities and promoting dialogue amongst practitioners, policy makers and academics. Keystone Publications are intended to be...
Leicestershire bid to be Big Society vanguard →
Conservative controlled Leicestershire County Council has written to the Prime Minister, offering to replace Liverpool as one of the Big Society vanguard areas, according to an article in Civil Society. Liverpool withdrew from the initiative last month, citing lack of government support. Leicestershire Council leader David Parsons said that mush work has been done over the past few years to...
February 2011
5 posts
National Citizen Service - now on facebook →
The National Citizen Service (NCS) initiative for young people is intended to “support them to develop the skills and attitudes they need to get more engaged with their communities and become active and responsible citizens.” Twelve pilots were announced last November to take place this summer. A thousand young people have signed up to the scheme so far and David Cameron has...
2 new LEPs approved →
The approval of proposals for the Enterprise M3 area, covering parts of Hampshire and Surrey, and for York and North Yorkshire, brings the total number of LEPs across England to 30. The Minister for Decentralisation, Greg Clark, commented, “Local enterprise partnerships will bring people together - local authorities from across administrative divides, business leaders and civic leaders...
Compact report will go to PASC →
Cabinet Office plans to invite parliament to create a Civil Society select committee, announced in last June’s draft structural plan, were absent from its business plan published in November. The proposed select committee’s functions will now be carried out by the existing cross-party Public Administration Select Committee (PASC). Among its business, the committee will examine a...
Localism Bill - impact assessments →
The government has published impact assessments for every ‘package’ of provisions contained in the Localism Bill. The assessments of the proposed community ‘right to challenge’ and ‘right to buy’ may be of particular interest to voluntary and community sector organisations and community groups delivering services to beneficiaries.
Community right to...
Sustainable Communities Act - 1st round ends and... →
First round ends The government has agreed with the Selector (the Local Government Association) on which of the 199 shortlisted proposals made under round one of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 they will implement. The approved proposals cover such diverse local issues as
business rate relief for SMEs
sustaining local post offices
rights for small-scale renewable energy development
...
January 2011
26 posts
A 'book in eight minutes' - Our Society event →
Capturing ideas of hope, struggle and success from a meeting of 100 community activists, charity workers, networkers and others is something of a challenge, but with a little imagination and a lot of conviction it can be done. Discussion and debate ranged widely at the meeting of Our Society (formerly Big Society in the North) members hosted by CDX at the Round Foundry Media Centre in Leeds...
'Government is failing to clarify Big Society' -... →
“Tensions between central government intent and local government readiness… could restrict localism to a few narrow reforms,” according to a report from global service provider Deloitte. A little local difficulty: the challenge of making localism work draws on the experience of local government chief executives and identifies four key challenges for local councils:
...
Equality law doesn't apply to volunteers - Court... →
Volunteers who are unpaid and do not have a contract are not protected by anti-discrimination legislation, according to a decision by the Court of Appeal reported in Civil Society and Third Sector. The decision was hailed by a barrister from the employment and discrimination chambers Cloisters, James Galbraith-Marten, as a victory for the voluntary and community sector: “The need to...
Combined Mayor and Chief Executive for London? →
Combined Mayor and Chief Executive for London?
A review has been ordered by Greater London Authority (GLA) chief executive Leo Boland into whether his role should be combined with that of elected mayor Boris Johnson. Proposals in the Localism Bill would enable the mayor immediately to add the chief executive’s powers to his existing role, if the review concludes that only one person is...
Tessa Jowell is new shadow Cabinet Office minister →
Tessa Jowell, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, has returned to her former post of shadow Cabinet Office minister in Labour leader Ed Miliband’s reshuffle, following the resignation of Alan Johnson. Ms Jowell now has responsibility for overseeing the work of shadow minister for civil society Roberta Blackman-Woods. 24 January 2011
When charities may campaign... →
Charities may campaign for a particular outcome in a referendum, but only when the outcome will directly affect the delivery of their charitable objects, according to new guidance from the Charity Commission. Giving a rather more likely example, the Commission says, “if the outcome of a referendum will have a particular impact on older people, it would be appropriate for a charity that...
Localism Bill moves to committtee stage →
Localism Bill second reading - briefings NAVCA outlined concerns around the Localism Bill in a briefing sent to MPs for last Monday’s second reading in the House of Commons. We are particularly keen to see safeguards for the right of local people to challenge service delivery; this should not result in unfair commissioning and procurement advantages for large national and private...
Labour motion to block Localism Bill →
Labour motion to block Localism Bill
Senior Labour figures have signed a parliamentary motion (of the type known as a ‘reasoned amendment’) to impede the passage through parliament of the government’s Localism Bill. The motion asserts that the Bill proposes too many powers for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which could be used to override the...
Localism Bill 'by-passes councils' - Beecham →
The Localism Bill should be renamed “the Populism (Councillor and Town Hall By-Pass and Buck Passing) Bill,” according to shadow local government minister Lord Beecham, quoted in the Local Government Chronicle. Expressing a profound concern that the bill will severely weaken the powers of local councils, he targeted particularly
the proposals for introducing more directly elected...
