Blue Monday!

Apparently it's the most dismal day of the year - according to The Today programme this morning and it certainly feels it.

I was off in the pouring rain to listen to the PM's speech on health service reform at the RSA. I've already blogged on this, and indeed done a piece for The Telegraph! Of course this reform is controversial. It is a gamble. It takes place in uncertain financial climes. But it could herald a new relationship with our third sector. It is going to happen and so we need to ensure it rolls out in a way that enhances our role to deliver services and promote the voice of patients.

He spoke about the importance of public health and the need for preventative measures in the face of rising problems like growing long term conditions. He spoke of the important and valuable role of charities and social enterprises. He made a point that previous Governments had failed - the Tories because they were too pro private sector and Labour as they were too pro state. What is needed? (I wondered if he would say "a third way" but he didn't!). He says we want more of us involved. We must take up that challenge.

We need to empower citizens and grow the role of our sector.

I asked the PM how he was planning to promote the role of charities and social enterprises in the reforms, as otherwise the private sector may win out. He made clear his strong support for an expanded role and talked of the great work of organisations like Marie Curie and made the killer argument that what patients want is a superb service, nor worrying about who delivers it. He is right.

A very strong performance from Cameron and a powerful speech. It could almost have been Tony Blair speaking!

Health reforms ; put us central stage!

Andrew Lansley’s health reforms go before Parliament next week; a far-reaching upheaval, taking place against the background of the deepest cuts in public spending for 30 years. It is undoubtedly a gamble. But the prize is worth the risk.

The most exciting aspect of these changes is the opportunity for the Third Sector to play a far greater role in delivering health care and promoting the citizen's voice. There is great potential for the creation of new employee-owned organisations and social enterprises and expanding charity delivery of servcies.In 2007/08, the NHS spent just 0.05 per cent of its healthcare budget on voluntary organisations. It is, in other words, a virtually untapped resource waiting to be used. The third sector can compete against the private and statutory sectors, thereby freeing up NHS staff and delivering better care for the public.

But there are many vested interests – principally the health service unions – that will have none of this. They say the reforms are ideologically driven, essentially privatisation by another name. Competition, their argument goes, will benefit the shareholders of multinational private companies and should be opposed by anyone who cares about NHS patients and staff.Of course we all have an interest in arguing for proper funding for our NHS and for protecting it's essential core values of access for all , based on need not wealth. The third sector is a strong supporter of our NHS. We worry that the budgets for our health services ,set against rising demand will cause major problems for the many beneficiaries we serve. But these reforms,if carried out in a way that uses our third sector can make it stronger.

Competition in the NHS means British Red Cross volunteers being able to help more people adapt to life back at home after a lengthy spell in hospital, so preventing the need for readmission. Those who are supported in this way are often aged over 65 and have experienced a fall. Volunteers bring them home, settle them in, advise neighbours or relatives of their return, check on pets, help prepare a meal and make a further home visit the next day to ensure they are safe and well. Such schemes can save the typical NHS commissioner up to £1 million a year.

Competition means an environmental charity like BTCV running more "Green Gyms", which give people a physical work-out while taking part in environmental projects. So far, more than 10,000 people – often referred by their GPs – have taken part in this activity. An evaluation found that the positive impact on mental and physical health, not to mention the acquisition of new skills, means the state saves £153 for every £100 it invests. On top of that, it has a positive impact on local communities and the environment. Do we want less of this, or more? To me – and I suspect most of us – the answer is obvious. The people who rely most on the NHS are the vulnerable, the very people, indeed, who charities were set up to help precisely because they were let down by the status quo.

So if third sector organisations like the Red Cross and BTCV can do a better job then we should let them. We also need charities and community organisations to work more closely with GPs – who will be taking over responsibility for commissioning services - to ensure that they use the third sector more and are aware of what it can offer. These reforms could herald a new and dynamic relationship between local GPs and charities that both deliver good services and act as a powerful voice for patients.I spoke to a group of GPs lat week. They were enthusiastic to develop community leadership , to work with the many health charities and to commission services from us. But let's be c
Ear it will be along and difficult road in making that happen and it poses challenges for our sector and for GPs.

One of the crucial role that third sector bodies play is to represent the people who rely on public services, especially those whose voices are not otherwise heard – the elderly and isolated, the mentally ill, ethnic minority communities - and ensure that the NHS responds to their needs and not just those with sharp elbows. We can promote innovation and quality. The health service unions may ne on the wrong side of this argument; but to make the most of the opportunities Lansley must commit himself to bold and practical reform, He has outlined his plans for more competition to deliver NHS services; now he needs to make that competition fair, tackling hard issues like the distortions created by the tax and pensions systems. Furthermore, he needs to make sure that when GPs take over the commissioning of NHS care, they understand the enormous potential offered by the country’s charities and social enterprises.

