Former Policy and Development Officer at VONNE, left in March 2011.
I leave VONNE today, but before I go I just wanted to say thank you to everyone of you that has made working at VONNE for the last three and a half years an absolute pleasure. Before I go I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. Not just for making my [...]
Increasingly lately I have been asked about my views on the role of volunteers in delivering public services. I guess it is a natural question arising from the Big Society hoopla. Well first thing I want to do is to say the following is my view and not VONNE’s view, my colleagues have a different [...]
11 February 2011 – 6:24 pm
We were having a discussion earlier in the week on the size and scale of the change that is going on at present impacting on the North East. Just from the top of my head I came up with the following list: Local authority budget cuts The Big Society (too many areas to mention individually) [...]
Posted in Big Society, Commissioning and procurement, Communities, Health and wellbeing, In the news, North East economy, Regeneration, Support for sector, Uncategorised, Value of the sector
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Tagged big society, Building Schools for the Future, Coastguard service, floods, Free Schools, GP Commissioning, Local Authority cuts, Local Enterprise Partnerships, National Forests, NHS Reform, public libraries, rising fuel costs, Tax Credits, tuition fees, VAT, welfare reform
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4 February 2011 – 12:36 pm
It’s been an interesting week in the world of the Big Society. Last week representative from the North East’s third sector meet with Ian Leete from the Office of the Civil Society. At that meeting a question was raised whether there would be such animosity to the Big Society, and whether we would embrae the [...]
1 February 2011 – 11:45 am
Yesterday’s ruling at a Newcastle tribunal that the Darlington based charity the 700 Club are liable for the redundancy payments of a number of staff previously employed by the Salvation Army, highlights the potential dangers of many organisations when tendering for and winning contracts, and then dealing with TUPE. TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of [...]
25 January 2011 – 10:55 am
News out today that the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the final quarter of 2010. Although the impact of the weather carries some mitigation, with last week’s announcements of increased unemployment, higher inflation and the cuts in public sector spending due to impact from April, are we at risk of dipping back into recession?
21 January 2011 – 4:02 pm
Today we hosted a meeting with a delegation from the Rauma Street Mission or Rauman Seudun Katulähetysn as they are know in Finland. They were on a learning visit to North East to look at how we support people into employment through activities such as volunteering. The delegation heard from Colette Harrison of the Ouseburn [...]
Posted in European funding, Regeneration, Uncategorised, Value of the sector, Volunteering
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Tagged Employability, Finland, jobcentre plus, Learning, North East, One North East, Partnership, The Ouseburn Trust, the Shaw Trust, value, Volunteering
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20 January 2011 – 4:20 pm
For many in the VCS it is a very challenging time. Staff are being made redundant, demand on services has increased and is expected to rise and available funding has decreased. Today’s news that the Northern Rock Foundation’s funding is likely to be cut and faces an uncertain future will not ease the fears of [...]
17 January 2011 – 2:14 pm
Apparently today is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. So to counter the gloom can I point you in the direction of our colleagues at the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Forum and their Big Society Unplugged event, which featured cartoons by Yorkshire cartoonist Fran. Fran’s cartoons explore the Big Society concept and [...]
5 January 2011 – 11:49 am
In case you missed it, the DWP published the Invitation to Tender (ItT) document for the Work Programme just before Christmas. For more details see the our recent policy article. The nine organisations eligble to compete for the tender in the Norht East will be putting their bids together between now and the tender deadline [...]
