SAVO

The final draft of Southwark's Local Area Agreement will be submitted to the Government Office for London on the 26th Jan. The LAA an agreement between Southwark Alliance (the Local Strategic Partnership in Southwark) and the government which builds on the work initiated through the LSP's Neighbourhood Renewal programme and the Council's Community Council initiative, and sets out the delivery programme for Southwark 2016 the borough's Community Strategy.

The LAA covers four 'blocks' of activity - Children and Young People, Safer and Stronger Communities, Health and Older People and Economic Development - a requirement by Government.

The section covering each of the blocks in the LAA provides an introduction to the main priorities for action and outline a number of 'outcomes' and indicators that will measure achievement against the outcomes. The outcomes in this LAA reflect the priorities set out in Southwark 2016 and other local strategies such as the Young Southwark Strategy and Children and young People's Plan as well as the mandatory LAA outcomes set by Government.

The development of the four blocks has been led by existing thematic partnerships in Southwark - the Young Southwark Partnership, the Safer Southwark Partnership, Stronger Communities Task Group, Healthy Southwark Partnership, Older People's Partnership, Employment Task Group and Enterprise Task Group. Further details of voluntary and community sector involvement in each of these partnerships and lead contacts can be found here?

SAVO and other voluntary sector partners, including the Volunteer Centre Southwark, have been working with the Council to develop an indicator in the LAA that will measure the number and value of contracts and grants held by the voluntary and community each financial year. The aim is that these figures will show an increase year on year. Southwark is one of the only boroughs in London that has such an indicator included that seeks to show an increase in capacity of the sector more...

"…as we begin the 21st century we again look to the voluntary and community sector to help us rekindle the spark of civic services that fires the building of strong civic commnuities; to reform the operation of public services and build a bridge between the needs of individuals living in those communities and the capacity of the state to improve their lives" Paul Boateng, Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Over recent years there has been an increasing recognition of the value of work of the voluntary, community and faith sector by government. Government has big ambitions and aims around improving quality of life and services for people in the UK. The Government has recognised that if it is to achieve these aims, it and other statutory agencies must work in partnership with the Voluntary, Community and faith sector.

This has been illustrated by the many policy developments and subsequent initiatives that have come through from Government. These take different forms from those that approach the voluntary and community sector as national one and those that support development of local or borough wide sector. Other will focus on specific issues of service delivery and others on supporting infrastructure for the voluntary sector.

In 2002, a Government cross cutting review entitled "The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery" recognised the contribution and added value this sector brings to public services. This review led by HM Treasury has changed and influenced the way that other Government departments are resourced to support the work of the voluntary and community sector in the delivery and planning of public services.

This, along with moves towards partnership working and commissioning, opens the door for the voluntary sector to be taken serious in the delivery of public services. SAVO is working to promote the recognition of the cross cutting review at the local borough and sub-regional level.

Through the cross cutting review identified within the voluntary and community sector the need to "achieve a sustainable baseline of infrastructure support at local level, regionally and nationally" to support the delivery of public services. Last year the Home Office carried out a consultation on voluntary and community sector infrastructure and how best government could support the development of this infrastructure. The strategy is currently being finalised around how the government will support the voluntary and community will have large implications for how local infrastructure is developed to support Southwark. SAVO was involved in the consultation on this review and its membership endorsed a report made by SAVO workers, which was then presented to the Home Office.

The Government's modernizing agenda has shook up the VCS by pushing for its involvement with local government, especially since the 2000 Local Government Act. This with a new focus on customer-focussed delivery, the requirements of Best Value and 'continuous Improvement' have thrown out the old assumptions about who provides public services, how and for who. In the future, the government will be looking at how local authorities deliver services in partnership with the voluntary and community sector. This is likely to influence the work of the partnerships in the borough, such as the Southwark Alliance. SAVO as a member of Southwark Alliance has a voice within this very important partnership. As a CVS we have the ability to make representation and work in partnership with agencies such as the council and get involved in the development of plans.

