Voluntary Sector North West
St. Thomas Centre
27 September 2012
In February 2012, the Office for Civil Society (OCS) announced the beneficiaries of a £30 million fund to help transform and modernise local support services for frontline VCS organisations. 16 North West partnerships were awarded a total of almost £6 million from the Transforming Local Infrastructure fund and work commended in April 2012.
We were very keen to ensure that recipients of the funding were able to maximise its impact and benefit for the partnerships, the local VCS and the region as a whole. VSNW ran an initial TLI event on 23rd May 2012 to identify shared priorities and issues, and encourage closer partnership working and identify opportunities for sharing expertise, knowledge and best practice through peer-learning arrangements and networking.
26 key representatives from the North West TLI partnerships attended the event and representatives from the OCS, the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and NAVCA were also in attendance.
As a result of the event a number of shared priority areas were identified.
Quality
VSNW has organised an event for TLI partnerships who were interested in discussing their plans to develop quality standards, diagnostic tools or kite marks. The event took place on 19th September 2012 at Brockholes Nature Reserve, Preston and was attended by 20 TLI representatives from across the region.
The event enabled attendees to highlight their approaches to Quality Standards (QS) and provided an opportunity for them to share information and expertise. There was also a presentation by Sally Yeoman from St Helens and Halton Voluntary Action who outlined the development of the ‘Star Standard’, a locally developed QS system for the VCS.
Volunteering
As a result of this meeting, the following working groups are being set up:
• Micro Volunteering
• Volunteer ‘pools’
• Portals
• Employee Supported Volunteering
The first ESV working Group meeting will take place on 2nd October 2012 (9.30am -12.00pm) in Blackpool. The first meetings of the Micro Volunteering, Volunteer ‘pools’ and Portals Working Groups will take place on 18th October 2012 in Manchester.
Information Technology
As a result of TLI funding, almost all of the partnerships are involved in developing and utilising IT to transform infrastructure services. Planned IT developments range from the re-design of new and existing websites and portals through to the installation of comprehensive new databases. VSNW is initially seeking to co-ordinate an email-based network which will enable TLI partnerships to share knowledge, best practice and resources. The network is open to staff who are involved in the development of IT solutions within the partnerships.
Business Engagement
On 3rd September 2012, VSNW ran an event for TLI partnerships interested in discussing their plans and progress in relation to working with the private sector. 22 people attended this event which provided them with an opportunity to listen to presentations relating to ‘business engagement’. The event also enabled attendees to highlight their approaches to connecting with businesses and provided an opportunity for them to share information and expertise.
The meeting included presentations from:
• Guy Goodger and Gina Hine (BITC) on ‘BITC Business Connectors programme and Community Impact programmes’.
• Dave Packwood on ‘Building Local Business Support for Young People’.
Further Information
To find out more about VSNW’s TLI related activities please email: martin.preston@vsnw.org.uk
Regional Voices, of which VSNW is a partner, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded funding from the Department of Health (Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund) to support voluntary and community sector influence on health and wellbeing boards
The Department for Business Innovation & Skills has published the findings of a research study on European Social Fund delivery with the aim of informing thinking around the next round of programmes
Healthwatch England was formed in April 2013 and is the independent consumer champion for health and social care in England. They have now published a list of local Healthwatch, including those for the North West
The Local Government Chronicle held a webinar to explore the essential elements to ensure local healthwatch organisations are effective in scrutinising local health services and provide a voice for communities. Regional Voices, of which VSNW are a part, are mentioned.
An analysis has been published by NAVCA of the 74 areas that received Transforming Local Infrastructure and provides a national perspective, and allows the sharing of information and ideas