Localism Bill - scrutiny briefing →
The Localism Bill is examined from a scrutiny perspective in a new briefing from the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS). CfPS will be engaging closely with the department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) on the new statutory scrutiny powers contained within the bill. CfPS invites comments on the contents of the Bill and responses to the briefing from any interested parties.
CfPS ...
New and emerging LEPs →
A new local enterprise partnership (LEP) for the north east of England has been approved by ministers today. It will cover the following local authority areas:
Durham
Gateshead
Newcastle
North Tyneside
Northumberland
South Tyneside
Sunderland
Other areas in the north east are covered by the already approved Tees Valley LEP. Lincolnshire talks The South Humberside situation may...
'New elected mayors will be chief executives too'... →
The department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has confirmed that the new elected mayors provided for in the Localism Bill must also take on the role of council chief executives in their cities, according to reports in the Local Goverment Chronicle. Existing mayors will not be required to adopt the new powers proposed in the Bill. New mayors, however, will be responsible for...
Compact Voice - extra funding →
The Cabinet Office has announced increased funding for Compact Voice. The figures are 2010-11 - £307,627 2011-12 - £350,000 2012-13 - £358,000 and an additional £10,000 in each of the following two years. While overall government spending on the Compact will be less because of the abolition of the Commission for the Compact, the money announced by the Cabinet Office will enable Compact Voice...
A bill designed to increase support from banks for... →
MPs from the three main parties have backed a private member’s bill designed to increase support from banks for community projects, according to the former Communities secretary Hazel Blears. The full text of the Banking and Financial Services (Community Investment) Bill will not be published until nearer to the second reading, currently scheduled for 18 March 2011. It’s ...
New LEP bid - but no bids to Regional Growth Fund →
New LEP bid Devon and Somerset are on the point of agreeing a new bid to form a local enterprise partnership (LEP), according to a report in Regeneration & Renewal. Both councils had their individual bids rejected by ministers in the first round of LEP proposals, but have followed advice to increase the size of the area covered. If approved, this would be only the third bid from the...
Localism Bill 'community right to challenge' -... →
The Localism Bill, whose second reading in the House of Commons is scheduled for Monday 17 January 2011, includes a proposed right for civil society organisations to challenge the provision of services by local authorities. The definition of ‘civil society organisations’, and the decision to exclude particular services from the right to challenge, would lie with the Secretary of...
Housing, planning and place-shaping - concerns and... →
Housing associations in the Big Society “Housing associations are in danger of having no voice in the debate about the Big Society and how it will work in practice,” according to an article in Regeneration & Renewal. Philippa Cartwright, associate at DouglasWood housing, regeneration development consultancy, expresses concern that “there is little mention of housing...
Online consultation - new guidelines →
ILP’s popular Democracy Days have included presentations on using social media and other new technologies for engaging people in consultation and campaigning. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has issued succinct guidelines for online public consultation which many organisations may find useful. The guidelines suggest and explain the following principles:
...
Charities' role ignored in 'bonfire of quangos' -... →
“Reforming public bodies has a much greater potential for strengthening civil society and its institutions (‘the Big Society’) than has so far been realised,” according to a report on last October’s review of quangos, published today by the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee. Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango State concludes that...
£4 million for LEPs announced →
£4 million will be made available over the 4-year spending review period to boost the capacity of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), according to an announcement from the departmernt for Business, Innovation and Skills reported in Regeneration and Renewal. The LEP Capacity fund will provide successful bidders with grants of around £100,000 to help LEP chairs pay for economic analyses of...
Can the Localism Bill deliver 'real' localism? →
The Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) offers a number of suggestions for interrogating the content of the government’s Localism Bill, published last month. A short paper by Ed Cox, Director of ippr north, Five Foundations of Real Localism, “provides a set of principles against which the aniticipated raft of localist policy measures can be assessed.” Those five...
What communities need to deliver Big Society - CDF... →
In June 2010, CDF convened an Independent Expert Panel on Community Development (CD), chaired by John Benington, Emeritus Professor at Warwick Business School. The panel was asked to offer high-level analysis, observations and recommendations on CD management and delivery in the light of the profound social, political, environmental and economic changes facing communities, civil society and...
Lyons looks at localism →
“The danger is of some things being presented as localism when they are in fact the latest guise of centralism,” according to Sir Michael Lyons, author of the influential 2007 report Place-shaping: a shared ambition for the future of local government. Writing in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC), he continues, “I don’t say that particularly about this government; it...
Involving the public in public services - ippr... →
The practical steps that might lead to greater involvement of citizens in the design and delivery of public services are outlined in a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). Capable Communities asks how citizens can act together to improve the way public services work for them. The report acknowledges the importance of people volunteering their time to help others, but...
