I am delighted to have been invited to speak and join the panel at a Charities Aid Foundation event in Parliament on Monday 10th June to discuss local authority funding to charities.

This event will focus on the 'Back Britain's Charities' campaign which was created by the Charities Aid Foundation...

One thing is certain - the immediate future is far from rosy. We know that the national economy is unlikely to grow significantly for some time (perhaps several years) and that unemployment and austerity are going to be a dominant cloud over our (and every other) sector for the foreseeable...

'Better Services for the Public - a roadmap for a revolution' was published last week by Policy Exchange. Supposedly, it sets out the road map for 'a radical shift of control from government, to people and communities'.

Actually, it reads more like a manifesto for wholesale outsourcing,...

Last Friday I was privileged to be a speaker at the Voluntary Action Within Kent (VAWK - www.vawk.org.uk ) bi-annual conference - 'Hanging on in there', being the conference theme. This provided the opportunity to speak with, and more significantly to: listen to colleagues from across the voluntary and community...

Last week a number of national charity organisations including the NCVO, NAVCA, ACEVO, Compact Voice and the Equality and Diversity Forum jointly wrote to every local authority leader in England. The message was clear: 'when you set your budget, don't cut budgets and funding for the local voluntary and community...

I had a conversation last week with a voluntary and community sector (VCS) leader during which she posed two significant questions. She challenged whether it is right for charities and VCS organisations to bid for contracted public services without considering the implications for their independence, their missions and their ability...

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report on the Work Programme, which was published last week, is the latest in a series of academic, analytical and media critiques which have demonstrated that the Programme has not lived up to its promise - or at least the promise of Ministers....

Today sees the launch of Collaborate (www.collaboratei.com), a community interest company set up to promote effective and sustainable collaboration between the public, business and social sectors with the ambitious but determined goal of securing no less than a paradigm shift in social outcomes, building sustainable communities and fostering a strong...

The scale and magnitude of the challenges, which are confronting the voluntary and community sector (VCS), are unprecedented. The sector, the communities it represents and supports, and its beneficiaries as well as its funders face the most serious hardship and challenge.

Public expenditure cuts have already taken their toll but...

I have been invited by the New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) to contribute to a workshop on the role and responsibilities of a charity trustee when the charity is considering a significant issue such as a major contract or a merger or similar. This has made me think hard about the...

The overall fiscal context

The Local Government Association's forecast this week that local authorities face additional funding cuts of over £1billion next year is devastating news and without question, will adversely affect the voluntary and community sector and their beneficiaries.

This latest forecast of further cuts comes...

Recent historical context

Prior to the General Election in 2010, there were 'Local Strategic Partnership' (LSP) arrangements in almost every local authority area in England. The 'New Labour' Government had encouraged these partnership structures and indeed, had made some elements of central government funding dependent on their existence. The Audit...

I was making my customary argument in favour of a strong, vibrant, independent voluntary and community, and social sector when a good friend asked me what I would do if I were the Minister for Civil Society to boost the sector.

It was a fair challenge, which got me thinking,...

The prospects over the next few years will be very challenging for many voluntary and community sector and more significantly its beneficiaries.

They face the consequences and impact of:

• The longest and deepest recession since the 1930s
• An increase in poverty and especially child poverty and poverty for households...

Charities and the wider voluntary and community sector are rightly careful to avoid becoming embroiled in partisan politics. They are aware of the legal constraints under which they operate. And many are understandably conscious of their financial reliance on the public sector which ultimately is controlled by politicians of the...

The Government reshuffle has led to an almost complete new ministerial team at Communities and Local Government though Eric Pickles remains Secretary of State.

The Department has a major role to play in terms of the Government's re-launched policy agenda - not least in terms of planning reform.

There is...

Over the last few decades, there has been an increasing trend to contract businesses to deliver public services. This trend, of course, goes back decades and indeed centuries but began to accelerate during Mrs Thatcher's Government and continued at an even greater pace during Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's thirteen...

The Wall Street Journal headline "Look Who's Embracing Privatization--Big City Democrats" on 6th July was certainly eye catching to one who has been involved, studied and commentated on public-private partnerships in the UK for over 25 years.

The statement in the article that "There are decades of major public-private partnership...

At a recent conference for chief officers from community and voluntary sector - the NAVCA Chief Officers' Residential Event (CORE), I posed a challenge to the sector and in particular with regard to the future role of support and development organisations at a local and national level. I raised this...

Tragically for those whom it is intended to assist, a programme designed in very different economic conditions and based on a belief that market incentives would drive a range of providers to secure long-term employment for those who have been inactive in the labour market for a long period may...