Click here to view the latest edition of the Learning Lincs News and Training Bulletin.

Lincolnshire County Council - The Positive Activities Development fund:

• available to providers who are community groups, charities, voluntary management groups and social enterprises
• should support the development of an infrastructure organisation (gaining charitable org status, social enterprise, etc.), with the purpose of managing and developing community based positive activities from within an existing youth centre operated by LCC Children’s Services 
• fund up to the value of £10,000 per application
• applications are welcome until 31st March 2012
• stakeholder events taking place in February:

Future planned meetings:

Skellingthorpe 16th February

Sleaford 26th January

Waddington 6th February

 

Please contact Sue Cline for more information:

Sue Cline, Project Manager 

Lincoln and North Kesteven Children's Services

Lincolnshire County Council

West Area Youth Office,

76 Hemswell Avenue,

Lincoln,

LN6 0AZ

Tel: 01522 555522

Email: sue.cline@lincolnshire.gov.uk

 

Positive Activities Development fund Overview

Positive Activities Development fund PA Statements

Positive Activities Development fund App Form

The new Community First endowment, which aims to raise £150 million to be invested to secure the future of local community projects in England, has been launched by Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society today.
The Government will pay in up to £50 million, giving 50p for every £1 raised from individual, corporate and philanthropic donors. With Gift Aid tax relief, this will create a pot worth in excess of £150 million. The money will be invested and the return, expected to be up to £12 million per year, will be used to provide grants to local community and social action projects from 2015 onwards.

More information is available from the Cabinet Office website

Click here to view the latest courses available from the Pelican Trust.  Courses range from Food and Nutritition to Basic First Aid and Communication Skills.

They are also offering Literacy and Numeracy courses leading to qualifications.  The programme has been designed to provide adults with key skills.  For more information contact Carol Wilson on 01522 513533 or email carol@pelicantrust.org

The Big Lottery Fund has launched a nationwide discussion asking voluntary sector and social enterprise managers, working in frontline, infrastructure support and development organisations, how they think funding should be used to develop support for the VCS and social enterprises.

BIG - Building capabilities for impact and legacy: Discussion Paper Dec 2011

 

The paper includes a number of questions, which you can respond to through the online survey
http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/building_capabilities

 

You will be able to respond to these questions between now and 15th March 2012. A revised paper will be published after this time, setting out more details of BIG's plans for funding.

 

The European Commission has approved the use of up to £400m from dormant bank accounts to set up Big Society Capital.

Commission vice president Joaquín Almunia, in charge of competition policy, said: "The commitments and safeguards put in place by the UK ensure that state aid linked to this innovative project in the social sector remains well-targeted and does not result in undue distortions of competition."

A spokesman for Big Society Capital (BSC) said the European Commission's approval under EU state aid rules had been given much faster than expected, and the move reflected how engaged Brussels is with social investment.
It was feared that a decision from the Commission could take up to 18 months, resulting in a delay in properly setting up BSC, which is currently making social investments through an interim committee within the Big Lottery Fund.

BSC is still seeking FSA authorisation, and plans to be open for business in the first quarter of next year.

The European Commission’s approval of BSC will last five years. An increase of the initial capitalisation of BSC through dormant account money beyond £400m, and any increase of BSC’s total balance sheet beyond £600m, will need to be notified to the Commission.

The House of Commons Public Administartion Committee has released a report calling for more coherence in the delivery of the Big Society. The report seems to be attracting a lot of attention. The Daily Telegraph said:

It might be a badly chosen phrase, but the Big Society has the power to transform much of Britain. We have a state currently spending over half of GDP. This has squeezed out meaningful activity by individuals and communities. If we want to see vibrant grassroots activity, fuelled by strong family and neighbourhood connections, we must give people a reason to develop those connections. We cannot simply sit back and expect to see these community links built on their own.

You can find the report at parliament.co.uk

Tackling Fuel Poverty in Lincolnshire

Fuel poverty is an issue of national and local importance and a group of seven Lincolnshire County Councillors is examining how best to tackle fuel poverty in Lincolnshire. When the review is completed, a final report with recommendations will be produced. These recommendations will then be considered by the decision makers at the County Council and it is hoped that they will support any recommendations the group make.

One of the main aims of the review is to investigate current initiatives to tackle fuel poverty in Lincolnshire. The group would very much like to hear from any organisations in Lincolnshire that work with those who are in fuel poverty, whether by offering advice or support to individuals or by providing practical assistance through home improvements. For further detail about the review please see the attached Scoping Document. If you are interested in being involved in this review please contact Liz Jones, Scrutiny Officer on 01522 552102 or email liz.jones@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Tackling fuel poverty in Lincolnshire - Scoping doc

Dear Colleagues

Since July 2011 and the publication of the JSNA Overview Report, work has been ongoing on developing the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy based on the 5 priority areas and you may have already been involved in these discussions. Also the Lincolnshire Research Observatory has continued to support and update the data sets and commentaries for the topic areas within the JSNA.

