NCVO backs the Sustainable Communities Bill

Wednesday, 25, Apr 2007 12:00

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has given its backing to the Sustainable Communities Bill, the private members bill that aims to reform local government by empowering local people to make their own decisions and to drive policies on sustainable communities.

The Bill places a duty on central government to produce a 'community action plan' in order to promote sustainable communities. NCVO is therefore supporting Clause 3 of the Bill, which will ensure that local councils seek the views of their local communities before feeding into these action plans. This is an important mechanism to make the rhetoric of ‘double devolution’ a reality.

NCVO is now working with Local Works, the campaign coalition for the Bill, to strengthen the Clause. In particular, NCVO is proposing an amendment that would ensure that non-statutory partners, such as charities, voluntary organisations and community groups, are specifically involved in this process.

The amendment follows the same approach that NCVO has taken with the Local Government Bill. NCVO continues to lobby on the Local Government Bill and is pressing for a statutory duty on local authorities to engage effectively with non-statutory partners.

Liz Atkins, Director of Public Policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), said: “NCVO’s lobbying on both the Local Government White Paper and Local Government Bill has secured important recognition from the Government of the role that voluntary and community organisations play in their local communities.”

“The Sustainable Communities Bill provides another important opportunity to create strong and prosperous local communities, devolve power and take a step towards ‘bottom up’ policy making. It complements many of the provisions in the Local Government Bill and NCVO will continue to argue that voluntary and community organisations’ should be central to the transformation of local government as both Bills progress through Parliament.”

The Sustainable Communities Bill was introduced by Conservative MP, Nick Hurd. It has the support of over 400 MPs, including over half of all Labour MPs and all Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs. It has 15,000 individual supporters, the support of over 1,000 councils and support from a range of voluntary and community organisations, including Age Concern, Friends of the Earth and Shelter.

The Bill is currently in its Committee Stage in the House of Commons and will be considered on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th April. The Sustainable Communities Bill can be found at: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills/200607/sustainable_communities.htm

Notes to editors:

• Local Works is the coalition campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. We have one aim and one aim only, to see the Sustainable Communities Bill go through parliament and become law. www.localworks.org

• The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) www.ncvo-vol.org.uk is the umbrella body for the voluntary sector in England, with sister councils in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. NCVO has a growing membership of over 5,000 voluntary organisations, ranging from large national bodies to community groups, volunteer bureaux, and development agencies working at a local level.

• National Leadership Conference - Collaborate to compete. Developing leadership skills in a complex world is a conference hosted by the Leadership Centre. It will bring together leaders, providers and funders who are working in a variety of capacities within the third sector, and who share a common objective of promoting and facilitating leadership and workforce development. It will be held on May 15th at Vinopolis, London, with a keynote speech from Sir Digby Jones. The conference will also be supported by 10 regional leadership forums taking place between April and June 2007. For more information go to www.thirdsectorleadership.org.uk

• NCVO Third Sector Foresight and the ICT Hub are launching the report “ICT Foresight: how online communities can make the net work for the VCS”. The report highlights how the internet is impacting on the relationships that individuals have with each other and with organisations, presenting strategic opportunities and challenges for voluntary and community organisations in the following six areas: membership; information and advice; transparency; collaboration; fundraising; marketing and communication. The report will be free to download at www.ncvo-vol.org.uk and www.icthub.org.uk.

• NCVO has announced a new working partnership with CaSE (Charity and Social Enterprise Insurance Management) to address the issue of insurance for voluntary and community organisations. CaSE is a new limited liability partnership that has been established to address the needs of the voluntary sector and provide tailored, competitively priced insurance products. Insurance is a major issue for voluntary and community organisations and one that they need straightforward, clear and cost-effective advice and support on. NCVO will be promoting the CaSE products to its members and the wider voluntary sector. For more information go to www.caseinsurance.co.uk