Social Audit Network has produced ‘Really Telling Accounts’, a report on a Social Accounting and Audit Research Project.

This explores to what extent social accounting and audit has been used by social economy organisations in the North East of England, Cumbria, Merseyside and Scotland, and includes a set of recommendations. Available as a pdf, 767KB - note that the links to appendices don’t work.

This will also be part of the SAN conference on 7th November in Edinburgh, http://www.socialauditnetwork.org.uk/PAGE1text.htm.

voluntaryskills.com, the web site providing information on third sector skills and training in North East England, has expanded its area to include the North West, http://www.voluntaryskills.com.

The results of the North East Third Sector Skills Survey 2007-2008 have been published by the PNE Group.

Full report or executive summary from http://www.voluntaryskills.com/skillssurvey.

Third Sector National Learning Alliance, a new body set up to represent the views of third sector learning providers, is aiming to compile a collective response to the government’s consultation ‘Informal Adult Learning - Shaping the Way Ahead’.

They want responses by 21st April, but there are also three events taking place in Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle. See http://www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=12392.

Note: TSNLA is due to have its own web site soon.

A survey to identify current ICT training needs and barriers to learning for the voluntary sector in north east England is being carried out by voluntaryskills.com, which will help develop future training and support programmes in the region.

It can be completed online, at http://www.voluntaryskills.com/ictsurvey, or phone 0191 261 6009 - there is a draw for £20 worth of shopping vouchers.

Closing date 3rd March.

Anyone who wants to influence future training provision for the third sector in the North East of England should head over to the Skills Survey 2007/2008 at http://www.voluntaryskills.com/survey/survey.php?sid=30 by 7th December.

A collaboration between 3 north of England universities has resulted in the Northern Leadership Academy. The new web site has a section developed with Greater Merseyside ChangeUp specifically for voluntary and community organisations of all sizes. There’s an interesting range of audio clips, and content should develop further.

One resource highlighted in their one page newsletter: Positive Deviance Initiative, an American project based on “the premise that solutions to community problems already exist within the community.” It aims to document and share information on current and new projects. http://www.positivedeviance.org.

The Partnership Improvement Programme (PIP) put together by the local government Improvement and Development Agency aims to improve partnerships between local voluntary organisations and local authorities, bringing together senior staff from both sides. It is to operate in three regions this year, starting in the North East last week and moving on to London and the North West.

Funding is provided by Capacitybuilders and Office of the Third Sector. http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=6566351. Institute for Voluntary Action Research on pilot projects: http://www.ivar.org.uk/Capacity_building/projects.shtml.

The Northern Rock Foundation is planning to invest £750,000 over seven years in research into the scale, contribution and dynamics of the voluntary and community sector in North East England and Cumbria.

An advisory group, chaired by Cathy Pharoah, has been established and the invite to tender for the research will be published on their web site at noon on 4th May.

See http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk for news update. (Source: VSSN list)

Community Accounting are to open an office in the Ashington area in February. This is in addition to the three offices currently providing accountancy services specifically for the community/voluntary sector in the North East.

The organisation is staffed by fully qualified accountants who specialise in the preparation of charity accounts.  Other support include:- Financial Risk Assessment, Problem Solving, Cashflow Management, Financial System Design & implementation, Financial Audits and Annual Accounts.

Contact Telephone Numbers:-
Durham 0191 3841054 Chester le Street 0191 3874469 Sunderland 0191 5660971 email community_accounting@yahoo.co.uk

Ofcom has published dates for the next two sets of its regional approach to the second round of Community Radio Licensing.

The North and North East England (including North Yorkshire) opened last week (3rd January), running to 27th March, and West and South Yorkshire and the Humber is open from 4th April to 26th June.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/tlproc/.

(Info from Community Media Association)

The first Regional Compact in the North East was celebrated in a signing ceremony on 23rd November, heralding “a new era of cooperation between the public and voluntary and community sector” in the region.

News release at http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=245047&NewsAreaID=2.