These are the issues we need to deal with now to make the NHS properly responsive to the needs of the citizen. The obsession with “privatisation” is yesterday’s debate. Giving the third sector a bigger role is tomorrow's.

VAT- there is hope!

Lunch today with the brilliant Tom Flood, CEO of BTCV and ACEVO board-member. Tom has been a great friend of ACEVO over the years.

There has been a lot of noise in the media of late about VAT and the impact on charities, with Sue Ryder Care pointing out that the VAT rise will cost them over 1 million. Tom’s organization will be hit too, and we ruminated over the many years of campaigning that ACEVO and others have done on the subject. Governments have long known VAT hits our sector unfairly, but none have grasped the nettle and dealt with the problem.

Now however the pressure is growing. The VAT rise will cost us nearly 150 million. But it is also a major impediment to the Government’s public service plans. They want more third sector delivery – but whereas public sector agencies get their VAT rebated from HMT, we get nothing, making us look as if we cost more (in fact, of course, it’s not as if the taxpayer doesn’t pay for the HMT rebate). They want public sector staff to form new independent mutuals and social enterprises – but who in their right mind would if it meant kissing goodbye to a VAT rebate potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds!

So I’ve been raising the volume on this, raising it at every opportunity – not just with Treasury ministers but across the piece. This is not a geeky tax issue. If ministers are interested in public services, they need to be interested in this, as I shall be saying to Francis Maude when I see him tomorrow. And I sense we’re making progress. Tomorrow the treasury will answer a question on charity VAT from Aidan Burley MP in the Commons. I look forward to the response!!

Vote for the bills!

Hazel Blears has tabled a private members bill to increase the ability of our sector to access much needed capital from the banks.
Her private member's bill has cross-party support and MPs from the three main parties have backed a private member's bill designed to increase support from banks for loans to the third sector.

Blears tabled the Banking and Financial Services (Community Investment) Bill late last year, and it is scheduled for its second reading in March.Under the bill, a new as yet unspecified "voluntary mechanism" would be set up to enable banks, building societies and other financial service providers to help community groups by donating money and allowing staff to do more voluntary work.

Blears acknowledged that many banks already supported charities and community groups with donations and employee volunteering. But she said that a formal mechanism to facilitate this would put pressure on them to do more. That is essential. We know from the work of the Social Investment Business that banks are hugely risk averse to third sector organisations. The near banking collapse has made matters worse. A voluntary mechanism, once some banks signed up, others would feel obliged to do the same, it must be right that the bankers who look now like they will receive huge bonuses, should do more to support communities that need help.

Let's hope this Bill gets real support. David Cameron has rightly stressed the need for the banks to recognise their community responsibility. He has urged them to support the Big Society Bank by putting in equity. This is essential. Frankly this Bank will go nowhere unless it can access big capital funds. It needs to be a catalyst to change behaviour in the banking industry.

And talking of private member bills it was a privilege on Wednesday to meet Chris White MP. He came to the Acevo office to meet me and the team and discuss progress on his " social value " bill. This now has Government support for ensuring that public sector commissioning takes account of the social value of potential bids. It is an important bill and we assured Chris that we will brief on his behalf and do what we can to get this through. It is a real tribute to Chris , a new MP, that he may get an important piece of legislation onto the Statute book.

We must support both bills. And wish Chris and Hazel well.

I'm blogging after a successful Acevo AGM which we held in the House of Commons,followed by our annual Parliamentary reception. Francis Maude MP spoke at the reception. I think Francis is one of the most accomplished of the senior Ministers in Government and he has a very clear view about the barriers that stop our sector making progress in delivering more services. And we even had a champagne toast to celebrate my recent Honour ( I got my letter giving me the date of the dubbing today; Windsor Castle,Feb 18 th if you want to come and wave flags! ).

It was a heavy day. We had a meeting of our Faith special interest group today and the Local Government Minister , Andrew Stunnel MP came to speak. It's a group that brings together the large number of Acevo members who work in church charities or church organisations. I rushed from that meeting to an address by the new President of the European Council , Herman von Rompuy Shamelessly I arrived late and still asked a question! I asked him why European institutions ignore the role of civil society organisations and have appalling funding arrangements for them. I suggested it was time for a European Big Society initiative. I'm afraid the answer was not revealing! I'm not sure van Rompuy was particularly up on Big Society. But as someone from a German Foundation said to me afterwards, they don't quite know what it means. An indication that the lack of an effective definition for Big Society