Service for exoffenders & people at risk of offending

                    

Hospital & Prison Action Network

 

          Hospital and prison action network (HPAN) programme is a problem solving programme aimed at tacking crime and reducing young people reoffending, via early invention.

        

            HPAN believes that most of the young people turn to crimes due to lack of emotional and physical support. We at HPAN believe that if the after care support is in place, this will help to reduce the level of crimes

        

          We offer training, education, provision of workshop, one to one counselling, befriending, and advice 

 

o                            Befriending               

 

o                            Benefits Advise

 

o                            Counselling

 

o                            Training/Education

 

Contact

Contact: Counsellor Grace

 

HCVS, 84 Springfield House,

5 Tyseen Street, London. E8 2LY

Telephone: 0207 923 1962 / 07534152877

Or Nathaniel : 07508213888

 

E-mail: hospitalandprsionaction@yahoo.com

 

Register Charity name Hospital & Prison Ministries: Charity number: 1109003

Trade as: Hospital & Prison Action Network

What do you want us to achieve collectively in 2010-2011?

Come along to a half day workshop on the 4th March to discuss what we can do collectively as health, social care, wellbeing & prevention groups to help us get thrugh the next couple of tough years.

 The debate is on the 4th March - 9am - 1pm please email hscf@hcvs.org.uk if you would like to book a place.  If youcan't make it but want to join the debate post your comments online here

Please spread the word about HSCF, help us get 100 new members this year (only 12 to go)

If you find this newsletter useful please forward to a colleague  or partner organisation.

We want to ensure that all staff & volunteers working in Hackney have access to quality information about local policy , training etc. 

We would also really like get 12 more members before the end of March ... just because then we will have 100 people sign up since April 2009  (which would double our new membership of the year before) 

Thanks 

Banksy art to be saved but future of Foundry uncertain

Popular Shoreditch pub and art gallery still seeking new home

Glenn McMahon
Tuesday 16 February 2010

Jonathan and Tracey Moberly, who set up the Foundry in 1998

While the debate rages over whether two ‘Banksy’ artworks on the side of the building should be saved, the Foundry’s future remains uncertain.

When Hackney Council approved planning permission, on Wednesday 3 February, for the venue to be demolished and replaced with a 17 storey hotel, they stipulated that two Banksy pieces, on the side of the building, should be retained for display in the borough.

But this week, Banksy was reported to have said, “It’s a bit like demolishing the Tate and preserving the ice-cream van out the front.”

The council has also refused to recognise the popular Shoreditch pub and gallery as an Arts, Culture and Entertainment (ACE) venue, which would have meant that ‘adequate replacement’ premises would have had to be found, blaming the leaseholders for not applying for the relevant status.

Bill Drummond, formerly of ’90s music act  KLF, said, “Over 2000 exhibitions and scores of other events have been shown at the Foundry, way beyond that of any other art establishment in the borough, none of which dipped into the public purse.

“It’s another example of the council being unable to recognise art when they see it.”

The council’s position has angered Jonathan Moberly, who set the Foundry up with his wife Tracey in 1998: “They go on about saving Banksy’s work, but nothing about saving us,” he said.

The Foundry’s lease will end in April but the Moberlys hope to relocate nearby.

The hotel’s developers, Park Plaza Hotels, have pledged to help with any move, but are not required to do so.

Council policy states: ‘The council resists the loss of an arts, culture and entertainment venue unless satisfied that an adequate replacement will be made.’

“If the council resists the loss of an ACE venue, why did the council not assist the Foundry in making such an application or make them aware that an application needed to be made?” said Moberly.

The controversial project has brought condemnation from many quarters, including English Heritage, local residents and the arts community.

The council has been accused of breaking their own planning policies, as the site falls inside a conservation area and outside an area reserved for tall buildings.

English Heritage said in their assessment of the £100 million project that there was no justification for a building of this nature and that it went against local, national and regional legislation.

Oliver Bullied of Shoreditch Conservation Area advisory committee, who is not opposed to the demolition of the existing building, said that the group’s comments have been ignored.

“Removing the existing building is not enough of a reason for change. We need to get the right decision for the long-term future of the site.”

However, the council said that the development’s design and use of materials contributes to the conservation area.

Referring to the site being outside a ‘tall building area’, the council said that the site can be seen in the ‘context’ of Old Street and Old Street roundabout where there are buildings which have been consented to, of up to 39 floors.

At the 3 February meeting, planning committee member Cllr Linda Smith said, “What’s the point in having a conservation area if you say: because you can see big buildings down the road, it’s okay to build them here?”

The planning report stated that ‘numerous objections are not grounds for refusal in planning terms’.

However, not everyone objected to the plans.

Resident and Safer Neighbourhoods representative, Philip Kenyon, said, “It’s a fantastic achievement for the area and will replace a scruffy mess.

“[The hotel] won’t attract the usual binge drinkers but people who will spend money in the local boutiques.”

According to the plans, the hotel is expected to create up to 450 jobs, some of which are earmarked for Hackney residents.

The council will also receive around £1 million in contributions from the developer to pay for additional public works.

£150,000 of this is for a public art scheme which will be ‘designed and delivered’ by the developer.

However, Robin Priestley, who lectures on public spaces and planning at Central St Martin’s Art College said, “I have little faith that this will be able to recreate the atmosphere, sense of ownership and open policy that the current venue provides.”

Architects Squire and Partners said they hope to commence work as soon as possible with the hotel opening in 2013.

Source Hackney Citizen 

832 beds to be lost in NE London- plus £500m savings

Fog clears on NHS massacre -

Source Morning Star

London's NHS could face £5 billion worth of cuts over the next few years. The future of a third of the capital's 16,000 hospital beds, many front-line clinical services, several whole hospitals and thousands of health workers' jobs are at stake.

Primary care trust bosses have been linked up into five secretive "sectors" holding confidential meetings to hatch proposals.

Broad facts and some of the details are clear, even though NHS London has stubbornly refused to publish the secret McKinsey briefing on which many of the planned cuts are based.

So hats off to the British Medical Association which has broken the silence of London's health unions and publicised the scale of the threat.

It has even called a public meeting on February 25 to kick off a campaigning response across the capital.

BMA London Region has published a report researched for them by yours truly, London's NHS On the Brink, which sounded the alarm warning that many of its members' jobs are at risk along with thousands of nurses, professionals and support staff.

Since the report was first drafted at the end of October, the situation has become even more serious.

North-east
North-east London has set the pace, publishing a consultation document saying little or nothing in concrete terms at the end of November, but then sneaking out a 192-page "pre-consultation business case" on the Health for North East London website just before Christmas, trusting that none of the media would be looking.

The business case would leave the seven boroughs of north-east London with just two "major acute" hospitals, one at the Royal London in Whitechapel (part of a joint £1 billion private finance initiative scheme with Bart's) and one out in Romford, 17 miles away (another PFI hospital).

Under the scheme 832 beds would close, including over 200 at the new Bart's and London Trust - in buildings that have not yet even been completed.

