2017 General Election: What can the next Government do to support charities?

The next government has a big role to play in supporting the VCSE sector, volunteers, and catalysing wider change in the country. NCVO have published a manifesto with five key asks from the next Government. They are:

Making it easier and more rewarding for people to volunteer

• Allowing employers time off work for volunteering
• Providing a support fund to address barriers to volunteering for people with disabilities.
• Recognise the difference that volunteers make to their communities
• Strengthening volunteer development and management

Supporting local communities for a generation to come

• Create income-generating endowment funds
• Put more assets in community ownership

Facilitating charities and volunteers to support our public services

• Services such as the NHS should be asked to set targets for the management and development of volunteering
• Senior public service leaders should be asked to become volunteering champions - raising greater awareness

Enabling people to develop their skills and employment opportunities

• Replace European Union programmes that help people get back to work
• Make it easier for unemployed people looking for work to volunteer

Giving everybody a stake in post-Brexit Britain

• Ensure the right to stay of EU national is resolved without delay
• Simple and effective visa requirements should be put in place to enable people from overseas.
• In the voluntary sector alone, around 5% of staff are non-UK EEA nationals, with this proportion increasing at a higher rate in recent years than the private or public sectors

““Over the next few weeks, people across our country will be talking about their vision of what a good society looks like, what a more social economy looks like, and what post-Brexit Britain looks like. Our message to candidates from all political parties is that this is a good time to think about how we can support and encourage the people and charities who want to help in their communities.””

— Karl Wilding, Director for Public Policy and Volunteering at NCVO

These five areas all draw upon the idea of the next government acting as an enabler for the sector to develop and flourish even further. Charities and volunteers across the country and in all communities are already making a difference to people’s lives and changing things for the better. With the right support and opportunities, they can do even more.

For further details, NCVO's full manifesto is available here.

Ground-breaking scheme aims to sign up 20,000 ‘cancer champions’ to save lives

A new movement bringing together 20,000 ‘cancer champions’ to step up the fight against cancer across Greater Manchester is calling for people to get involved.  Cancer champions use their experience, knowledge and passion to support those at risk of developing cancer and those recently diagnosed with the disease. You can get involved by signing up here.

Cancer survival rates are improving across Greater Manchester. In 2000, the chance of surviving a year after diagnosis in Greater Manchester was 58 per cent. The gap has closed in recent years and the survival rate in 2013 stood at 69.9 per cent, just under the national average. The aim for Greater Manchester is to increase that rate to 75 per cent or higher by 2020.

However, there is still a lot to do. Although survival rates are up, due to our ageing population the number of people being diagnosed with cancer in Greater Manchester is growing. In 2014, 14,500 people were diagnosed with cancer, compared with 13,600 in 2011. In 2013, 6,700 died from the disease.

But we are in a better position to fight cancer than ever before. We know that up to 40 per cent of cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes. We also know that cancers that have been diagnosed at an early stage, before they have had the chance to get too big or spread, are more likely to be treated successfully. This new initiative aims to help support people take charge of their own health and wellbeing, and help those with cancer get diagnosed and treated earlier.

A wide range of voluntary sector organisations are working together to lead this work, funded and coordinated by Greater Manchester Vanguard Innovation, part of Greater Manchester Cancer, the cancer programme of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, and also jointly funded by NHS England. 

The work focuses on supporting new and existing cancer champions who will get involved in their local communities. They will share messages that will help reduce adult smoking rates and other unhealthy behaviours that increase a person’s risk of getting cancer, prevent avoidable cancer deaths by encouraging people to take up cancer screening invitations or go to their GP if they have symptoms they are worried about. They will also get feedback from people to help improve patients’ experience of cancer treatment and care.

Cancer champion Gilbert Morgan, who was given the all-clear from prostate cancer in 2014, said: ‘It’s easy to get involved and it’s very rewarding to be able to help people look after themselves.’

‘I’ve been a cancer champion for a couple of years now and it’s a great way of raising people’s awareness because the people you are talking to know and trust you.’

‘You don’t need any skills, qualifications or any special knowledge of cancer to be a cancer champion. It’s about real people talking to real people, and it really does make a difference.’