There are many important and influential areas of policy coming through from national Government that will impact on voluntary and community sector, too numerous to mention here but here are some to give an idea on the breadth of issues:

Neighbourhood renewal is a 10 year Government programme that is designed to reduce the gap between the boroughs that are doing well and those that are not. Working across 88 boroughs across the country, of which Southwark is one, its objectives are to improve public services and quality of life right down to those at neighbourhood level. The voluntary and community sector is a key partner in this process, both as recipient and deliverer of services. SAVO has its role as a member of the Southwark Alliance, the partnership that is responsible in the borough. It also delivers the "area networks" project which aims to support the involvement of the voluntary sector in neighbourhood renewal.

This means that if your organisation has any contact with children or parents you must make sure that you: -

Charity Law - The new Charities Act that is going to go to parliament soon is likely impact on the work of a large number of voluntary sector organisations through modernising the legislation governing charities.

The Charity Commission has already changed its guidelines advising charities, based on research and development in the charity field. For example it has recently recognised promotion of equality and diversity as charitable object. It is the role of a CVS such as SAVO to inform the sector of these changes.

Budget 2004 - the Treasury has sought to change conditions on the voluntary and community sector which are likely to have a major effect. These include areas such as Payroll Giving, Volunteering, Unclaimed, VAT and places of worship.

Faith Groups - The "long tradition" of faith groups "working to build active communities and foster development and civil renewal" was recognised by David Blunkett when launching 'Working Together: Co-operation between Government and Faith Communities'. Recommendations include establishing and leading a new inter-departmental committee to exchange good practice and information, better engagement with faith communities at regional and local levels and reviewing faith communities' access to Government funding programmes.

Workforce and Skills Development - The Learning and Skills Council have produced a strategy on this important area and includes the voluntary and community sector as a employer and trainer.

Commission for Equality and Human Rights - this is a new commission formed by bringing together commissions on racial equality, disability rights and equal opportunities and broadening remit to tackle all forms of discrimination and human rights neglect. Its new broader remit will include new laws on age, sexual orientation and faith. The voluntary sector will have a new relationship with this organisation.

Lottery Bills Campaign - The Bill is currently going through Parliament. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has supported the National Council for Voluntary Organisation's calls for 12% tax charged on every lottery ticket, which currently goes to Government, split between good causes and lottery players to protect the likely displacement caused by a successful Olympics bid. NCVO is also calling for unclaimed prize money to be transferred to the Olympics lottery fund instead of raiding the lottery fund for extra cash needed for the Olympics.

All of the above mentioned are key areas of change for the voluntary sector and it is the key role of the CVS to ensure that the voluntary sector is informed about them and to support the engagement of the voluntary sector within them.

The regional perspective is becoming more and more important. Southwark is central to many regional and sub-regional plans. There are plans for the entire region around key issues such as urban development and economics and the role of voluntary and community organisations can play in this. Also Sub-regional approaches from agencies such as the Learning and Skills Council invite the local voluntary sector to play a key role in their plans. Sub-regional partnerships such as the Cross River Partnership (which cover 3 boroughs) cannot succeed without the input of the local voluntary and community sector. SAVO is involved in the many arenas and through us member organisations can find ways to communicate and access information. SAVO is also delivering projects with CVS from other boroughs on behalf of the LSC and the Cross River Partnership aimed at getting more voluntary sector organisations involved in partnerships and the Learning and Skills Council.

"Sustaining Success" - London Development Agency
The LDA have published 'Sustaining Success' which is their draft economic strategy for London. There's a large emphasis about employment and training. In light of national recognition of its contribution, the voluntary and community sector should play a major role in this.

Mayor of London and Greater London Assembly
The Mayor's London Plan should be out now and links to the above. Central London is a priority area for development. there needs to be engagement with voluntary and community sector if this is to succeed.