Other hospitals in the sector would be downgraded to "local hospitals" (Whipps Cross, Homerton, Newham) or virtually closed (King George's in Ilford, which is projected to lose 444 of its 496 beds, with the sell-off of two-thirds or the site and £6m set aside for redundancies). There is already a vocal campaign up and running to defend King George's.

But it's not only hospitals, with a £500m combined efficiency saving required for them to stay afloat, that will feel the squeeze.

Community services, primary care and mental health could all be subjected to competitive tendering designed to slash between £200m and £500m from spending. Other services will simply be "decommissioned."

Health workers are very much in the frame for the cuts. Hospitals would face a 3 per cent per year reduction in the "tariff" that determines how much they get paid for patient care.

And with soaring overheads and income sharply reduced, trusts would be forced to seek economies by sacking doctors, nurses and support staff.

The north-east London business case looks to cut up to 37 per cent from nursing costs and up to 43 per cent from spending on doctors.

Other overheads are to be cut by over a third - a particularly severe problem for trusts which have any large-scale PFI borrowing, as they are committed to decades of index-linked service payments regardless of the trust's ability to pay.

But if north-east London has been the first out of the blocks it just gives an idea of the type of thinking to come from other sectors of London and the rest of the country.

North-west
North-west London has tried to keep the details of its proposals under wraps, but leaked documents show it is planning to cut back from nine district general hospitals to just three "major acute hospitals," one of which is certain to be St Mary's in Paddington.

This leaves up to six busy hospitals facing a downgrade to "local hospital" status - and it is already clear that Hounslow's West Middlesex, Ealing and Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal are prime targets for downgrading.

South-west
In south-west London leaked pages of the proposals which are being held back from public view show that just one hospital - St George's in Tooting - will be designated "major acute."

Kingston, Mayday in Croydon and St Helier hospitals are all facing a downgrade with loss of services. A local south-west London campaign is launching this week, as health unions attempt to link up and defend all the services at risk.

North-central
North-central London is already embroiled in a big fight over the shotgun marriage between two inner-London trusts, Hampstead's Royal Free and Islington's Whittington Hospital, with the likely closure of the Whittington's accident and emergency unit.

More service cuts are planned at the already reduced Chase Farm in Enfield.

Where London leads, the trusts follow

Outside the capital the plans seem to be at a more tentative stage. Figures collated by London Health Emergency (LHE) from strategic health authority (SHA) websites show targets for "efficiency savings" - aka cuts in spending - totalling £15 billion in seven of the 10 SHAs.

LHE estimates suggest that the remaining three SHAs could bring the total to £20 billion or more.

With 15 per cent of the English population London seems set to suffer at least 25 per cent of the spending cuts, with cuts averaging £670 for every man, woman and child in the capital, compared with a likely England average of £400 per head.

But the ideas that have emerged seem to be broadly similar. The SHAs have agreed on the scale of the cuts required and appear to be working to very similar rules as McKinsey, although one or two SHAs hotly deny this.

Some offer an interesting phrase here and there - NHS North West has talked of "world-class decommissioning."

One common thread around the country is the push to switch large numbers of outpatient appointments and the least serious accident and emergency cases out of hospitals and into supposedly "cheaper alternative settings."

But there is little if any evidence at all that such a huge reorganisation is either physically possible or in any way cheaper than using existing hospital facilities.

As if to remind us of the potential extra costs, Sir Richard Branson is reportedly dusting off his previously shelved plans for a network of lucrative Virgin "polyclinics" to be leased to the NHS, while the running costs of new, super-sized health centres on the model proposed by Lord Darzi are reportedly "jaw dropping," being many times the cost of conventional GP services.

While some SHAs have so far given no hint of how they will seek their "efficiency savings",,the urgency of the situation is growing. The election is just 10 weeks or so away, and immediately afterwards SHAs, primary care trusts and trusts will again be obliged to focus on balancing the books.

A new report from management consultants Tribal suggests that front-line NHS hospitals could face staggering combined deficits of around £7.5 billion a year by 2015, requiring a 15-20 per cent improvement in efficiency just to break even.

The brutal market and economic forces unleashed within the NHS by new Labour's "reforms" coupled with the spending squeeze are forcing trusts to drive down costs at the same time as they reduce hospital activity volumes. The combination could question the viability of "a significant number" of hospitals, warns Tribal.

In Leeds, Leicester, Derby, Slough, Portsmouth and London, and in a growing list of NHS trusts hundreds of jobs at a time are being axed as improbably large cuts are imposed over the next 12 months. Leicestershire Hospitals alone are attempting to cut £58m of spending at over £5m per month, with 700 jobs to go.

This is the wake-up call. The phoney war has only weeks to go. Many of today's secret plans will be action plans after May 6. They have been kept under wraps because PCTs know how unpopular they will be - they can be challenged and defeated if the public are told what is happening.

It's time for health workers, their unions, local campaigners, politicians, pensioners and community groups to get up, out and fighting to defend our NHS against the biggest cuts it has ever faced. And let's all thank the BMA for getting the message first and passing it on.

John Lister is information director for Health Emergency

Service users event re personlisation

PERSONALISATION

Paul Knipe Local Authority Communications Manager will be speaking about the Transformation of Adult Social Care in Hackney, get the opportunity to ask him questions!

HEALTHY LIVING
Nansia Gatopoulou City & Hackney Stroke Services Manager will be speaking about how you can achieve this and reduce the impact of hypertension

 TO RESERVE A PLACE (AS SPACES ARE LIMITED) OR TO FIND OUT MORE

CONTACT: HEATHER ST LOUIS 020 8438 0725 hstlouis@mssociety.org.uk

 
FRIDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2010
1PM
 
 Refreshments available

Follow the link below for location details
Graeae Theatre Company
http://www.graeae.org/page/contactus

New VAT helpline to save charities money

from NCVO website

Charities are to get help making sure they claim back all of the VAT they are entitled to with the launch of a new helpline this week.

UK charities pay more than the best part of a billion pounds in VAT each year, much of which they can legitimately reclaim but many find the rules too complicated and so lose out.

NCVO and accountancy firm Saffery Champness have teamed up to run a new telephone and email helpline to support and advise charities on what VAT they must pay and what they can reclaim.

The service is free to NCVO members with an income of less than £100,000. NCVO members with a greater income get the service for half price.

Standard charges for the service range from £100 to £500 a year and charities can call or email as many times as they wish during this period for advice.

Richard Williams, director of enterprise at NCVO, said: “This is another valuable benefit for our members that could save them thousands, if not millions, of pounds. Britain’s VAT rules are extremely complicated meaning many charities lose vital funds because they simply don’t realise they are entitled to reclaim all or parts of some VAT payments.”

Russell Moore, a partner at Saffery Champness, is one of the leading VAT advisers to charities and not-for-profit organisations in the UK.

He said: “It has never been more important for charities to ensure their irrecoverable VAT is kept to the absolute minimum.

“Numerous charities and not-for-profit organisations have already materially benefitted from our specialist team’s expertise. Our new helpline service will provide a quick response to assist charities in the complexities of VAT rules and regulations.”

