Blogging from Malborough House!

There can be few grander places to sit in a committee meeting than Malborough House ; former home of Queen Mary and now HQ of the Commonwealth . A rather incongruous venue for civil society but then the House is rather like the Commonwealth; grand and historic yet increasingly irrelevant to global communities in a 21st century?

It's my last set of meetings as a member of the Commonwealth civil society committee. We have been debating how to respond to the famous ( or indeed infamous ) report of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group which was quite critical of the future of the Commonwealth without reform. One of their proposals was for a Commonwealth Charter which sets out basic principles that member countries should adhere to , for example on human rights.

This will be fascinating , not least because the next CHOGM will be held in Sri Lanka where the Government are clearly complicit in significant war crimes. And in African countries ( and others) there are still draconian laws , some of which are being strengthened , on homosexuality. it's frustrating being on this committee because it does not really play a major role in Commonwealth debates and tends to be patronised. The value for those of us on the committee is that it is a good network of third sector leaders across the globe. The Commonwealth comprises over 50 nations , large and small , economically strong and very weak. There have been some good leadership exchanges and information exchange to develop infrastructure. But it is small scale and the Commonwealth structures need to make more use of civil society organisations. The example of the UK's third sector - Government relations shows how our sector can make positive contributions to national policy setting. But in some parts of the Commonwealth civil society is at best tolerated and sometimes suppressed.So the role of a civil society committee , with a beacon for citizens and communities is important.


There is consultation on the idea of a Commonwealth Charter and ACEVO will be asking it's own NGO chief execs for their views .

It was good to get to the meeting from the challenge of doing a " webinar" for The NHS On commissioning the third sector. ! I guess I'm just old for this sort of thing. There was some office swearing as I tried to log in. Oh dear...I had to be rescued by my PA Bernadette!


Lots of debate on the question of marriage! I was pleased to hear from Derek McAuley who came to our ACEVO event on Tuesday and who represents the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches was talking of the need for " equal marriage". He is right.

I am very much in favour of Church Leaders speaking out on issues that affect society and our humanity. But I think the language they use should reflect their Christian outlook. I felt Cardinal O' Brien's outburst on this issue was offensive and in danger of encouraging bigotry.

But for lovers of history it is always educative to consider Church pronouncements over the centuries. The Church hierarchy in both the Church of England and the Roman church defended slavery as the natural order of things and condemned those idealistic citizens who campaigned for it's abolition. Later in the 19th century Pope Pious IX issued an encyclical against democracy. Again he argued that extending the vote to the common man was against church teaching. Incredible but true.

It is good that there are Church Leaders , especially from traditions like the jewish and quakers , who can debate this issue without the inflamatory language of the O'Brians and Careys .

The Boat Race

What excellent news a proud Uncle received today! My nephew Julian , currently at Keble College , Oxford has been picked to row in the Isis boat for Oxford in the 128th Cambridge and Oxford University race on April 7th. Here is a photo of Julian ( on the right) practising , or more accurately posing between rowing.

 
Good luck to him! I shall be there cheering him on and , afterwards embarrassing him!

Public Appointments

From the 1st April I am taking up a new part time non exec role as a " Public Appointments Assessor.". Fourteen new Public Appointments Assessors have been appointed by Sir David Normington, Commissioner for Public Appointments. The PAAs will assist him in "upholding the principle of selection on merit in ministerial appointments to public bodies and statutory offices.".


My colleagues and I will take up our appointments on 1st April 2012 and will replace 157 Independent Public Appointments Assessors who operated under the previous system. This is the final building block in the major reform of the system of regulation of public appointments which comes into effect at the beginning of April. The new PAAs will support a new Code of Practice which introduces a lighter-touch, principles-based regulatory regime for public appointments.

Our main task will be to chair the interview panels for quangos. It's part time and not onerous.I am stepping down from my role on the Commonwealth Civil Society Committee in June and will be at my last meeting of the committee this week. And today I'm at a training course for my new role. I have to admit I rather like interviewing and it's a core role for any CEO. Good to see that a number of the new appointments are from the third sector , particularly my old colleague from Leonard Cheshire, John Knight.