Association of London Government
The ALG is seeking to develop the voluntary sector as a partner in London. Grants to voluntary groups are included in the package. The ALG is responsible for distributing £27 million to more than 350 voluntary groups across London, on behalf of the boroughs.

Local Learning and Skills Council - Locally each LSC is doing a strategic area review (StAR) which is looking at provision and whether it is meeting needs. We should be influencing this as it will decide how they allocate money in the future.

There are many policy decisions being made at a borough level that will have an effect on our diverse voluntary sector in the borough. The local authority and other statutory agencies such as the Primary Care Trust are being increasingly asked to work more closely with the voluntary sector.

New Duties on Voluntary Organisations to Safeguard Children
1st October is the date that new guidance issued under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 comes into force. Voluntary Organisations will need to make sure that their organisation follows best practice in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. If you get any kind of grant your funder will want to see evidence of this. Southwark Safeguarding Children Board/ACPC have developed a Safeguarding Pack to support voluntary agencies with this.

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 says that the main public bodies providing services to the public need to make sure that they keep in mind the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children during their work. For example a housing officer should ask about any children of the families they deal with and follow up if they have any worries about them. Public bodies also have to make sure that any other organisation that they fund to provide services meets the same standards. Voluntary Organisations are advised to follow the Guidance as a matter of good practice. This means that if your organisation has any contact with children or parents you must make sure that you: -

Have a child protection policy and procedure
Have someone in your organisation who takes overall responsibility for children's welfare
Make sure you select staff and volunteers who are suitable to have contact with children
Arrange for all staff to have training in child safeguarding
Know when and how to share information about concerns with other agencies such as Social Services
Consult with children and parents about the services you offer

a) Capacity Building - this will examine the council's funding of and goals in relation to umbrella bodies such as SAVO, SCCF, SAF and others. It will examine areas of perceived overlap / duplication and it will examine the support that needs to come from Community Safety and grants team in the council to these organisations.

b) BME and communities of interest - look at the way that organisations who serve these communities will be supported by the council and examine new and emerging needs. It will specifically involve a study of support for groups serving communities of West African origin and it will also look at provision for Somali communities

c) Community Centres and Settlements - Southwark Council has a vision for geographically based capacity building support for VCS organisations. This review will examine the pattern / provision of Community centres and settlements across the borough.

Southwark Compact
The Southwark Compact has recently been published as a position statement. The Compact is an agreement and a process that details the way that the voluntary, community and faith sector and statutory sector will work together in partnership. It examines the key issues that that arise in the way we work with our statutory partners and asks both sides to commit to certain undertakings. SAVO has been playing a key role as a member of the development group. (For more details click here)

Premises Review
Following a review, the Council's Executive decided (04/11/2003) to change its approach how it lets and manages Council premises to over 300 local voluntary sector and community groups (VSCGs). The Council's Property department without substantive consultation with VSCGs conducted this review. The implications of this review include:

SAVO was able to make representations to the council to try to get the best deal for the voluntary and community sector. Though the timeframe for involvement was very slim and we were made aware very late on in the process we were able to respond quickly to this issue.

Last year, Southwark Council made very important changes to way that it distributed its grant scheme. It saw a move away towards a system that was based on commissioning projects in line with the community strategy.

SAVO's role as a CVS means that we must ensure that our membership has a role in all the local issues that effect the sector including these few examples above. SAVO need to make sure the voluntary and community sector is informed and aware of what is going and support its interaction with this agenda.

In June 2004, the Home Office published ChangeUp, a capacity building and infrastructure framework for the voluntary and community faith sector. ChangeUp sets out a vision that by 2014 the needs of frontline voluntary and community organisations will be met by support which is effective, accessible, sustainably funded, reflects and promotes diversity and is available nationwide. ChangeUp calls for local, sub-regional and regional plans to be drawn up to agree the shape and structure of voluntary, community and faith infrastructure. This represents a great opportunity for Southwark to develop its own plan locally and influence regional ones.