LEPs: news at the dawn of 2011 →
Hampshire & Surrey The Enterprise M3 partners, whose initial bid was rejected by ministers on the grounds that it lacked the scale to make an impact, have expanded their plans to include the northern, rural parts of Test Valley, Winchester, East Hampshire, Basingstoke & Deane, Hart, Woking, Buildford and Waverley. This proposal would mean splitting Surrey with the Coast to Capital...
Leicester to elect mayor →
Leicester city council has decided to back a decision to elect a mayor for the city, in the face of criticism about the consultation process, according to an article in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC).
774 people responded to an online consultation, of whom 357 indicated support for the proposal and 344 opposed it.
The new mayor will select up to 9 councillors to form a cabinet.
LGC...
December 2010
26 posts
'Inspire the Big Society' - Greg Clark's... →
Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation, has written to all Local Authority Leaders and Chief Executives in England inviting councils to consult their communities on how they would like to
improve their local area
take whatever action they deem appropriate
and request the Government remove any bureaucratic barrier which is stopping them
Mr Clark writes, “We want to make localism...
Localism Bill - briefings →
Two briefings on the recently published Localism Bill are now available:
Urban Forum briefing
Local Government Association briefing
See also:
NAVCA’s Real Power for Communities website
Follow the bill’s progress through parliament
21 December 2010
New draft indicators published →
The fomer national indicator set (NIS) has been abolished by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, but national government will still require local councils to collect a significant quantity of data from April 2011. The draft 147 indicators published by government departments for consultation include 15 new ones arising out of the coalition government’s ...
Local government finance settlement - initial... →
The House of Commons Library has published its initial analysis of the proposed local government grant allocations announced by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on 13 December. The figures, which have already been the subject of heated debate in the press and elsewhere, are subject to consultation until 17 January. The final settlement figures are likely...
'Big Society' - Third Sector Research Centre... →
A concise and readable review of the origins and development of the ‘Big Society’ policy idea has been published by the Community Sector Coalition. In his paper, Building the Big Society: a new policy environment for the third sector in England, Pete Alcock of Birmingham University’s Third Sector Research Centre describes how the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition...
LEPs: 'Top-down devolution must be met by... →
Only eight of the 24 LEP proposals accepted by the government contain any reference to the ‘Big Society’, according to a briefing paper from the Consultation Institute. Local Enterprise Partnerships - the engagement challenge also draws on material in the approved proposals to make the point that local decision-making powers must be complemented by engagement with communities and...
Local support providers want to work with LEPs -... →
85% of local voluntary & community sector (VCS) support and development organisations want to work with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), according to research published by Capacitybuilders. The report Local Enterprise Partnerships and Civil Society also finds, however, that only 15% of support providers have been approached to be involved. In their original invitation to local public...
The new Compact - a critical look →
Following this week’s publication of the renewed Compact, it is worth taking another look at some of the reservations concerning the document which were expressed during the consultation period two months ago. At the time, Paul Barasi, director of Concrete Solutions CIC, urged that the Compact “be put at the heart of the Big Society”, in accordance with the government’s...
Q&A: Council funding grants cut →
A useful guide to local authority grants from central government and the cutbacks currently being made has been published on the BBC News website. The guide provides user-friendly answers to the following questions:
How are local authorities funded?
What grants do councils get?
What do councils spend the money on?
How hard are local authorities going to be hit?
Where can I see the...
New elected mayors - timing announced →
Under proposals announced in the new Localism Bill, council leaders in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield would become shadow mayors and be given the powers available to existing mayors, after the Bill receives Royal Assent
The Department for Communities and Local Government said that these cities - ...
'Council grants cuts vary from 4.8% to 17.3%' -... →
Aylesbury Vale district council is facing a 17.3% cut in its grant from central government, compared with a 4.8% cut for Surrey county council, according to an early examination of the figures by the Local Government Chronicle (LGC). The Conservative peer Baroness Margaret Heaton, Chair of the Local Government Association, said that the detailed figures (available below) reveal “a total...
Participation and engagement - new publications →
Strengthening participation: learning from participants is a new report from Pathways through Participation which sets out some of the project’s learning about the motivations, triggers, barriers and impacts around citizen involvement. On a similar theme, the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex has published a new working paper, So What Difference Does It Make:...
Teeth for the new Compact? →
Three measures have been announced by the government which are intended to provide an unprecedented level of scrutiny for the renewed Compact, published yesterday:
The National Audit Office will undertake a review of the Compact’s effectiveness to identify good practice and areas for improvement
The Parliamentary and Local Government Ombudsmen will have powers to report and...
Three more LEPs approved →
Three more local enterprise partnerships were approved today by Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG). The newly-approved partnerships cover
New Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk)
the Black Country
Worcestershire
These join the 24 partnerships approved in October at the launch of...
Localism Bill published →
The Decentralisation and Localism Bill was introduced to parliament today by Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG). The government’s stated intention is that the bill ‘will shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils.’ It is described as ‘A Bill
to make provision about the...