Saffery Champness has secured VAT repayments in excess of £40m in the last three years alone and it advised The Children's Society on its landmark VAT high court victory in 2005, which is estimated to save the voluntary sector £100m a year.

NCVO continues to campaign for more straightforward and fair VAT rules for charities. The matter was raised with Angela Smith, Minister for the Office of the Third Sector, last month (January) at a recession summit hosted by NCVO.

Charities wishing to find out more information and/or register for the service should email charityvat@saffery.com

Read more about the new service

Charities demand an end to political point-scoring as care crisis looms

From The Times
February 15, 2010
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in the Politics Show studio in London with Health Secretary Andrew Burnham on videolink

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, with Andy Burnham on The Politics Show yesterday. The debate on care for the elderly descended into claim, counter-claim and recrimination
Sam Lister, Health Editor, and Roland Watson, Political Editor

The elderly will start to be deprived of essential care in less than seven years unless politicians can agree on how to tackle the issue, charities will warn this week.

The pressure on families to look after their relatives will reach breaking point by 2017, when the demands of the growing elderly population will outstrip society’s current capacity for care provision.

The research, by the London School of Economics (LSE) and commissioned by the Department of Health, will be used this week to show the urgent need for politicians to find a funding solution to the nation’s care needs.

It comes as the row over care reform grew yesterday, with Labour and the Conservatives accusing each other of sabotaging attempts to reach a cross-party consensus.

Responding to a letter from 18 charities to The Times calling for an end to political mud-slinging, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, said that a non-partisan care conference would be held this week. His invitation was rejected by the Tories, who said that Labour was considering a 10 per cent “death tax” on estates to pay for care.

The conference, likely to be held on Friday at the Department of Health, will include key figures from the voluntary sector, local government and social services. Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesman, is expected to attend, leaving only Andrew Lansley, the Tory health spokesman, absent.

Mr Lansley said yesterday that he would only attend if the Government dropped proposals for a one-off levy on estates, called a “death tax” by Tories, which is one of the ideas being explored to pay for home care. Mr Burnham said that the Tories were spreading “scare stories” as a television debate descended into claim, counter-claim and recriminations over the failure of cross-party talks.

At the weekend the 18 leading care organisations, including cancer and carers’ charities, warned that all parties need to engage in a serious debate and agree a solution to the “unsustainable” problem regarding funding care. In a criticism of the Conservatives’ portrayal of the “death tax”, with the use of a gravestone advertising campaign, the signatories said that reform should not be influenced by political point-scoring. “The costs of failing to act are simply too great to allow the debate needed to be drowned out by party- political squabbling,” they wrote.

This week Carers UK, the country’s main membership charity for carers, will highlight the pressure on the sector and how informal care, provided by children for their parents, will not be able to keep pace with demand.

The LSE work, conducted by the Personal Social Services Research Unit, shows that by 2017 this “care gap” will be the equivalent of 5,000 carers, rising to about 40,000 in 2022 and 85,000 in 2026.

While there is agreement between all political parties on the need for reform, the means of funding it — whether compulsory or voluntary, and the varying contributions from the State and individuals — remains vexed.

The issue exploded politically last week when it emerged that Mr Lansley and Mr Lamb had held behind-the-scenes talks with Mr Burnham to see if they could reach a consensus before the election campaign. Yesterday, when all three men appeared on The Politics Show on BBC One, Mr Lansley was accused by Mr Lamb of duplicity because he had been open to the idea of a compulsory payment only weeks previously. “He’s not being straight,” Mr Lamb said. Mr Burnham has dismissed the possibility of a “flat rate” levy but admits that he is considering a compulsory arrangement as part of Gordon Brown’s planned National Care Service.

The Tories accused ministers of considering a 10 per cent levy on estates, on top of any inheritance tax liabilities, upon death. Mr Burnham said yesterday: “There are no decisions taken on this issue. We’ve got options on the table, we need to explore those options.” The fallout will ensure that the issue will be one of the most toxic of the election campaign.

Charity prosecuted on lone working

Submitted by voluntarynews on 15 February 2010

The charity Mental Health Matters has pleaded guilty to failing to do all that was reasonably practicable to ensure the safety of a lone worker, who was killed on a home visit.

This particular case involved home visits to people with a history of mental health problems. Solicitors Anthony Collins have a short item on some implications for reviewing lone worker policies and procedures.

How to get more older people online

Silver surfers or silver e-mailers?

A first task for anyone trying to get more of the country online is to look at the older end of the age spectrum. According to Ofcom, those aged 65 and over are less than half as likely to have a home internet connection than those under 65.

What encourages people in this age group to get online? Perhaps the common term ’silver surfer’ is misleading, as it gives the image of people surfing the internet for hours every day. Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire Business School have been studying older peoples’ attitudes to the internet and have found that the idea of sending and receiving e-mail appeals to them the most.

A focus on communication was picked up among people in this age group who are already online – what they really love is keeping in touch with their closest family members, especially those who might be hard to track down by phone. Children or grandchildren living abroad are a good example of this, where the advantages of using the internet to avoid long-distance telephone charges are also obvious.

We think that once people have taken advantage of basic e-mail communication, more ‘advanced’ internet usage will probably follow – be that social networking, online shopping or watching TV online. E-mail should be a no-brainer from which other things will follow.

It’s this kind of research which is useful to people like us who are trying to get people online, and it’s always good to see.

Disabled children and their families let down by court ruling

Contact a Family is deeply disappointed at yesterday’s court ruling rejecting a challenge to the law which prevents disabled children under three claiming mobility benefits.

Stephen and Wendy Meek, whose son Justin can’t walk and is oxygen dependent argued in court that the Department of Work and Pensions regulations contravened their son’s human rights.

But judge, Lord Brodie, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh rejected the claim.

Srabani Sen, Chief Executive of Contact a Family, said: “We strongly believe the current rules barring disabled children under three from claiming mobility benefits is unfair. Around 7,000 of the most vulnerable disabled children in the UK are affected by this rule.

“Families with severely disabled young children are often left housebound because they don’t get help towards travel costs. Some children need to travel with bulky and life-saving equipment. It is not down to their age that they have mobility difficulties. And yet their families have to struggle without the mobility benefit for three years before it can be paid.”

Stephen and Wendy Meek began their legal challenge in 2005 when Justin was just a baby. They had to take him to hospital 150 times during his first year and paying £500 a month for the use of a disabled taxi service was financially devastating.

Srabani Sen added: “Despite the result we applaud the Meek family’s effort

Source Contact a Family 

Lambeths Co-operatives & Asset transfer model of local government

The future for local authorities: is it John Lewis or easyCouncil?

• Labour in Lambeth plans to give residents more say
• Ideas include running borough assets as co-ops

• Allegra Stratton Political correspondent
• The Guardian, Thursday 18 February 2010
• 
  

For the last few years Steve Reed, leader of Lambeth council, has surveyed a dismal financial landscape in which he is supposed to keep on providing the same services with 20% less funding. Increasingly he has eyed the disparate network of community groups working wonders with nothing but free time.

He rated the network so highly that he even pushed to give it a lot of that diminishing pot of community money lying in the council's vaults.

