Out of Westminster
August 2009
In the dash before the summer recess, a flurry of government reports and initiatives were announce, including:
The big picture. This was revealed in the form of the report, Building Britain’s Future on 29 June 2009. Initiatives include ensuring all young people give 50 hours of service to their community during their teenage years, a £1bn ‘Future Jobs Fund’ to provide 100,000 jobs for young people and a further 100,000 jobs in areas of high unemployment, and investment of £1.5bn to develop 20,000 new ‘affordable’ homes. Jon Sibson, head of government and public sector at auditors PWC commented: ‘The language has changed from targets to entitlements but expectations of service levels are still being nudged upwards. This will be a challenge for public sector leaders in a tightening fiscal environment. They will need to think about how to redesign services, and to make savings in the back office, to deliver more for less’.
www.hmg.gov.uk/buildingbritainsfuture.aspx
Access to finance. A 12-week consultation into the design and functions of a Social Investment Wholesale Bank (SWIB) was launched on 15 July 2009. If the response is positive, a new breed of financial institution could be emerging – a bank with the primary purpose of investing in society, the environment and the economy. Stuart Etherington, NCVO boss commented that while this was an important step forward, financing and capitalising were fundamental issues. ‘A properly designed and funded Social Investment Bank will provide a range of funding options for existing social investment retailers. This will have far reaching positive outcomes for community cohesion and well being,’ he said. Responses have to be in by 7 October 2009.
The care time bomb. The care sector is receiving a particular focus in the light of the government’s Big Care Debate, launched on 14 July following its green paper Shaping the Future of Care Together. Health Secretary Andy Burnham has said: ‘We are proposing a radical reform of care – this is the vision for a National Care Service. More of us are living longer – life expectancy is going up and advances in medical science mean that people with a disability are living longer. This is worth celebrating but does mean we need to radically change the way care is provided and paid for.’
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from Cass Business School. She has been one of the judges for the non-profit category of the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Excellence in Marketing Awards for the second year running.
She has also acted as clerk to the trustees of a small almshouses charity and as a member nominated trustee to a pension scheme of a multinational publishing company.
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