I am indebted to search guru and head hunter to the sector stars David Fielding of attenti for pointing out this opportunity. He was himself an independent assessor for public appointments for a decade and told me I should offer myself. Good advice David!

And in case you want to know the full list of the new guardians of public appointments ;

Mark Addison

Sarah Anderson

Sir Stephen Bubb

Cindy Butts

Olivia Grant

Michael Kaltz

John Knight

Sara Nathan

Dame Anne Pringle

Margaret Scott

Amerdeep Somal

Sir Peter Spencer

Rosie Varley

Libby Watkins

Bridges to where?

Always good to celebrate anniversaries. This one for Bridges Venture; although only 10 years it has been a pioneer in social venture capital. A brainchild of a particular hero of mine, Sir Ronnie Cohen, it makes loans to businesses who work in particular areas with high unemployment , with an emphasis on creating local jobs.

Ronnie Cohen is not just the father of venture capital but also the pioneer of using social finance to grow the third sector. He was the driving force behind the Big Society Capital idea and using dormant accounts to create a capital market in the third sector. He is still an evangelist for loans- using the event top rightly castigate foundations for not using their endowments in more imaginative ways that blend loans with grants and use their investments top encourage social business and third sector enterprise.

So it was a fun vent. At St Luke's Church in Old St- a redundant church that now houses rehearsal studios for the LSO. And a rather star studded guest list to hear Al Gore and Evan Davis debate the question " how can capitalism help develop society".

           Evan Davies with Ronnie Cohen

                       Al Gore

It turned out to be a useful event because I bumped into Richard Pelly, the CEO of the European Investment Fund. He is charged with delivering a £100 social innovation fund for the EU. The EIF are a capital intermediary; they make loans to bodies who loan SMEs. So this is a new extension of their role into our sector. Potentially hugely exciting, so we agree to have breakfast and meet up at the Cinnamon Club to plot how both ACEVO and the Social Investment business can help grow this market. It probably means a trip to Brussels to meet the relevant EU Commissioners to talk about our established track record and how that might apply across Europe, especially in creating jobs. The EU needs to move from a total reliance on grants to spread the value of the Social Fund. I can't say trekking to Brussels is a joy!

Then it's back home to an all day session with my Directors Group to discuss forward strategy. Taking time out to reflect on future trends is important amd we have a valuable day, facilitated by strategic guru Seb Elsworth who is currently sojourning at the SIB but he was helpfully back to check up on the progress of his 3 strategic circles.

And I spent the weekend investing in my garden; plants bought from Letchworth Garden City and put out into the splendid Yorkshire pots I bought in Barnsley. An investment in joy for the coming spring...

Speedos, professionals and health!

An interesting day out at the HQ of Pentland, an amazing family firm based in Finchley which you and I know from their ownership, franchising of lots of sports and footwear ( if I mention speedos you know what I mean ). I was meeting the CEO Andy Rubin to talk about how we work together across the private and third sectors and utilise the skills of the private sector in adopting more businesslike approaches in our own industry. He is a trustee of InKind Direct, and the CEO is a long standing member of ACEVO- Robin Boles.

A great lunch- he talked about their own motivating mission, notably; ideas , courage and passion. Ideas that are also a bedrock of what a third sector Leader needs to bring to the task.

I'd started the day meeting with ACEVO members who are part of our professional associations special interest group. One of our ACEVO treasures is the network of some 15 SIGs  covering the interests and passions of our members spheres of work. ACEVO has a large membership in professional bodies like the College of teachers or the health Royal Colleges and membership bodies in sport and arts.

They rightly reminded me that we must always fight the corner of the professionals as well as those of our service delivery charities and social enterprises.

And the evening was a dinner with old friend Liam Byrne MP who was one of those Ministers under Blair who got the value of our sector and who fought for public service reform. Alan Johnston MP, the former Health secretary was a speaker at the dinner. He said that the reforms on choice and competition in health that Labour introduced were good. They improved patient care and choice and competition must have a role to play today in the health service. How good to hear this.