After a four-year process, the £6m Lilian Baylis old school will soon be owned by a local community trust. The council has also set up what it believes to be the first community land trust in an urban area, and hopes a patch of land beside a railway will be turned into a shared-equity housing estate.

Reed believes getting users involved in providing services will save money eventually.

Mimicking the most famous example of this, he is trying to create what he is proud to call the first "John Lewis" council, bringing himself into direct conflict with Conservative councillor Mike Freer in the more affluent north London suburb of Barnet, where they are pioneering the art of the two-tier service.

"I thought when I read about the easyCouncil, 'that's the polar opposite of what we're doing in Lambeth'," Reed said. "We won't be planning to offer two-tier services, where people in effect pay twice for services that are substandard for everyone – and if you're wealthy enough to pay for it then you buy better services.

"What we're facing is an overall reduction in funding coming in from central government of about 20%. You have four options – you can either strip back all services, you can ration them by means-testing, you can charge for them, which is what Barnet is doing, or you can deal with it in a different way, which is what we're doing: try to involve the users in providing it at lower costs."

Last year Reed took the unusual step of hiring a local resident, Sue Sheehan, who with friends had created a green co-operative growing vegetables in Balham. Reed gave her a job developing the same idea across the borough. Aware that her expertise might have more limited application in some of the tougher areas of Lambeth, he asked her to set up just six such co-ops in her first year in the job. Within that year Sheehan had created 50.

Under Reed's plan, his "John Lewis" council would see a community manage a £6m asset such as Lilian Baylis as well as growing local vegetables. The same could be true of community centres, housing associations, primary schools, or whatever they want, said Reed. "With services like Sure Start, the people in the local area would be given the right to ballot to turn it into a mutual – and then it's over to them."

Research is said to show productivity within workers' co-ops rising by 5%. Reed also wants to mutualise the management of personalised budgets – another public service reform shown to save money, he says – and then hand over some of the council's more simple tasks to the voters to sort out for themselves.

"If a group of neighbours identify a grot spot or a piece of derelict land, instead of the council coming around and cleaning it up we help them to help themselves.

"Last weekend we sent a skip and shovels and some Community Payback kids – young offenders – and they made a neighbourhood garden. The marginal costs for the council of this project were £300. If we had done that ourselves it would have cost a lot more."

There will also be the prospect for voters of seeing some of those savings further down the line, when the ethos of the John Lewis council could become an actual John Lewis council, since staff at that firm receive financial rewards.

"With a co-operative firm you get a dividend. Why not get one with council services too: we would call it the 'active community dividend'. I'm sure there will be legal issues but we are very much in favour of this," said Reed.

Some of this will sound familiar. The Tories announced on Monday that a Conservative government will allow public sector workers to form co-operatives. But the difference between the two models, as Labour sees it, is that Labour wants users involved alongside workers.

The government may have arrived at a similar conclusion as Reed and be planning to put similar ideas in its general election manifesto.

If his consultation goes according to plan, Reed may find himself able to implement some of his plans, assuming he is re-elected on 6 May.

The Labour government's own post-May chances of introducing the ideas across the country are in greater doubt.

Source the Guardian

Merger for London-based learning disabilities charities

By Mathew Little, Third Sector Online, 17 February 2010

Aisling Duffy will head new organisation formed by Support for Living and the Southside Partnership

Two London-based charities that provide services for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs will merge at the beginning of April.

Support for Living, which operates in west and north-west London, and the Southside Partnership, located in south London, will form a group with a combined turnover of £25m and 650 staff. A name will be announced after the legal merger takes place on 1 April.

Learning disability services in the new organisation will be delivered through Support for Living and mental health services through Fanon, a division of Southside. Both organisations will retain their brands under the new name.

Aisling Duffy, chief executive of Southside and former director of development at Support for Living, will become chief executive of the new organisation.

"By joining forces we are in a stronger position to deal with the tough economic climate," she said in a statement. "I believe that by pooling people, resources and ideas, we will be able to continue to respond effectively and creatively to the demands of personalisation and the needs of the people we support and their families."

A spokeswoman for the new organisation said no job cuts were planned "as things stand" and the two charities would continue to operate from their existing offices in Balham and Ealing.

Nigel Turner, chief executive of Support for Living, is to stand down after 18 years to "pursue other interests", a joint statement from the charities said.

Hospitals more likely to close in safe seats

Source Daily Telegraph 

Hospitals in safe parliamentary seats are much more likely to be closed than those in marginal constituencies where politicians fear a backlash from voters, a study has found.

By Heidi Blake
Published: 7:30AM GMT 15 Feb 2010

The report by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) shows that there is a far higher concentration of hospitals in politically sensitive areas “where no one wants to be blamed for hospital closure” than in areas where the Government enjoys a comfortable majority.

Patients receive significantly better care in areas with a greater number of hospitals, because competition drives medical staff to do a better job, the report said.

Related Articles

It also showed that private hospitals are better managed than those run by the NHS, and disclosed the devastating consequences that poor management can have for patients.

Around 400 deaths could be prevented every year from heart attacks alone if hospitals made a tiny improvement in the way they were managed, the study from LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) found.

In one badly-run hospital, a manager admitted that able-bodied patients had been forced to help push the sicker patients around in their beds because of staff shortages.

Professor John Van Reenen, director of the CEP and co-author of the report, said the findings showed how patients in safe parliamentary seats, where competition among hospitals is low, can suffer.

“What we have found is that if you’re in a marginal seat you have a lot more hospitals, but if you’re in a safe seat your local hospitals are much more likely to close,” he said.

“It’s hard for any Government to close down a hospital because the public will not like it, and because of that politicians are less likely to close down a hospital in an area that’s more politically contestable.”

The reason for the disparity was that health was a top priority for most voters, Prof Van Reenen said.

"It is what people care about. What people really want to know is whether they will be looked after if they become unwell, and whether their relatives will be cared for.”

The study, which looked at 100 hospitals, disclosed that patients taken to well managed hospitals after a heart attack were significantly more likely to survive.

It found that management scores in NHS hospitals were generally lower than in the private sector, including in the manufacturing and retail industries as well as in private hospitals.

Hospitals managed by executives with no clinical experience perform worse than those where doctors and nurses are promoted to senior management positions, according to the report, which will be published this week in the journal Centrepiece.

“People management” was particularly bad in the NHS, the report said.

In one institution, an NHS manager who was asked whether staff often ended up doing the wrong sort of work for their skill level said: “You mean like doctors doing nurses’ jobs and nurses doing porter jobs? Yeah, all the time. Last week, we had to get the healthier patients to push around the beds for the sicker patients.”

Prof Van Reenen highlighted the case of Richard Taylor, a doctor whose campaign to keep Kidderminster hospital open resulted in him unseating a Labour minister in Wyre Forest in 2001, as evidence that local hospitals are highly charged politically.

Sector bodies to present big offer to Alistair Darling

By Mathew Little, Third Sector Online, 19 February 2010

Acevo's Stephen Bubb and other chief executives will urge the Chancellor to give charities an enlarged role in the provision of public services

Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, and a small group of other charity chief executives will meet the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, next Thursday to present their ‘big offer' on how the third sector can redesign public services.

