Policy Updates & Briefing

The 'Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power'
The White Paper published 9 July 2008
The aim of the white paper, 'Communities in control: real people, real power' is stated as to ‘pass power into the hands of local communities, give control over local decisions and services to a wider pool of active citizens and thus generate a vibrant local democracy in every part of the country.’

The white paper explains the government’s thinking: it believes that communities can take difficult decisions and solve complex problems for themselves and believes that the state's role should be to set national priorities and minimum standards, while providing support and a fair distribution of resources.

Within the white paper there is a repeating emphasis on strengthening representative democracy and restoring peoples faith in politics, especially with an evident and growing disenchantment with the political process throughout the UK.

The white paper addresses seven key areas with respect to empowering communities however note that the white paper looks at empowerment from the perspective of the individual citizen. These seven areas include being active in the community; access to information; having an influence; challenge; redress; standing for office; and ownership and control.

Councils remain central to Local democracy and Government will introduce a new ‘duty to promote democracy’ which will mean councils will help promote political involvement through specified methods, including clearer information, better trained staff and more visible councillors in the community. The existing ‘duty to involve’ on councils will be extended to local people and will come into effect in April 2009, and will cover police authorities and key arts, sporting, cultural and environmental organisations. Other duties on the council are the duty to promote voting which includes working with young people through citizenship lessons. The Local Authority will also have a focus on engaging more people in commissioning local goods and services.

Government will set up an Empowerment Fund of at least £7.5m to support national third sector organizations turn key empowerment proposals into practical action.

White paper themes:
There are several themes to the white paper
· Under ‘Making sure your petitions are heard,’ the white paper details Government’s steps to provide better access to information, including steps to ensure that community petitions are heard and acted on. There will be a new duty on councils to respond to petitions and Councils will also act as community advocate for petitions related to the Primary Care Trust.
· Under the theme ‘Increasing your chances to influence council budgets and policies’ the white paper details how government will increase citizens chances to influence council budgets and policies with ‘Participatory budgeting’ (where citizens help to set local priorities for spending) operating in few local authorities spreading to all councils.

· On the theme of ‘Giving more people more say in their neighbourhoods’, Government is looking at creating more neighbourhood councils particularly in urban areas. Highlighted is Government support for the use of ‘community justice’ which gives local people a chance to decide on the tasks offenders should undertake and Government support for community engagement in planning.

· Under the theme of ‘Giving older and young people a stronger voice’, the white paper talks about steps to engage young people in the political process. There is a youth sector development fund available to support third sector organisations to deliver good quality provision to young people. A review of older people’s engagement with government has also been launched in 2008.

· Under the theme of ‘Enabling local people hold those in power to account’, the visibility of the overview and scrutiny function is to be raised in local government. Also the accountability of local police and health services is set to be increased. The directly elected major model is promoted in the white paper.

· Under the theme of ‘Redress when things go wrong’ the right of the public to complain and seek redress is supported. Local Authorities are instructed on having a system of accessible, interactive contacts for citizens to raise concerns. An extension of ‘community contracts’ is proposed which means priorities are agreed between councils, police or the NHS and local residents. A review into extending redress for citizens will be commissioned and a report is expected early in 2009.

· Under the theme of ‘Making it easier for citizens to stand for office’ the underrepresentation of councillors who are women, who are under 25, and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds is noted. Government has set up a task force chaired by Baroness Uddin to help more black and minority ethnic women become councillors. More powers will be granted to back bench councillors to make changes in their wards. In general the white paper say that government wants people to serve in a range of civic roles and will work to promote this.

· Under the theme of ‘Ownership and Control’ the white paper highlights that government wants to see an increase in the number of people helping to run or own local services and assets, and speaks of its desire to transfer more of such community assets to community ownership with a new Asset Transfer Unit being proposed. Such assets include, community centres, street markets, swimming pools, parks etc.


Further notes
· Government will support people become more active citizens and also volunteer.

· Community led organisations will be supported in their role in empowering local people through a £70m Communitybuilders scheme to help them become more sustainable. Other funds available are the Grassroots Grants, from the Office of the Third Sector, offer small sums of money from an £80m fund, and in addition to the £50m community endowment fund.


· Barriers to commissioning services from faith-based groups are to be removed. A ‘Green Neighbourhood’ scheme has been launched to demonstrate how communities can reduce their carbon footprint.

Down load the full white paper including a summary from
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/886045.pdf





Community Empowerment Fund

In furtherance of the White Paper (Communities in control: real people, real power) objectives, Government is proposing an Empowerment Fund, which will amount to £7.5 million. This will provide support for existing third sector organisations operating across England over three years (2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11) in their role helping local communities turn the proposals in the white paper into practical action. Three areas of consideration for the Empowerment Fund are community leadership, involvement in planning and social enterprise. Of this amount, £1.5m is specifically for community involvement in planning.
Government consulted on the draft prospectus of the Empowerment Fund for 12 weeks (closed 30th September 08). The final prospectus has been published (October 20th) and the deadline for applications to the Empowerment Fund is 17th of November 2008. Selection of successful applications should happen by the end of December 2008.
There are two levels of funding available:

• Level 1 – £600k spread over three years. Organisations applying must be able to demonstrate that their 2007-08 income is £1m or more. 8-12 organisations are expected to be given financial assistance at this level
• Level 2 – £250k spread over three years. Organisations applying must be able to demonstrate that their 2007-08 income is £400k or more.


Download relevant documents

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/empowermentfund




BNRRN Response to the Community Empowerment Fund

BNRRN feels that the conditions placed on applications to the Empowerment Fund unnecessarily disadvantages BME organisations. Even with the lowest funding level available (Level 2), would require an organisation with an annual income of over £400 K. Most BAMER organisations which fall within small to medium size range do not have such an annual income (across the country there are a few that have the level of annual turnover!).

The move of Government to encourage consortium bidding often does not take into consideration the cultural as well as language differences between BAMER groups and in this respect the short time scale also means insufficient time for smaller BAMER groups to put together consortium bids.



The Future of the Compact
The Compact is an agreement between the Government and the voluntary and community sector to improve the way they work together. A Commissioner for the Compact was appointed and is currently considering options for the future of the Compact. Compact Voice would like to hear your views on the Compact. This is a chance to help shape the future of the Compact and ensure it is as relevant and powerful as possible.
For more visit www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/compactquestionnaire before 10 November 2008.