What is Change Up?
Building on its cross cutting review of voluntary and community sector's role in delivery in 2002 and its review of voluntary and community sector infrastructure, the Government last year consulted with the voluntary organisations and community groups on options on how it could invest to support their development. Subsequently, the 'ChangeUp' initiative was launched in June this year. ChangeUp is a capacity building and infrastructure framework for the voluntary and community sector. It sets out how the Government will support the development of infrastructure in the VC sector to assist in its delivery of public services. This initiative recognises the value of voluntary and community action and the need for good infrastructure to support it.

The government wants through ChangeUp to invest in infrastructure that reflects the diversity in the sector. "National hubs of activity" will support and provide infrastructure to 5 key specialist areas of voluntary sector delivery and a partnership group of key organisations will oversee the national investment strands of the ChangeUp agenda across the country. "Geographical hubs of activity" will represent the infrastructure at a local, sub-regional and regional level that enables organisations to deliver better public services. Though both important to the voluntary, community and faith sector, the 'geographical hubs' are most likely to produce more impact on our local infrastructure in Southwark.

The ChangeUp investment is being delivered geographically through 'Regional Infrastructure Development Plans' that will build infrastructure across these areas to support the voluntary and community sector. These regional plans will also include sub-regional and local plans for infrastructure within it. London as a region is currently in the developing the process of how its development plan will be drawn up.

The London Infrastructure Plan (LIDP) will aim to support the modernisation of voluntary, community sector infrastructure and embed quality. The LIDP should bring about an infrastructure that is sustainably funded, supportive to frontline organisations to plan and deliver services and facilitate efficiency and effectiveness. A cross sector consortium that will work to best invest the money in the different layers of the plan is currently overseeing its development.

The LIDP will look across London and seeks to address the infrastructure needs of voluntary, community and faith sector in the region, implementing pan-London programmes of work. It will also look at the sub-regional infrastructure needs and seek to enhance the growth of networks and initiatives across these areas beyond local authority borough boundaries. Organisations can work across borders or are part of sub-regional picture and SAVO is working with other Council for Voluntary Service to build infrastructure to support this. Recognising the fact that the majority of voluntary and community action takes place at the borough or neighbourhood level, the LIDP will co-ordinate production of local infrastructure plans which will support the development of local infrastructure. These local plans will be crucial to the developments at the borough level.

The LIDP will be developed over a number of stages. The details of which are starting to emerge. All these stages will effect Southwark in some way. The first, and perhaps most important, is the development of 'Local VCS infrastructure plans'. These plans will represent what is needed at the neighbourhood and borough level around infrastructure. The LIDP will be co-ordinating the production of these plans across London but the development of the plans at the local level will happen within the voluntary community sector. The LIDP consortium is looking to Councils of Voluntary Services such as SAVO and community networks to develop these plans with the wider voluntary, community and faith sector and members of the Local Strategic Partnership. This plan will be developed over the coming months and fed into the draft of the LIDP.

After the local VCS infrastructure plans have been invited, the sub-regional and regional commissions will opened. When these have been pulled together, the draft of the LIDP formed. The consortium will seek to commission the plans after any issues or duplication has been ironed out before the end of the year. The plan will gradually be refined to represent a comprehensive and working plan for infrastructure development.

The development of local VCS infrastructure plans represents a great opportunity to try to address infrastructure needs in a borough such as Southwark. It is important that there is dialogue locally around what is needed in the borough. SAVO, as will be working with partners to facilitate this dialogue and draft a local plan. The ChangeUp ten-year vision represents a great opportunity to build the infrastructure needed to unlock even more the potential of the voluntary, community and faith sector.

If you would like more information or to get involved please contact SAVO, Partnership Co-ordinator at SAVO 020 7703 8733

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