Bubb will argue that a wider role for charities in public services could result in "major long-term savings" for the Treasury and provide an alternative to "salami-slice cuts", which could damage both public services and third sector organisations. 

Bubb will use the meeting to highlight examples of preventive services already delivered by the sector in health, social care and offender management.

In December, a letter to Darling from more than 260 Acevo members proposed a summit to discuss how the sector and government could "carry out far-reaching reforms of public services".

In his reply to the Acevo letter, Darling said he would "be grateful if you and your members could provide government with further examples and information to build the evidence base around the third sector's ability to deliver efficiencies for government".

Charities recruiting migrants as volunteers might gain access to European funding

By Kaye Wiggins, Third Sector Online, 19 February 2010

Scheme is mentioned in context of new law allowing fast-track citizenship for immigrants who volunteer

Charities that take on migrants as volunteers could have access to money from the EU if they find matching funding.

Chris Hedges, a civil servant at the UK Border Agency, told a meeting of the England Volunteering Development Council this week that the Government would be able to allocate money from the European Integration Fund, to organisations creating volunteering opportunities for migrants.

He said the fund was worth £7.5m, but money from it could be given out only if organisations found matching funding from elsewhere.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency, which administers the fund, said there was no minimum amount a charity could apply for. However, the bidding process was time-consuming so organisations would not find it feasible to draw up bids for small sums.

The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act, which was passed in July last year, allows immigrants who have been in the UK for five years to gain citizenship within one further year, rather than three, if they can prove they have been an "active citizen" by volunteering.

up to £35k over 3 years for volunteering-

 The new Department of Health Volunteering Fund for Health and Social Care provides a combination of grant funding and support to third-sector organisations working with volunteers in the health and social care field.

Local Funding Priorities

This local grant scheme aims to support volunteering in health and social care. Awards will be made subject to applicants being connected at local level to commissioners. All successful applications will need to be able to demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Innovation in volunteering practice
• Clear potential to develop, for example in terms of scale of operation, delivering to a new area or in engaging new groups of volunteers
• Participation in local partnerships which may develop into more formal arrangements as part of longer-term sustainability strategies
• Capacity to embed support, deliver long-term sustainability and maximise dissemination of effective practice.

In addition projects will need to be applying under a theme. These are:

• Cross cutting theme 1: Addressing Social Care priorities – in particular the priorities from the DH strategy 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Say'.
• Cross cutting theme 2: Addressing Health Inequalities - Local projects applying under this cross cutting theme will need to outline how their proposed activities will address health inequalities within their local authority and PCT area.  All applicants will need to outline how their proposed activities will address effective contribution towards Health related priorities within their area's Local Area Agreement (LAA).

Where there is a high level of demand, priority will be given to projects operating in areas of greatest health inequality.

Detailed information on the Volunteering Fund’s strategic priorities and how projects should be targeted can be downloaded here.

Guidance for local project applications

Guidance notes for local project applications can be downloaded here. This document must be read alongside the Volunteering Fund Strategic Priorities document.  The application portal for completion of proposals for the first eligible regions will be open from Monday 8 February 2010.

Information for national portfolio projects will be available in Spring 2010.

Eligibility Criteria
It is anticipated that between 6-8 grants of up to £35,000 over 3 years will be available in each region. This means there is a strict eligibility criteria in place that organisations should be aware of prior to applying to the fund. This includes: being a constituted third sector organization, and having key policies on equality, health and safety and safeguarding of children and adults already in place.

Click here to access the eligibility questionnaire to find out whether your organisation is eligible to apply for Volunteering Fund money. At this stage the questionnaire is for your information only – please do not send it back to us.

Please answer the questions honestly as only organisations meeting these initial criteria will be eligible to submit an application through the online application portal.

National organisations cannot apply under the local funding round. Please see third sector press for announcements of the national grants scheme later in the year.

http://www.volunteeringfund.com/

up to £25k for community learning champion initiatives

New funding opportunity on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

The Development Fund offers grants to set up Community Learning Champion initiatives in targeted areas of need. Grants of up to £25,000 are available in Phase 2 – April 2010 to March 2011.

The Community Learning Champions Support Programme Development Fund is managed by NIACE as part of the consortium leading the Support Programme. The consortium consists of NIACE, Martin Yarnit Associates, the WEA and unionlearn.

Applications for funding must be made by either

local partnerships targeting their activities on areas with high levels of educational need that meet one or both of the following criteria:

• 10% or more of their Lower level Super Output Areas (LSOAs) are in the most deprived national decile on the Education, Skills and Training domain on the IMD2007
• eligible for Working Neighbourhoods Fund

(Local authority eligible areas that received funding in Phase 1 are not eligible to apply for Phase 2. A list of Phase 2 eligible local authority areas is available)

OR

• national, regional or cross-regional organisations targeting groups currently excluded from learning.

Applications must be submitted to mailto:clcdevelopmentfund@niace.org.uk by 12:00 noon on March 2nd 2010.

Further information regarding the Support Programme, eligibility, Guidance notes and the Application for funding form can be found on

http://www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk/development_fund.php

Liz Cousins

Project Manager

Up to £14k for digital media projects deadline 28th Feb

Do you need to get your message across - is your community unheard garnst available for isolated & disavantaged communities plus mentoring & training click here for details

Provision of cycle training tender - Haringey

click here for pack

Big Challenge fund for 16-25 yr olds camapiagning will open April

Big Challenge is expected to open again for applications from the end of April 2010. There will be a new theme, which is yet to be announced, and a fund of £60,000 will be available.

Anybody aged 16-25 and living in the UK who has original ideas on the theme will be able to apply. Winners will receive funding to cover costs of their campaign and have access to support and mentoring.

Keep an eye on the Big Challenge website for more details as they become available. You can visit the Big Challenge website here.

Source SYFAB

tender - NESTA _ learnning partner for national evaluation of Age Unlimited

NESTA is looking to appoint a Learning Partner to support the learning objectives of our Age Unlimited programme.

We are looking to work with one lead partner but welcome submissions from consortia able to deliver on the full range of data gathering, synthesis, analysis and reporting requirements for both the UK and Scottish test sites.

Our programmes are complex and ambitious, working in new areas and with new approaches to support radical innovation tackling complex social issues such as ageing. Bespoke approaches combining qualitative, quantitative and economics methodologies are required to meet our learning needs.Flexibility and confidence working in a fast changing environment are crucial attributes in our Learning Partner.

We are not looking for a standard evaluation approach. Our Learning Partner will need to co-ordinate closely with our delivery team to draw on the opportunities for learning capture that already exist. Ongoing learning outputs will be required.

Please download the full brief and accompanying annex notes before submitting your proposal.

• Full brief on invitation to tender
• Annex A - prototype plan

Closing date - 12 noon on Monday 8 March 2010

Proposals and queries should be emailed to Jennifer.Butcher@nesta.org.uk.

Interviews will be held on Monday 15 March 2010.