 

We, therefore, wish to give you an opportunity to discuss the progress made so far, and consider what future resources and information we need to help us achieve not only our aims and objectives, but also understand the full spectrum of health and wellbeing needs for the population of Lincolnshire. Hence, we have arranged for two workshops to take place and hope you will be able to join us at either one of these events:

Monday 23rd January 2012 at 13.30 – 16.30 hrs in the Boston Conference Centre

Wednesday 22nd February 2012 at 9.30 - 13.00 hrs in the Weston Rooms, Gainsborough

 

We will send an agenda shortly, but in the meantime we would be very grateful if you could please hold either of these dates in your diary and pass this email on to colleagues who have not been involved in the JSNA before.

We look forward to contacting you again shortly with a formal invite and some more details. If you need any further information please contact Fay Smith by return email or on the contact details below. (Please note the change of address and email as we have now been re-located to Lincolnshire County Council premises)

 

With kind regards

Fay Smith Business Project Officer

Performance Team

Public Health Directorate

Orchard House

Orchard Street

Lincoln

LN1 1BA

Tel: 01522 552273

Email: fayv.smith@nhs.net

Voluntary Centre Services have created a new training and events programme for January- March 2012.

As well as voluntary sector Forum events, the programme includes workshops on funding, managing volunteers, first aid and the roles/responsibilities of management committees.

View the full programme on the Volunteer Centres Lincolnshire Events page or on the Voluntary Centre Services website.

To request a pdf copy of the Events Bulletin or be added to the mailing list for future bulletins, email VCS North Kesteven.

 

 

The Big Society is still on the Government's agenda but it might be called something else. At least that's the view of Rosie Niven in The Guardian. Rosie notes that the Government is scaling back the use of the expression but remains convinced of its value. You can find out more on the Guardian's website.

The winners of this year’s Compact Awards have been announced at a ceremony at HM Treasury. The ceremony was run in partnership by Compact Voice and the Office for Civil Society.

The Compact Awards recognise excellent partnership working taking place between local and national government and the voluntary and community sector.

Read more on the Compact Voice website.

 

South Holland District Council is using online crowd-sourcing techniques to gather ideas for improving local communities. Anyone living or working in South Holland can contribute to the discussion on the SHDC website. Not only can you add your own ideas but you also get the chance to comment on those submitted by other visitors.

New planning powers included in the neighbourhood planning process have been published for consultation. The Government hopes that these powers will allow local communities to shape their own environment. An easy to understand guide to neighbourhood planning has also been published to make it easier for communities to use the new powers.

 
Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said:

"For the first time local people will have a real voice in deciding the look and feel of development in their area through Neighbourhood Planning.
"Communities will be able to shape their own vision for the future as they see fit. They will be able to protect what makes their town or village special, including green spaces, and have their say on the design and location of new homes.
"There has been real enthusiasm across the country to test out Neighbourhood Planning and today’s consultation is the next step in preparing the ground before the powers become widely available.”
The closing date for comments on the proposed regulations is 5 January 2012

Would you be interested in becoming a volunteer FREE Village Energy Adviser? With training to carry our home assessments as part of a national project?

If you would like to know how to get involved click here for details of a training session being held in November and how to get involved.

Involving Lincs Consortium is seeking your views around support for Voluntary and Community Organisations In Lincolnshire.

Please complete the short online questionnaire by clicking here

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/25R7ZDK

 

Responses need to be given by Monday 17th October at 9am. Any responses submitted after this point will not be recorded.

We would appreciate if you would forward this information to your service users and contacts, as their input is valuable to us.

 

Thank you!

Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive of Big Society Capital says that the new bank will bring in £3 billion by 2015. O’Donohoe, who was speaking at the J.P. Morgan Charities Seminar 2011, said Big Society Capital (BSC) would insist on social impact and a multiplier effect from its investments, with other money coming in on all deals.
O’Donohoe said its plan to get £4 for every £1 it invests from its starting point of £600m in capital would bring £3bn to the sector by 2015.
During his speech Mr O'Donohoe said BSC was likely to invest in all imminent new social impact bond initiatives.
You can read more here.

The Big Society Network has announced a new programme in partnership with the Nominet Trust and Nesta to promote technology-enabled philanthropy.

Spring is an online research and collaboration centre which will look at how technology is being used to promote giving and then establish the best way forward to increase it. More information is available from the civilsociety website

For the latest news regarding Big Society please click here Big Society Newsletter September 2011

A new autumn series of workshops for voluntary and community organisations has been launched by Voluntary Centre Services.

Workshop topics include funding, managing volunteers and setting up a new community organisation. For details, check out the Events calendar, or go direct to the Events page on the Voluntary Centre Services website.

Workshops will be run in Gainsborough, Sleaford and Lincoln.