Bulletin Contents - 11 December 2007

Avoiding Too Many Safety Signs

Improving Specialist Disability Employment Services

Concern Over Possible 'Compulsory Volunteering'

Focus on Charity Governance and Effectiveness

More Compact Breaches Tackled

Local Councils Reviewing Third Sector Relationships

Sharing Knowledge to Overcome Social Exclusion

Bank Creates Social Economy Fund

Law and Policy on Commissioning

Rural Community Development

New Quality Mark for Sector

Avoiding Too Many Safety Signs

This month's health and safety myth being demolished by the HSE is "Every possible risk needs a safety sign". Using too many signs just guarantees no one will read any of them, and serious risks of course should be tackled by practical steps, not just signs. More, and links to further help, at www.hse.gov.uk/myth/dec07.htm.

Improving Specialist Disability Employment Services

Proposals to reform disability employment services that help disabled people who have complex issues to find, retain and progress in work are out to consultation. The Department of Work and Pensions is particularly interested to hear from disabled people, employers and organisations who represent the interests of disabled people. Deadline 10th March, www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/des-consultation.asp.

Concern Over Possible 'Compulsory Volunteering'

Umbrella body Volunteering England has expressed its concern that the Education and Skills Bill "leaves open the possibility that volunteering could be introduced as one of the compulsory options open to young people. This risks undermining the fundamental nature of volunteering - that it is freely entered into and unpaid, a definition that even the government has signed up to." News release.

Focus on Charity Governance and Effectiveness

'Chief Executives on Governance', a report on a commission of inquiry set up by Acevo (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations), says that charity trustees aren't being recruited, trained or appraised in a sufficiently open or transparent manner.

In a connected item on The Guardian's blog pages, Acevo's head of policy argues that the sector must do more to guard its public perception of being trustworthy - blogs.guardian.co.uk/joepublic/2007/11/charities_must_not_waste_publi.html. However, previous Acevo chief exec Dorothy Dalton is concerned about the negative spin being applied to the inquiry results - see Plaza Publishing news alert, www.plazapublishing.co.uk/dalton.html. Acevo's news item.

A Society Guardian article by Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's, based on his speech to Acevo's conference last week, asks why his voluntary sector staff have so much less secure employment than when he was in the public sector, and also highlights the need to demonstrate effectiveness to contracting bodies.

More Compact Breaches Tackled

NCVO's Compact Advocacy Programme annual report shows that more charities are using the Compact in order to resolve disputes. However, worrying practice at local level continues, in such areas as ending funding without proper notice, not consulting organisations in a meaningful way and not involving charities in designing new programmes of work. News release at www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/press/releases/?id=7324, or download the report (pdf, 53kb).

Local Councils Reviewing Third Sector Relationships

With local councils the biggest single funder of local voluntary and community groups, and many councils reviewing such relationships, the local government improvement agency IDeA has brought together various resources "to help you scope your local review". Find out what they are talking about at
www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7640567.

Sharing Knowledge to Overcome Social Exclusion

The Foundation for Social Improvement has been established "to overcome social exclusion and improve lives by building and sharing knowledge within the third sector". It wants to help small charities in "cultivating new skills and building long-term efficiency and sustainability". Plaza Publishing news alert at www.plazapublishing.co.uk/fsi.html, FSI web site at www.thefsi.org (not the link on Plaza).

Bank Creates Social Economy Fund

Unity Trust Bank has launched a new Social Economy Fund to provide loan finance to support the increasing working capital requirements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. A total of fifty million pounds has been made available. Press release at www.unity.uk.com/index.cfm?itemid=1915.

Law and Policy on Commissioning

A publication written for social enterprises on the commissioning and procuring of public services, for Social Enterprise East Midlands, will be of interest across the third sector. 'Social Enterprise and the Public Sector, a Practical Guide to Law and Policy' can be downloaded, from www.seem.uk.net/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=89942.as a large pdf (2.57MB) (Source: NCVO Sustainable Funding Programme).

Rural Community Development

The Resource Factsheets for Community Development Practitioners produced by Rural Community Network (Northern Ireland) have been updated and expanded. They aim to provide a practical resource for community development workers and facilitators.

See the downloadable publications page at pub.ruralcommunitynetwork.org/cgi-bin/unitetools/pdf/display.pl. (Source: NICVA eNews)

New Quality Mark for Sector

Charities Evaluation Services has launched the PQASSO Quality Mark, an external assessment service for this quality standard developed for voluntary and community organisations. Organisations will be able to apply, for a fee, for this accreditation early in 2008. More details at www.pqassoqualitymark.org.uk.