£1000 for 16-25 year old individuals creative project

click here for details

Learning Trust adult & community tenders

The Learning Trust would like to invite bids for the 2010-11 academic year to deliver Adult & Community Learning courses.

Closing date: Monday 15 March 2010

Please contact: Call Andy Mills on 020 8820 7117 or email andy.mills@learningtrust.co.uk for an application pack, or visit http://www.learningtrust.co.uk/adult_learning/adult_and_community_learning/provider.aspx

Hackney Council for Voluntary Service - Support Sessions: Book a 30 minute one-to-one support session with The Learning Trust  for Adult Learning Service Commissioning – 2010 / 2011.

·         Wednesday, 3 March, 10am – 4pm

·         Monday. 8 March, 10am – 4pm

Please contact: You must book ahead for an appointment with The Learning Trust - call HCVS on 020 7923 1962

Bid for Workshops in Hackney - adult learners week

ADULT LEARNERS’ WEEK

15th – 21st May 2010

Bid for Workshops in Hackney

CLOSING DATE Friday 26^th February 2010

The Learning Trust Adult Learning Services welcomes applications from organisations including the voluntary and community sector, schools and supplementary schools, wishing to run workshops to celebrate Adult Learners’ Week 2010.

What is Adult Learners’ Week?

Adult Learners’ Week is the UK’s largest celebration of learning. It promotes education and training for adults, provides access to information and guidance and motivates more and different adults to participate in learning. Started in 1992, it is a collaborative venture between education and training providers, national and local government.

Adult Learners' Week offers organisations such as yours a framework within which to promote what you do. It is an opportunity for all organisations that offer any form of adult learning activity to present a special promotional activity. It provides an opportunity to raise your profile in the local Community and to engage new and prospective learners.

We are looking for providers to bid for fun workshops, taster sessions and activities which promote adult learning generally. Workshops will be for Hackney adults (aged 19+) and will be delivered in the borough. They can run for a minimum of two hours but preferably for three hours or more. They can also be multiple sessions over several days. Adult Learning Services will market all workshops it commissions as part of the promotional campaign for Adult Learners’ Week in Hackney.

We are also looking for workshops which improve people’s language, literacy and numeracy skills and for a range of ICT workshops. Other areas of learning we would like to cover, include: Hospitality & Catering, Sports, Health & Fitness, Leisure, Art & Crafts, and Performing Arts. We are also keen to involve employers and vocational training providers.

Examples of workshops we would like to run are:

·        Modern languages e.g. Beginners Turkish, Spanish, French, Arabic

·        British Sign Language

·        Themed Skills for Life sessions (Literacy, Numeracy and ICT)

·        Introduction to Internet, email, Powerpoint

·        Taster sessions in web design, Photoshop, software development & hardware

·        Digital photography

·        Complimentary Therapies

·        Yoga, Tai-Chi, Meditation

·        Well-being/stress management/personal development

·        Dance e.g. Salsa, Bollywood, Bellydancing etc

·        Exercise & fitness

·        Drama workshops

• Introduction to Hair & Beauty, Barbering, Nail care etc

·        Music workshops e.g. singing and lyric writing, DJing, gospel singing

·        Poetry

• Arts & Crafts e.g. Leperello bookmaking, jewellery making, knitting & sewing
• Pottery & Ceramics

·        Bicycle maintenance

·        Money management

·        Catering and cooking

·        Parenting courses

·        First Aid

·        Horticulture

·        Flower arranging

·        Fashion

·        Employability, CV writing/ job search

However, we will consider other applications outside these areas.

v     Successful workshops may be considered for summer pilot courses & further development.

v     Please note that venues for workshops must meet minimum health & safety requirements for teaching and learning and that all crèche facilities must be OFSTED registered.

v     Please note that we aim to reduce the number of workshops this year with a focus on quality provision and creative approaches, so not all applications will be successful. If you do not hear from us, that means you have been unsuccessful in this instance.

Click here for the application form

Please complete the attached forms and return to:

Communitydevelopment@learningtrust.co.uk

Jill Gander

Adult Learning Services

The Learning Trust

Hackney Technology & Learning Centre

1 Reading Lane

London E8 1GQ

Tel: 020 8820 7470.

If you require clarification regarding the types of workshops that are fundable, please contact Jill Gander.

The closing date for applications is Friday 26^th February 2010.

Volunteering Development Coordinator

We are recruiting for a Volunteering Development Coordinator

05 February 2010

We are currently recruiting for a Volunteering Development Coordinator at the Volunteer Centre. Is this your chance to join our team? Full details of the job are available to download below.

To apply for a vacancy, please complete our job application form.

Volunteer Development Coordinator

£25,520pa NJC 6.26 FT, based in SE1

 We are looking for someone who is passionate about volunteering to coordinate our work with volunteer involving organisations and improve volunteering in Southwark.   Encouraging groups to develop good practice in volunteering is key to our work and this role is key in making the move from running a reactive, to a proactive service. You would be offering advice and support to groups, developing resources, training, and implementing the new pan London good practice charter whilst linking in with work going on across London and the Volunteer Centre network.   To find out more download an application pack at www.volunteercentres.org.uk or contact Barbara on 0207 703 4205 barbara@volunteercentres.org.uk deadline for applications 10am   Deadline for applications 10am Friday 5th March, interviews Friday 12th March

Encouraging groups to develop good practice in volunteering is key to our work and this role is key in making the move from running a reactive, to a proactive service. You would be offering advice and support to groups, developing resources, training, and implementing the new pan London good practice charter whilst linking in with work going on across London and the Volunteer Centre network.

To find out more download an application pack at www.volunteercentres.org.uk or contact Barbara on 0207 703 4205 barbara@volunteercentres.org.uk deadline for applications 10am

Deadline for applications 10am Friday 5th March, interviews Friday 12th March

Click here to download a job description and person specification.

<< See all news

Joint Commissioning Officer - Disabilities - LBH

Job Details

Directorate Community Services Service Area Commissioning Salary £42,258 - £44,910 Shift Pattern Full Time - 36hrs, Monday / Friday Closing date for applications 1 March 2010

Lead and support key disability commissioning projects in an exciting period of change The Role Joining us in an exciting period of challenge and change, you will support a range of existing projects within the portfolio of City and Hackney’s Joint Commissioning Manager for Disabilities. At the same time, you will lead key development initiatives in areas such as user involvement, consultation, capacity building and needs assessment. The Requirements To succeed in this varied post, you must combine a proven track record of managing projects to meet strict deadlines with a strong understanding of commissioning in an adult social care context. Flexible in your approach, you should also be able to work effectively with service users and other organisations. Responsibilities As well as taking responsibility for initiating and driving projects, you will build and maintain strategic partnerships while making an important contribution to a broad spectrum of commissioning activities. These include understanding need, service specification, contracting and managing performance. The Individual Experience of providing services to people with learning disabilities is important, along with skills in data analysis and both performance and financial management. You will also be capable of applying your research expertise to embed best practice, create policy and enhance service design, while fully appreciating the strategic context of working in health or social care. Additional Website Information It is essential that you include a supporting statement, addressing how your skills, knowledge and experience would enable you to meet all aspects of the post, as indicated in the job description and person specification. Please complete and upload your supporting statement in the 'CV & Document Upload' section This position is a one year fixed term contract

More Info...