And now I'm off to Cambridge!

Cuts

An interesting weekend; and not just because I was in Barnsley! Someone had leaked ACEVO's analysis of applications to the Transition Fund, which we undertook a year ago for the Cabinet Office. It showed the extent of the cuts and that the biggest cuts were taking place in the most deprived areas. Probably the most accurate analysis of the effect of cuts undertaken. As we had signed a confidentiality clause and the Cabinet Office decided not to publish we were in a difficult position. So I decided not to do press on it and unusually turned down requests!

But I'm glad the Cabinet Office have now decided to publish this. We should all know the extent of cuts and what is happening on the ground. But my recent visits around the country show a varied picture. Some are managing OK. Some growing as they do more work.

But we must keep up the pressure on Government and on local councils. ACEVO will do that.

It was bad news to hear that Steve Hilton is going on a sabbatical. I have got to know Steve and he is a force for good. Backing radical reform in our public services and with a clear understanding of the role that the third sector can play. I have enjoyed my discussions with him. He knows that reforms of public services to give more choice is about empowering citizens and communities. I emailed him to wish him well. I shall keep in touch.

This week will be busy. I'm speaking to Peers and MPs tomorrow breakfast on the Health bill as it reaches the competition clauses. It's time for rational thinking on the role our sector can play.
And finally a pleasant photo from Barnsley. Cannon Hall. Its not all grime and doom in the North!

Newcastle , York and chocolate oranges !

The tour continues. This time with silver jubilee meetings in 2 great cities; Newcastle and York. A range of members from across our very diverse membership. So in York we had John Walker the CEO of the  York Archaeological Trust, Mike Pratt of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Jenny Saunders of the National Energy Association, as well as members from health and welfare, education and advocacy etc.

Interesting to pop into The Minster to see the work they are doing on restoration. It is the biggest restoration project curently underway in Europe. And it is worth noting that this is made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Money from the lottery that will help restore a magnificent piece of our heritage and one that gives comfort to millions of people. So when Mr Muller of the Health Lottery is busy denigrating the lottery for supporting good causes other than health he should remember what brilliant work the national lottery does supporting all good causes.

We met in the chocolate Factory, courtesy of our corporate lawyer partners Dickinson Dees! It was the site of Terry's chocolate orange, now shamefully produced by the wretched american Kraft company - they who cloed Terry's of York. Shame on them. And in fact we met in the very boardroom where the prototype chocolate orange was first presented. Acevo meetings are not just interesting for the people who come but the places we meet. In Newcastle we overlooked the splendid Millennium Bridge and the Baltic Centre ( yet more good lottery money having been used for good effect!).


Being in newcastle I took the opportunity to go to see one of SIB investments; St Oswolds Hospice . Visiting restores your faith in the third sector and the need for the NHS to commission us more. Here we gave a loan to enable building for a therapy centre and a day centre so they can expand their work beyond just providing beds for the final journey. Inspirational staff. Beautiful surroundings and they provide the care and support people need that goes beyond the purely medical. Complimentary therapies , massage and listening that the medical model NHS just don't get or do. The sort of loan that we can be very proud of. Listening to the Report out today from the Commission on old age reminded me that staff attitudes and behaviour is so important.


Skills for Life is a great charity working with people with severe learning difficulties in Newcastle. They provide advice and advocacy but their core role is to empower their clients to demand the services they need (so work on personal budgets but also on how to use your vote and voice in the democratic process). Here our loan developed a splendid building which is both a haven and a resource.


And my visits paid off because last night I was on Newsnight-on a panel to talk about the Health Bill and I was able to make an impassioned plea to commission hospices and the great cancer charities more.

A rather full on week; and today I cap that off with a meeting of my Acevo Trustee Board. How good it is for me as a CEO to have a supportive Board and one so clearly driven by a strategic intent to grow acevo as the voice of the sector's Leaders.