ILP Infobank News

Compact Refresh - sector response

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:45:49 +0000

79 third sector organisations and 3 interested individuals responded to the recent Compact refresh consultation. Compact Voice has summarised the themes and requirements that were put forward.

The final version of the new Compact will be launched on 19 December 2009.

Place Survey information online

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:21 +0000

Place Survey information online:

The Place Survey website closed on 31 October 2009.

Place Survey background information and reports can now be accessed through the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) website:

Solihull wins award

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:57:06 +0000

Solihull wins award:

Third Sector reports that the new Compact Plus for Solihull has won the Local Compact of the Year award.

Accepting the award, Faisal Hussain, head of community and voluntary relations at Solihull Council, said, “The original Compact didn’t have the credibility of the vast majority of the third sector… after a consultation between the voluntary, statutory and private sectors we came up with one that has been more widely accepted and has led to more external funding by showing we have well-developed partnerships that can work together.”

Total Place - a 'magic bullet'?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:13:56 +0000

Total Place - a 'magic bullet'?:

Guardian Public has published a report, Overlapping Interests, on a roundtable discussion convened in collaboration with Birmingham’s local strategic partnership (LSP) Be Birmingham and the Audit Commission.

They asked whether Total Place ‘could be the “magic bullet” the public sector needs to dig itself out of a spending black hole, without a collapse in local service provision.’

Issues discussed included

which authority should take the lead in multi-tier areas
whether streamlining services and identifying savings would be enough to compensate for anticipated funding cuts
the relationship between Total Place and comprehensive area assessment (CAA)
the need for more evidence, as well as more analysis
appropriate geographic boundaries for decision making

No definitive answers were identified, but the report makes interesting reading:

Overlapping Interests

Challenges for LAAs and LSPs - research

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:12:39 +0000

Challenges for LAAs and LSPs - research:

The Office for Public Management (OPM) has published its findings from research conducted in 2008 into the role of local strategic partnerships and the impact of local area agreements (LAAs).

Gillian Gillanders concludes that ‘the role of the LSP has often been one of following rather than leading.’

Her observation that ‘Elected members can provide LSPs with democratic legitimacy and enable the public to hold them to account,’ is particularly topical in the context of current discussions around the Strengthening Local Democracy agenda.

Two main roles for TSOs in CAA - Neil Cleeveley

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:58:36 +0000

Two main roles for TSOs in CAA - Neil Cleeveley:

Issue 16 of CAA Now includes an article by Neil Cleeveley, NAVCA’s Director of Policy and Communications. Neil identifies two main roles for voluntary and community organisations:

‘First… in helping to spread the information to local groups and through them, to local citizens… marginalised groups and people’
‘The second role will be as advocates. Voluntary and community organisations will help local groups and local people put pressure on the people running public services - or help them look for solutions’

This issue also contains an article by Dr Jonathan McWilliam, Director of Public Health, Oxfordshire, in which he talks about his experience of CAA so far.

CAA Now - Issue 16

'Whose voice is it anyway?' - ILP Annual Conference

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:04:00 +0000

'Whose voice is it anyway?' - ILP Annual Conference:

The ILP annual conference will be held on 11 March 2010 at the City of Birmingham Symphony Hall. Keynote speakers will include Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO.

This is your conference, however, and we’d like to hear what would make it a useful and positive event for you. We’ve opened a discussion on navcaboodle, NAVCA’s social networking site, where you can share and discuss ideas with colleagues and the ILP team.

ILP conference discussion

'Councils control only 5% of local spending' - LGC

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:55:44 +0000

'Councils control only 5% of local spending' - LGC:

The Local Government Chronicle (LGC) reports today that only 5% of public money spent in local areas is controlled by local councils. This is the overall preliminary finding of the government’s Total Place pilot programme.

At today’s Total Place conference, LGA Improvement Board chair Cllr Dave Parsons CBE will say, “It is absurd that people do not have a bigger say over how their taxes are spent in the area they live. During these tough times democratically elected councils have a vital role to play if people are to get the local services they demand and deserve.”

Read the LGC article

'Searchable democracy' from the BBC

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:54:44 +0000

'Searchable democracy' from the BBC:

If you’re interested in politics but don’t have time to sit watching long debates and discussions, waiting for the bits that are relevant to you, the BBC’s new online Democracy Live service may be the answer.

It allows users to view proceedings in national and European political institutions, and to search for particular words or phrases spoken in debates or discussions by relevance, date, institution or person.

