Bulletin Contents - 5 January 2009

High Peak CVS Learning Opportunities

Trusthouse Charitable Foundation

Collaboration in Children, Young People and Family Services

Finalised Additional Public Benefit Guidance

Developing a Sector Qualification Strategy

Helping the Sector Deliver Public Services

Third Sector and Public Sector IT Professionals' Body Merger

More Volunteering to Support Sports

Piloting More Community Asset Transfers

Examining the Trends and Forces Impacting on Specialist Sectors

New Standard for Web Accessibility Finally Published

High Peak CVS Learning Opportunities

Training for the New Year:

Food Hygiene
The Role of the Treasurer  
The Art of Engagement  
First Aid Appointed Person  
Internet Safety Awareness    

To view the High Peak CVS training programme or make a booking visit www.highpeakcvs.org.uk/training/events.asp

Trusthouse Charitable Foundation

The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation has announced that funding is available to local and national charities or not-for-profit organisations that address rural and urban deprivation.

Under Rural Issues grants are available for projects that could include for example providing transport for the elderly, disabled or disadvantaged; contact networks for young disabled people; projects which encourage a sense of community such as community centres and village halls; employment training schemes especially those promoting local, traditional crafts; projects addressing issues such as drug/alcohol misuse or homelessness.

Under the Urban Deprivation grants are available for projects that could include for example youth clubs; training schemes to help people out of unemployment; drop in centres for the homeless. In addition, from July 2009, the Foundation will start a three year themed grant which will fund projects addressing mental health issues for prisoners and ex-offenders.

The Grants Committee meets quarterly to consider applications at the beginning of February, May, July and November. The deadlines for submitting applications is generally 2 months before the date of a meeting.

www.trusthousecharitablefoundation.org.uk/

Combining Strengths, Delivering Outcomes:
Collaboration in Children, Young People and Family Services

Tuesday 17 February 2009
Central Hall, Westminster, London

This conference allows practitioners and strategists from the voluntary, community, public and private sector to explore definitions, barriers and innovation for effective partnership working.

Organisations in the voluntary and community sector (VCS) are newly required to work collaboratively with the public and private sector in delivering local area services.  These partnerships have been introduced along with local area based trusts and the new commissioning arrangements in children, young people and family services.  But is collaboration the best approach in every situation?  How does collaboration translate into delivery on the ground and what are the key principles to consider when approaching or undertaking collaborative working?

Visit vcs.eventbrite.com/ to book a place online, telephone 020 7843 6441 or email conferences@ncb.org.uk

Finalised Additional Public Benefit Guidance

On 17 December, the Charity Commission published online the finalised supplementary public benefit guidance for charities whose aims include preventing or relieving poverty, advancing education or religion, and those that charge fees.  This is in addition to the general public benefit guidance issued in January 2008 for all charities.  An index to the guidance is at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/pblatest.asp with the press release at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/prpublicbenefit.asp

Third Sector has a batch of news items covering particular issues and how these differ from the draft versions.  Currently linked from the front page (www.thirdsector.co.uk), or try the Governance channel, www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Governance/ (registration required).

Developing a Sector Qualification Strategy

The Workforce Hub has been commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to develop a Sector Qualification Strategy for the third sector (building on the Labour Market Intelligence reports available at www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk/sqs).  The draft Sector Qualification Strategy is now available for consultation at www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=13025 as a Word document (1.34MB), responses wanted by 27 February.

Helping the Sector Deliver Public Services

The Government has published a series of documents relating to its commitment to working in partnership with charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises in delivering public services.  News item at
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/081211_psap.aspx
direct links as follows:

'Working in a consortium: A guide for third sector organisations involved in public service delivery', pdf, 335KB,
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/107235/consortium%20guide%20final.pdf

The results of a project examining 'social clauses' in contracts as a way of promoting the social impact of public service delivery.  In pdf, 115KB, www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/107238/social%20clauses%20report%20final.pdf

A progress update on the Public Services Action Plan published in 2006 includes "the Government’s key achievements" such as "Transforming the commissioning landscape by supporting and encouraging public sector commissioners to work more closely with the sector" and establishing the Innovation Exchange.  'Partnership in Public Services: the public services action plan Two years on' pdf, 136KB, www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/107232/psap_two_years_on.pdf

And Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) publishes the government's response to its report 'Public Services and the Third Sector: Rhetoric and Reality'.

Third Sector and Public Sector IT Professionals' Body Merger

The membership organisation for IT professionals in the third sector, Charity IT Resource Alliance (CITRA), is to merge with the much larger Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), the professional body for IT professionals in local government and the wider public sector.  After the merger, effective from 1 January 2009, the CITRA brand will be used by a new Third Sector Special Interest Group operating within Socitm.  News item at www.ctt.org/citra_whoweare.asp

More Volunteering to Support Sports

Sport England reports that more than two million people, aged 16 and over, are now committing at least one hour a week to supporting sport in their community, a rise of more than 120,000 over the past two years.  More on Active People Survey at www.sportengland.org/index/get_resources/research/active_people.htm

Piloting More Community Asset Transfers

The third round of the Advancing Assets for Communities demonstration programme has been launched for another 30 areas across England.  This will seek to show how local authorities and local community-led third sector organisations can be supported to develop joint plans for asset transfer and to begin to implement them within specific projects.  Expressions of interest required by 30 January, see Development Trust Association website.

Examining Trends and Forces Impacting on Specialist Sectors

Third Sector Foresight, at NCVO, has issued a call for partners to work on foresight projects in specialist sectors, to tender for a joint research and strategy project into the drivers (external forces/trends) affecting the particular specialist sector.  This is part of the Improving Support workstream on change, which aims to improve the support offered by the sector's infrastructure.  Expressions of interest required by 30 January, see www.3s4.org.uk/news/specialist-sector-partners

New Standard for Web Accessibility Finally Published

The final version of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, from the web's standards setter the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was released on 11 December, almost 10 years after the adoption of its predecessor.  The time taken is in large part down to consulting widely on every stage and ensuring the standard is as generic and flexible as possible, to keep it relevant as web technologies develop.  According to E-Access bulletin, there is a wide range of implementation and explanatory guidance alongside the new guidelines, and web sites which met the WCAG 1.0 guidelines should need little or no adjustment to meet WCAG 2.0.  www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/