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Central & Local Government Reports

Action Plan for Community Empowerment (N) | Comprehensive Spending Review (N) | Delivering Public Services (N) | Partnership in Public Services (N) | Third Sector Strategy Review (N) | Hearts & Minds - Commissioning from the Voluntary Sector (N) | The Quirk Review (N) | The Budget 2007 (N) | Strong & Prosperous Communities (N) | Health of Bristol 2007 - Report from the Director of Public Health (L) | The Bristol Compact (L) | Community Development Voluntary & Community Sector Investment Strategy (L) | Indicators of the Quality of Life in Bristol (L)

(key - N= National report, L= Local report)

Introduction

This page lists national and local reports relevant to the voluntary, community and social enterprise (vcse) sector. Where possible, there are also links to vcse sector infrastructure support agencies feedback, summaries and interpretations of the reports.

 

Central Government Reports

An Action Plan for Community Empowerment: Building on Success

On 19 October 2007, the Department of Communities and Local Government published "An Action Plan for Community Empowerment: Building on Success".

The Action Plan, produced in partnership with the Local Government
Association, sets out how the government will deliver on its commitment
to bring about greater devolution and empower communities.

It contains over 20 actions towards giving residents and communities a
greater say in the facilities and services in their local areas

Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) 2007

Delivering Public Services - Service Users experiences of the third sector

A report by the National Consumer Council

Partnership in public services: an action plan for third sector
involvement

Partnership in public services: an action plan for third sector
involvement aims to remove barriers to third sector organisations
who want to become involved in delivering and designing public services. It
was published alongside the Pre-Budget Report in December 2006.

The Third Sector Strategy Review 2007

Hearts & Minds - Commissioning from the Voluntary Sector (2007)

A report by the Audit Commission.

The Quirk Review 2007 (Asset Transfer the vcse sector)

Barry Quirk, the local government ‘efficiency
champion’, provides encouragement to can-do town halls and community
groups. He says there are no substantive barriers, that risks can be
managed, and that when asset transfer is done properly the benefits
outweigh the risks.

The report recommends a major programme of awareness raising and
capacity-building, and also recommends that councils and other public
bodies take a more corporate approach to their overall asset portfolio
and their relationships with the community sector.

The Budget 2007

How does it affect the community & voluntary sector?

Funding for small organisations: The Office of the
Third Sector will launch a £80m fund to provide small grants to small,
community-based third sector organisations. The fund will award the
£80m over four years, using local distributors with relevant community
knowledge to award specific grants. This will not only provide
essential funding and support for the incredibly valuable work of the
sector's smallest organisations, but also invest at a local level in
the sector's own grant-making capacity. This fund responds to a need
for this kind of investment identified by the sector through the
ongoing Third Sector Review.

Futurebuilders programme: The Futurebuilders
programme will expand its funding criteria to cover any area of public
service delivery. Currently, third sector organisations are only
eligible for funding from this programme to deliver services in just 5
areas (crime, community cohesion, education & learning, health
& social care, support for children & young people). In the
next phase of the programme (2008-2011), the sector will be able to
apply for funding to deliver in all areas of services provision.

Community investment tax relief: The Chancellor
announced a change that allows funds raised under CITR to be used more
flexibly by Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). This
will benefit not only the CDFIs themselves (many of whom are social
enterprises), but also those organisations that borrow from CDFIs (many
of whom are social enterprises). The Chancellor announced a change to
the operation of the tax incentives for investors in deprived
communities via CDFIs. The change will allow CDFIs to keep an average
of 75% of their fund on-lent, instead of a minimum of 75% - providing
better flexibility in the way they manage their loan books. These
changes are a part of the ongoing review of the operation of CITR,
announced in last November's social enterprise action plan.

Further details of the Budget and the third sector announcements can be found on:

Strong & Prosperous Communities - Local Government White Paper

Published in January 2007 by The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the White Paper sets out a range of proposals designed to strengthen
local communities - devolving more responsibility to local authorities,
but with a duty on them to cooperate with other statutory partners at
the local level, and also to engage with other partners including the
voluntary & community sector (vcs) . One chapter (G in volume 2)
specifically addresses the relationship between local government and
the third sector.

Strong and Prosperous Communities - The Local Government White Paper Implementation Plan: One Year On

This updated implementation plan details the progress made on how the Government is implementing key proposals in Strong and Prosperous Communities - the Local Government White Paper.

 

 

Local Government Reports

Health of Bristol 2007 - Report from the Director of Public Health

This year the report focuses on drug misuse - the estimated total number of problem drug users in Bristol is 8,000.

 

The Bristol Compact

The Bristol Compact lays out the principles and commitments of the relationship between the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and the city council as well as other members of the Bristol Partnership.

  • Go to the Compact Page on this website to read about the Bristol Compact

Community Development Voluntary & Community Sector Investment Strategy (2008-2011)

Funding decisions for the £2.4 million fund will be based on the
priorities set out in the Investment Strategy. The Strategy, adopted by
Bristol City Council Cabinet in November 2006, has five priorities:

  • Community Engagement,
    particularly in engaging deprived communities and equalities
    communities, strengthening the VCS to provide direct services to the
    most deprived communities and strengthening communities through
    volunteering;
  • Strengthening and promoting community cohesion
    in the city, particularly in new communities, faith communities and
    promoting understanding and respect across community divides. Projects
    and groups that deliver cohesion-building activities which address
    issues of potential conflict or risk will be considered for funding.
  • Services that champion community innovation.
    Services which are targeted at particular equalities groups or
    geographical neighbourhoods will be considered where that service is
    not being delivered by an existing organisation, where there is
    evidence of community need and where the service will make a measurable
    difference to closing the gap for that community.
  • Delivery of a limited range of direct services
    such as advice services and community resource facilities, which
    deliver direct support to local communities.Delivery of defined
    infrastructure support to all VCS organsiations, including supporting
    representation role to the Bristol Partnership and major public
    agencies.

Indicators of the Quality of Life in Bristol Report 2006

Indicators of the Quality of Life measure sustainable development. They
help show if Bristol is becoming a better or worse place to live, by
using 'traffic light' sustainability or quality of life indicators.