The service also offers straightforward introductions to how political structures work on a range of issues, including local government.

oneplace is your place!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:41:30 +0000

oneplace is your place!:

Lots of new information about your local area will be available from 10 December 2009, when the new comprehensive area assessment (CAA) reporting website ‘oneplace’ goes live.

oneplace will give you the opportunity to find out how the joint inspectorates (the Audit Commission, the Care Quality Commission, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, HM Inspectorate of Probation and Ofsted) have assessed your area’s public services and the prospects for meeting the targets set in your local area agreement.

Voluntary and community (third) sector organisations can play a vital role in

sharing the information in ways that local people can readily understand
checking the assessment against local people’s actual experience of their public services

The Audit Commission has produced an online resource pack to help you get the most from CAA, and there is also a preview of oneplace where you can find out how it will work.

'Power and investment to back up Total Place' - McInroy

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:40:33 +0000

'Power and investment to back up Total Place' - McInroy:

In a Local Government Chronicle (LGC) article, the Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, Neil McInroy, argues that the ‘more for less’ thinking underlying Total Place must be backed up by more power and resources for local government, coupled with flexible, long-term commercial investment.

Read the LGC article

Inter Faith Week 2009

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:39:38 +0000

Inter Faith Week 2009:

The first Inter Faith Week will be observed across England, 15-21 November, facilitated by the Inter Faith Network for the UK and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The aims of Inter Faith week are

to strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels
to increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society
to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious belief

For more information, see:

For details of local events, please see your regional faiths forum website:

Compact Week 2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:57:29 +0000

Compact Week 2009:

News, information and guidance about Compact Week, 2-8 November 2009, is available on the Compact Week website.

Compact Voice is urging all local Compact partnerships to take the Compact Week Challenge to see that

100 more groups know about your Compact
10 new Compact Champions are recruited
1 extra policy link is made (e.g. Scrutiny/Compact- proofing)

Compact Commissioner Sir Bert Massie will be the keynote speaker at an event on 5 November in Wolverhampton.

Compact Voice - new online network

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:56:33 +0000

Compact Voice - new online network:

A new, merged online network brings together members of the existing National Compact Voice forum with local Compact discussion groups.

Use the new Compact Voice Network to share and discuss Compact news, achievements, challenges and solutions.

Join Compact Voice network

Total Place South Tyne bulletin

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:55:27 +0000

Total Place South Tyne bulletin:

The three strategic partnerships involved in the Total Place pilot for the South of Tyne area have published a bulletin describing their progress so far.

Read the bulletin

Making Local the Answer

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:54:22 +0000

Making Local the Answer:

In a speech on 21 October to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, sought to join up the government’s various policies relating to local government.

Citing the Total Place initiative, he argued that, despite imminent cuts in public spending, local people can reasonably expect better services from their local councils.

Read the speech

Find out about Total Place

NSTSO detailed analysis

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:53:44 +0000

NSTSO detailed analysis:

The detailed analysis of last year’s National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO), conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Office of the Third Sector, is now available on the NSTSO website.

It shows, among other findings, that the most significant factor in how voluntary and community organisations perceive the impact their local authority has on their work, is how far they feel able to influence the authority’s decisions.

Explore the NSTSO findings

Total Place podcast

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:50:34 +0000

Total Place podcast:

A fringe event on Total Place at the Labour Party’s annual conference drew a capacity audience and is now available as a podcast.

Sir Steve Bullock, elected Mayor of Lewisham, and Cllr Iain Malcolm, Leader of South Tyneside Council, offered presentations on the pilots taking place in their area, and a panel discussed the opportunities, challenges and first results of the Total Place initiative.

"'Salami slicing' must give way to Total Place" - Maile

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:49:07 +0000

"'Salami slicing' must give way to Total Place" - Maile:

Writing in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC), Tony Maile of business consultants HCL AXON argues that local authorities can no longer try to spread shrinking budgets ever more thinly. Instead, they should tell local people how much money is available and ask them to choose the services it’s spent on.

This approach builds on the ideas underlying Total Place, now being piloted in thirteen areas.

New Compact 'unfit for purpose' - CSC

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

New Compact 'unfit for purpose' - CSC:

The refreshed compact is not fit for purpose and should be redrafted immediately,’ according to the Community Sector Coalition’s (CSC) response to the Compact refresh consultation.

CSC says that ‘the Compact should be, but is not currently, relevant and applicable to the wider third sector’; that it ‘actively undermines the independence of the third sector’; and that it ‘does not provide an effective framework for Local Compact negotiations.’

Their response accuses the government of ‘seeking to control a part of the sector to serve governmental aims,’ and asserts that, ‘the compact needs to be three things; stronger, resourced and implemented to offset the overwhelming disregard in which it is held in many parts of the sector.’

Read the full response