Joint Commissioning Officer Job Description.doc

Click here to apply for this job

Library Network Supervisor - LBH

Directorate Community Services Service Area Libraries, Archives & Information Services Salary £22,920 - £24,819 Shift Pattern Other Closing date for applications 28 February 2010

Help all our customers to get the most out of ICT The Role In this important post, you will manage the provision of efficient ICT services in one of Hackney’s libraries, ensuring that customers from all the borough’s diverse communities are encouraged and able to use them. In the absence of the Customer Service Manager, you will also be responsible for keeping the library open for business.   This position is full time and includes some weekends and late shifts. The Requirements Along with an ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) qualification and strong software skills, you must be aware of the key issues in the library sector. At the same time, you will share our total commitment to delivering high quality customer care. Responsibilities Working closely with the Library Manager and Customer Service Manager, you willl make sure that staff are appropriately deployed to deliver a high level of ICT support at all times. You will also provide coaching to customers to help them get the most from the ICT systems and equipment. The Individual Your excellent interpersonal skills will help you relate not only to colleagues, but also to a wide range of customers - including children and people who may face barriers to communication. So while you will possess good technical skills, you will also enjoy helping others and seeing them learn. Additional Website Information It is essential that you include a supporting statement, addressing how your skills, knowledge and experience would enable you to meet all aspects of the post, as indicated in the job description and person specification. Please complete and upload your supporting statement in the 'CV & Document Upload' section   This position is full time and includes some weekends and late shifts.

More Info...

Libary Network Supervisor Job Description.doc

Click here to apply for this job

Whose voice is it anyway? ILP Conference 2010

Whose voice is it anyway? ILP Conference 2010

11 March 2010

An event for:

• Staff in local infrastructure organisations interested in getting the voice of local groups heard
• Community advocates, representatives and champions
• Voluntary and community sector development workers, activists and volunteers

This event will help you find practical ways to influence and communicate more effectively. The day will include live theatre, social media, face-to-face conversations and networking.

Contributions include:

• Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO
• Dead Earnest Theatre
• Plus contributions from Oxfam, The Young Foundation, Carnegie UK Trust, plus more...

Join us for an entertaining and challenging day that will change the way you use your voice for influence.

Cost and booking information

• £49 (incl VAT) for, voluntary & community organisations
• £60 (incl VAT) for statutory and private organisations

• Booking form (Word, 104KB)

Bursaries now available

If you would like to attend but are unable to for financial reasons, please contact ilp@navca.org.uk or tel. 0114 289 3993

Bursaries are awarded at the discretion of the conference organisers.

• Join the Whose voice? discussion group on navcaboodle to take part in discussions before, during and fater the event (registration required)

CV WRITING TIPS AND INTERVIEW PREPARATION SKILLS , FREE TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERS

Date: Wednesday 10th March 2010
Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location: 92 Dalston Lane, Hackney, London, E8 1NG

A hot lunch will be provided!
Are You:
• Unsure what you need to put into a cv?
• Puzzled on how to fill out an application form?
• Nervous and anxious about performing in an interview?

Then this session is for you!

Come along and we will teach you how to use ‘keywords’ to emphasise your strengths and
provide you with interview techniques that will help you to make a positive impression on
prospective employers.

This is an interactive session, involving role play and giving you the opportunity to take part in
a ‘mini mock interview’.

To book your place please contact Nike Malomo On 0207 241 4443 ext 34
or send an email to info@hackneyvoluntaryaction.org.uk.

Spaces are limited so pls book early!

Implementing Change that Doesn’t Cost the Earth

In January 2009, we launched our first publication on sustainability, ‘The Sustainability Challenge- Implications for Chief Executives in the Third Sector’. The report called on third sector leaders to make reducing their organisation’s carbon footprint a priority.

We are now a year on, and despite growing awareness of the subject, the third sector is, for the most part, slow to act. Climate change has huge health and social justice implications for some of the most disadvantaged groups in our society. What is more, we should be clear that delivering on sustainability, is increasingly what our key partners, funders and commissioners want.

This is why, we decided to launch a second publication in time for the start of the new decade. The publication entitled ‘Implementing Change that Doesn’t Cost the Earth’ is out now and free for all to access. The publication looks at recent and upcoming policy developments in the area and features a number of illuminating case studies and interviews with fellow chief executives that show a clear directional shift towards sustainability. It is an excellent starting point for any chief executive looking to make steps of any size in their organisation. Download The Sustainability Challenge

Serious threat to independence of advice and advocacy charities, says report

By John Plummer, Third Sector, 2 February 2010

Baring Foundation criticises government commissioning of services

The independence of advice and advocacy charities is under serious threat from the Government, according to a report published last week by the Baring Foundation.

The foundation, which awarded grants worth £1.2m in 2008 to seven initiatives established to increase the sector's independence, says in the report Rights with Meaning that increased commissioning and the personalisation of public services are among the main dangers.

Commissioning, it says, poses a "formidable threat to independence" because it increases the state's control over service providers, silences dissent and reduces the ability of charities to set their own priorities.

"Organisations are increasingly pressured into adapting to meet the requirements of commissioners, not the needs of the people who use their services," it says.

Plans to personalise public services by giving people individual budgets to spend on care also attracts criticism in the report. It says people might have to spend part of their budgets on advice that was previously free.

Report author Matthew Smerdon, deputy director of the foundation, told Third Sector the conclusions were based on data received from grant applicants and his own research.

"It's absolutely clear from the evidence we are seeing that the way in which commissioning is currently organised is putting independence under enormous pressure," he said. "There is significant potential for the distinctive nature of the sector to be undermined."

The Legal Services Commission's introduction of fixed fees for charities delivering legal aid poses severe problems for advice centres, according to the report. It says the 70 per cent fall in unrestricted reserves held by members of the Law Centres Federation has been caused by the charities trying to maintain quality services, despite the new pricing structure, which often results in less income.

Belinda Pratten, head of public policy at the NCVO, said: "These findings are of concern, not just because this approach to commissioning threatens the independence of the sector, but because it makes it harder for voluntary organisations to respond to people's needs."

Ralph Michell, head of policy at chief executives body Acevo, which supports an increase in public service delivery by charities and the personalisation approach, said: "It's not commissioning that's the problem - it's bad commissioning. Intelligent commissioning ought to recognise the value of organisations in receipt of public funding being free to criticise

Click here for the report 

Gov produces Vetting & barring Scheme myth buster

click  here to view vetting & barring Mythbuster

Carers UK urges more support for carers to avoid crisis

Charity calls for 'social contract' to avoid 2017 tipping point where families can no longer meet care needs
Mithran Samuel
Friday 19 February 2010 08:21

Carers UK today called on employers and the state to sign up to a 'social contract' to support carers to help stave off a "tipping point" when families will no longer be able to provide sufficient care for older people.

