The Welsh Assembly Government has re-affirmed its commitment to the Partnership Agreement designed to strengthen its relationship with the third sector. Third Sector magazine reports that the document, signed recently (26th June) with representatives of Wales Council for Voluntary Action and County Voluntary Councils, commits the government to five-year funding and pledges that the umbrella bodies will provide infrastructure support to charities and voluntary organisations across Wales.

WAG news item http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/presreleasearchive/2346744/?lang=en, Third Sector http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/824364/ (registration required).

An NHS Wales Volunteering Network, to bring together people interested in volunteering in hospitals and in the local community with staff to identify opportunities, has been launched this week (30th June). A partnership between the Welsh Assembly Government, NHS and WCVA, it “will ensure a uniform approach to volunteering across Wales with the sharing of best practice”. News item.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews, has declared that he is “committed to implementing the findings of the Quirk review in Wales”, which called for more community ownership of public buildings, “across all of Wales not just the most populated towns and cities”. He hopes to make a further announcement in the autumn on establishing a community asset fund to help to make the buildings fit for purpose. News item at http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/presreleasearchive/2321519/?lang=en.

The Deputy Minister has also announced a “new fund to boost community regeneration” of at least £25 million over the next three years. This should have a sharper focus than previous Communities First funds on stimulating practical improvements to tackle poverty, contribute to wider regeneration initiatives and improving employability. See http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/presreleasearchive/2315902/?lang=en.

A new Third Sector Capacity Building Programme covering waste and resource management has been funded by WRAP, the government’s waste-reduction body. Run by a new CIC (community interest company), REconomy, the scheme has five strands of Organisational Development, Market Development, Networking and Training, Investment for Growth, Projects. REconomy has been set up by a partnership of four networks: Community Recycling Network UK, Furniture Reuse Network, Community Composting Network and London Community Recycling Network. See http://reconomy.org.uk/programme, or the WRAP news item at http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/news/wrap_joins_forces.html.

The Minister for the Environment in the Welsh Assembly has also announced £3 million over the next three years towards the ‘Cylch Capacity Building Investment Fund’. This will provide strategic support for Welsh community re-use and recycling enterprises that need help to grow their business operations. CRN Scotland news item.

Worth noting in this context is that community interest company ECT Recycling has just been bought by private company May Gurney from the ECT Group (which runs Ealing Community Transport). Third Sector reports that the CIC Regulator (http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk) has said that it would be monitoring the deal, presumably because there are restrictions on asset transfers by CICs (http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/815634/, registration required)

The CREATE Consortium wants a change to the benefits system, to enable community organisations to pay people to do work that strengthens their neighbourhood without it affecting any of their benefits. The Community Allowance would help tackle the benefits trap and be a regeneration tool too.

The Consortium aims to run pilots in each English region, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. More at http://www.communityallowance.org, including a chance to back the idea. Note that the site requires cookies to work properly.

The Communities and Culture Committee of the National Assembly for Wales has published the results of its inquiry into funding for the voluntary sector (from self-help groups to community enterprises).

It doesn’t call for additional funding but rather wants improved access to information, such as a web-based portal, and less bureaucracy with clearer forms and a review of funding criteria.

Assembly news item, or download ‘The Funding of Voluntary Sector Organisations in Wales’, pdf format 777KB, from http://www.assemblywales.org/voluntary_sector_report_eng.pdf.

The national Heritage Open Days event sees buildings across England, old and modern, that are usually closed to the public or that would normally charge, throw their doors wide. This year it runs 11th to 14th September. It is co-ordinated nationally by the Civic Trust, with support from English Heritage, and thrives on the enthusiasm and expertise of local people.

If your organisation wants to take part, see http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk. There are similar but separate events in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and London - http://www.heritagedays.net.

E-democracy seems to be flavour of the month.
– The National Assembly for Wales has set up an e-petition system, enabling the creation and collection of petitions online, http://www.assemblywales.org/gethome/e-petitions.htm. This is one of a number of ‘enhanced e-democracy services’ launched last week (15th April), including online forums for committee inquiries. News item.

– The Procedure Committee of the House of Commons has recommended that it should reclaim the role of receiving and responding to public petitions for the internet age. This would reflect the historic right of every commoner to prepare and present petitions to the House. The report, with links to sample web pages, news item on Kable.

Organisations in Wales can now apply for financial support to visit another group to learn directly of experiences and key issues when aiming to achieve financial sustainability. Case studies of such efforts have been the most popular resource downloads from Sustainable Funding Cymru’s web site to date.

The ‘Be Informed’ fund is managed by WCVA - applications by 30th June, with money to be spent by 5th December. See news item at http://www.wcva.org.uk/news/dsp_news.cfm?newsid=1099.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published ‘Community empowerment in practice: lessons from Communities First’.

An examination of a community-based programme in Wales that aims to increase opportunities for community empowerment and potential influence over service providers. http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/2195.asp.

The Welsh Assembly government is consulting on ‘Designed to Add Value - a third dimension’, setting out ‘A Strategic Direction for the Voluntary and Community Sector in supporting Health and Social Care’.

Responses by 5th May, documents in Welsh or English.

Health and safety advice for businesses in Wales with between 5 and 250 employees is available from Workboost Wales. This is running as a pilot from this month (March 2008) to March 2009.

See http://www.workboostwales.org.uk.

Community Enterprise Wales has warned a Welsh Assembly committee that European funding rules could threaten experienced organisations which support social enterprises in Wales. New Start magazine news item.