More Red Tape,Just what we need!

I noticed a little exchange in the Commons, which betokens a major potential headache for service delivery charities and social enterprises.

I have written to Justice Minister Simon Hughes MP, urging Ministers not to place undue and unfair burdens on charities with reforms to Freedom of Information (FOI).

A little unnoticed (apart from sharp eyed me!) statement made by the Justice Minister in the House on Tuesday,  said that the FOI code of practice would be changed to bring contractors with the public sector under freedom of information regulations.

While welcoming greater transparency in public service contracting, charities operating in the public interest are already subjected to greater public scrutiny than private firms through the Charity Commission.

I want assurances from the Minister that this must not be the start of a slippery slope towards piling another layer of bureaucracy on charities and social enterprises. We need to be fully consulted in the event of any changes to the FOI code of practice.

Charities and social enterprises are already regulated by the Charity Commission to ensure openness and transparency.  Subjecting them to Freedom of Information red tape on top of everything else would raise prohibitive costs and shut out many important community organisations from delivering public services.

Following the Lobbying Act, charities already have an additional layer of regulation through the electoral commission.  Now, in the course of regulating private firms, the Government must not add a triple-lock on the missions of charities and social enterprises.

What we need is more support in delivering community focused public services, not another obstacle in our way. This is ill thought through and wrong. We must oppose it. Frankly, it's a disgrace that no one bothered to mention this to anyone in our sector. You can imagine my tart remarks to our civil society Minister!

ACEVO research shows ‘Charity Safety Net Stretched to Breaking Point’

We launched the results from our first Social Sector Tracker survey on Friday. The results showed that communities face a crisis point in the ability of local services to keep pace with rising levels of need in society.

 

88% of charities surveyed experienced a rise in demand for their services in the last year, and 89% envisaged that demand rising again next year. But less than a third – only 32% – felt that they would be able to meet this demand.

Charities experienced rising costs over the past year, with 72% stating that commercial costs had increased and 80% experiencing rising direct costs across the board.

Crucially, 61% argued that central government policy had a damaging impact on their work.

The survey findings reveal that these effects would not just be felt by service users but by the wider economy and job market. 70% of charities surveyed bought and sold locally and 74% offered volunteers the opportunities to become paid staff. 69% provided paid entry-level jobs.

More and more, our citizens have come to depend upon charities in the wake of severe issues with our welfare services. Charities have been overwhelmed by the demand for their services. They have steadfastly refused to reduce service levels and absorbed rising costs. But now something has to give.

The charity safety net is being stretched to breaking point. Vital charities which include food banks, suppliers of clothing and other services to the most vulnerable, face a ‘perfect storm’ of rising demand for their services, rising costs and reduced funding. If charities were to go under or cut services, this would represent a serious risk not only to users to services, but to local economies too. Charities are not only providers but also repositories of growth.

Government cutbacks to charity support and infrastructure have placed many charities in serious jeopardy while at the same time the Government is asking them to do more in order to support our welfare state. If as a society we fall off this cliff-edge, millions of vulnerable people will suffer.

Click here to read an in depth analysis of the results. 

Furniture Reuse and Tony Benn.

In Nottingham yesterday (Eastwood to be precise; the birthplace of DH Lawrence) for the 25th anniversary conference of the Furniture Reuse Network. A brilliant organisation that takes beds, sofas and various white goods that people are discarding and puts them back into reuse by those unable to afford these things. It’s like the food banks, but instead of supplying things to eat, it supplies the means of cooking it.

My old Brixton friend Matthew Thomson used to be the CEO. Now he runs the great ’Fifteen' social enterprise and restaurant, down in Cornwall. Craig Anderson is the CEO now taking the organisation forward. An active ACEVO member, he argues for professionalism in our approach to fulfilling our mission, and is charting a strong course for the network.

Furniture re-use is big business now; not surprisingly the recession has seen a big rise in demand, making the Network ever more relevant. I'd been asked to give the opening keynote address alongside Eric Pickles MP. Eric was good - I've known him for decades, since his time as Leader of Bradford. I was able to pay tribute to him for pioneering the Localism Act. I chided the sector for not making extensive use of the Rights clauses of the Act: the right to challenge, to acquire assets, etc. And we still have not fully used the Social Value Act to challenge commissioners.

I spoke on the theme of optimism. Though there are many reasons to be depressed, there are also major opportunities for our sector to deliver better services and to use our voice to challenge and advocate for our beneficiaries. I talked of our proud history of "voice and choice". And I'm afraid I had to chide Eric for the Lobbying Act, which has hardly anything to do with lobbying, and a lot to do with gagging campaigning charities. I said although ACEVO and our friends had secured much change - perhaps we got as much as 70% of what we want - a third sector leader should never be satisfied unless they have got 100%.

I talked about sorting commissioning. Council officials and civil servants have not been terribly good at drafting contracts, and the private sector has got away with serious failing. A handful of big firms mop up most of the cash, as I said in my recent letter to the PM.

The Government needs to "get its house in order”, to ensure the contracting-out of public services to private providers is subject to proper scrutiny and provides value for taxpayers, MPs have warned. Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge said recent outsourcing failures involving firms such as G4S and Serco had exposed "serious weaknesses" in the Government's management of private contracts. Her committee recommended extending FoI legislation to cover the contracts.

Of course this would also mean we were covered too. I'm not sure extending the legislation is a good idea. It would be time-consuming and bureaucratic. But we will need to be more open on contract matters I suspect.

Richard Johnson, former MD of Serco and an adviser to ACEVO, told Today: “if your strongest motivation is to secure the cheapest possible price, you are ultimately going to be driven to the largest contractors".

Last but not least, it was very sad to wake to the new of the death of Tony Benn. When I moved to London in 1976 I lived in Notting Hill for a number of years, and got to know the Benns well. Tony's wife Caroline was the Chair of Holland Park Governors, where I was also a governor for a while. So I used to go round to their place; their eldest son Stephen is an exact contemporary of mine. And I kept in touch.

I used to debate with Tony about public service reform, though I’m afraid he had the view that public services were the role of the State and charities were at the margins. I even asked him to debate the issue at one of our ACEVO CEO Summits. He was brilliant and had the audience in the palm of his hand. I've heard him speak on many occasions. It was always a privilege. And his courtesy in debate would always win him admirers. His writing was a joy. He will be missed.