In a report coinciding with today's government summit on the future funding of care, the charity said any reforms had to take into account the needs of informal carers, many of whom were facing significant health problems, isolation and financial hardship as a result of their caring role.

It quoted 2008 research for the Department of Health that suggested that by 2017, older disabled people's demand for care from their children would outstrip supply and that the "care gap" would widen after that.

The charity called for the following reforms:-

    * A nationally determined entitlement to care and support which recognises the contributions of families and carers.
    * A transparent and fair care funding system.
    * Flexibility and support from employers to help families juggle work and care.
    * A tax and benefits system that prevents financial hardship for carers, recognises their contribution to care and gives them flexibility to juggle work and care.
    * Communities which better understand the impact of caring, disability and age on people's lives and public services that enhance family life.

Caresr UK will be publishing a manifesto shortly that will aim to show how the political parties can deliver on the proposed social contract.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have confirmed that they will not be attending today's summit on the future funding of care, called by health secretary Andy Burnham, and maintained their "death tax" campaign against the government.

Though ministers have merely refused to rule out introducing a compulsory care levy on older people or their estates after death, the Tories persisted in attacking the idea, saying it would "all but kill informal care" as families providing care for loved-ones would still have to pay any levy.

report is available here www.carersuk.org/Professionals/ResearchLibrary/Socialcontract 

Source Community Care

29m4freedompass - epetition response

Friday 19 February 2010

29m4freedompass - epetition response

We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to intervene to secure the Freedom Pass by protecting the previously agreed level of concessionary travel funding for London, for 2010-11, from the proposals currently being consulted on by the Department for Transport that would cut £29 million of agreed funding for the boroughs, following the DfT’s re-opening of a 3-year funding deal in its third year.”

Details of Petition:

“London’s Borough Leaders are committed to the Freedom Pass, a concessionary travel scheme providing free travel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on bus, tube, and most rail routes for London’s over 60 or disabled residents. Funded mostly from council tax, the Freedom Pass also gets government funding, reflecting London’s contribution to the national concessionary bus travel scheme. In April 08, a 3-year funding deal was agreed but in July 09, Transport Minister Sadiq Khan re-opened it. The Department for Transport, DfT, is now consulting on “Local Authority special grant funding in 2010/11 for the national bus concession in England”, with London losing £29m, almost half its agreed funding for 2010-11. The consultation closes on 30/12/09. London’s Borough Leaders oppose the DfT re-opening a 3-year funding deal, which loses London nearly £29m, and demand the Prime Minister intervene to protect the Freedom Pass’s funding.”

· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage

Read the Government’s response

Since April 2008, the statutory minimum bus concession has provided free off-peak local bus travel anywhere in England to older and eligible disabled people in England.

The Freedom Pass scheme is operated by London Councils on behalf of all 33 London Boroughs and is the largest and most generous concessionary travel scheme in the country.  Some of the scheme’s characteristics are at the discretion of the London Boroughs and London Councils is able to change these providing there is unanimous agreement amongst the boroughs and the changes do not contravene the statutory minimum required by legislation. However, as a minimum, the scheme in London must provide free travel on the London local transport network between 9.30 am and midnight and the period from midnight to 4.30am on weekdays, and at any time at weekends and on Bank Holidays.

The bulk of the funding for concessionary travel is provided to local authorities, including those in London, via the overall Local Government Formula Grant system administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). Since April 2008 the Department for Transport has also been providing special grant funding to local authorities solely to meet the additional cost of the extended concession introduced at that time.
 
Special grant funding was £212 million in 2008/09, has increased to £217 million this year, and will rise further to £223 million in 2010/11. This brings total spending on concessionary travel to around £1 billion a year. The grant has been distributed on a formula basis since its introduction in 2008. The formula used was devised in advance of the introduction of the new concession and was designed to direct money towards those authority areas likely to see the biggest increase in costs as a result of the move to all-England travel: tourist areas, regional hubs, shopping centres.

There is no evidence that the totality of the grant is insufficient but there is evidence that some authorities, including London, may have received significantly more than required to meet the extra cost imposed by the change in the statutory minimum bus concession, whilst other authorities have reported shortfalls in funding.

The only increase in costs London faced as a result of the improved England-wide concession was for the cost of non-London residents now travelling free on the London bus network. London’s precise need for additional grant was not knowable in advance but it was expected that a sizeable grant would be necessary to meet the cost of concessionary passengers from the surrounding counties now travelling for free on the extensive London Bus Network. It is clear that there have been far fewer of these trips than was anticipated. London Councils own documents confirm that the actual cost impact of the new concession on London was only around £5 million in 2008/09 compared to a grant of £55 million.

The Department for Transport has recently held a consultation on a redistribution of the special grant funding for 2010/11. The consultation proposed a redistribution of the special grant allocations based on actual outturn data following the first full year of the new concession. This is the fairest way of objectively assessing the impact on all authorities across the country.

Having considered the responses to the consultation, the Government has decided to proceed with a revised grant distribution for 2010/11 and a new Special Grant Report has been laid before Parliament seeking approval to these revised special grant allocations.

The Special Grant Report will shortly be the subject of debate in Parliament before a resolution is sought from the House of Commons.  Copies of the report can be obtained from The Stationery Office or via the DfT website.

The redistribution of grant does not affect the ability of London Boroughs to fund their obligations for concessionary travel or provide services. They will still be left with significantly more funding than the actual burden the concession has imposed.

Although the new distribution reduces London’s grant for the coming year, there will not be a retrospective adjustment of allocations already made for 2008/09 and 2009/10 to recoup surplus grant funding received in those years. Therefore authorities that see a reduction in their grant as a result of the revised distribution in 2010/11 will have already benefited from two years of receiving more funding than was required. Our estimates suggest that the total grant to London for the first two years of the three year settlement has exceeded the cost to London of the new concession by in the region of £100m.

NAVCA response to NHS Constitution - This affects you if you are funded via NHS

NHS constitution

NAVCA has responded to the consultation on the NHS constitution. The consultation outlines and asks for comments on an extension of rights members of the public will have to a variety of NHS services.

Organisations that provide local community services on behalf of the NHS will have to take notice of the constitution and the rights to services set out within it. NHS services are increasingly being delivered by local third sector organisations and therefore, once agreed, the constitution will be relevant to a large number of organisations. As NAVCA’s members have connections with a large number and range of patient groups in local areas, they are ideally placed to help promote awareness of these new rights, how patients will be able to use them and what they should do if things go wrong.

NAVCA, in its response, makes specific recommendations about the proposed rights outlined in the consultation document. The response also particularly highlights the implications for the third sector and, where possible, specific implications and roles for NAVCA members.

• Read more information on the consultation
• Read NAVCA’s response to the consultation

For more information on the constitution and its implications contact Jon Burke.

Source NAVCA

IPPR anti-poverty project wants examples

The Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) is launching a new project looking at local-level work to tackle poverty, discrimination and disadvantage, improve job opportunities and protect the environment. As part of their project, they would like to find out more about work currently being done by local organisations across the UK. Their aim is to build up a map showing local-level activity in tackling these problems across the country and to identify examples of best practice. Their survey can be accessed here