As a cancer champion, you can become involved in a very wide range of activities, including:

• Becoming a volunteer with a local community group to get more people talking about how to prevent cancer
• Using your experiences to talk about cancer prevention, even just with friends and family
• Visiting events and communities to find new ways to talk about cancer prevention

If this sounds like something you would like to get involved in, something you are doing and want to connect to others, and you want to help save lives, sign up by visiting our cancer champion sign up page. It’s free, you can do it in your spare time and training opportunities will be made available.

Lord Peter Smith, Chair of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Board said:

‘Devolution in Greater Manchester has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to undertake this pioneering work on a scale that has not been attempted before.’

‘I’m delighted that so many volunteers are getting involved and using their personal experiences to engage others. This is another example of Greater Manchester leading the way in adopting new approaches to critical health issues.’

Jane Pilkington, Deputy Director of Population Health at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and Vanguard Innovation Prevention Lead, said:

‘We are very excited about this programme. We plan to connect and support the energy of groups of people across the community to make our cancer champions movement a success. Eventually it will develop its own momentum and we are confident that, as a result, we will see continued improvements in cancer outcomes and care for the people of Greater Manchester.’

Government responds to letter from charities regarding the Lobbying Act

After over forty organisations, including VSNW, Children England, NCVO, and NAVCA, wrote to the Minister for Civil Society to express worries over the effect of the 2014 Lobbying Act on charities' activity, the Government has responded. The letter says the Government supports political campaigning of charities, albeit with a limited scope. 

The letter, which was written by Chris Skidmore MP in his role as Minister for the Constitution, outlined the extent to which the Government sees this type of activity as valuable, saying that: 

"The Government recognises that charities have the right to undertake campaigning and political activity where it supports their charitable aim, trustees consider it to be an effective use of charitable resources and provided they do not engage in party politics. The Government respects that right and Ministers have consistently said as much in public."  

The Minister also said that the Government is in the "early stages" of considering the recommendations made by Lord Hodgson, and is therefore unwilling to meet with stakeholders at this stage.  

The full letter can be viewed here.

For reference, the original letter to the Government is copied below. 

VSNW and Compact Voice survey into cross-partnership working

Last summer, we conducted a short survey looking at cross-sector partnership working in the North West, in association with Compact Voice. We are now asking VCS organisations to complete a follow-up survey to assess if the level of partnership engagement has changed.

The five minute survey has seven questions and it will provide us with a valuable insight into the extent to which charities are engaged in the commissioning of public services, and how they are working with different commissioning bodies.

Commissioners include not only local authorities but also newer bodies such as Clinical Commissioning Groups, Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Enterprise Partnerships. The results of the survey will help us to identify the changes to partnerships with these bodies and the continuing support and guidance that is required to further improve their effectiveness.

The survey is available via the following link - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KPWVSX5. The deadline for completing the survey is 5pm on Wednesday 6th April.

Launch of Equality Delivery System for the NHS (EDS2): Guide to Engagement with the Local Voluntary Sector

The Race Equality Foundation, in partnership with the LGBT Foundation, Disability Rights UK, and Men's Health Forum have launched the Equality Delivery System for the NHS (EDS2): Guide to Engagement with the Local Voluntary Sector. This guide was commissioned by NHS England and was developed in collaboration with service users, voluntary and community organistions, and key stakeholders from Foundation Trusts, Healthwatch England, NHS Employers, CCGs and the Care Quality Commission.

This guide explores how the local voluntary and community sector can help NHS organisations to engage communities and, by extension, implement EDS2 better. The voluntary and community sector are often well-placed to help NHS organisations as they have links and expertise with specific communities that health services may have difficulties in engaging with.

An official launch of the guide is planned for April and a copy can be downloaded now from the Race Equality Foundation website.

Better Data - Making the Third Sector Case for Health Improvement

The report of the Better Data research into how the third sector and public sector partners can effectively utilise and share data has been published. It calls for a national approach to help third sector organisations to use data resources to meet the needs highlighted by the NHS England Five Year Forward View. The Better Data agenda was developed in conjunction with Public Health England and Regional Voices delivery partner One East Midlands to help third sector organisations use publicly available data sources.

In the current financial climate, the need for organisations to demonstrate their worth to commissioners has never been greater. The key recommendation, based on telephone surveys with the Regional Voices network of third sector infrastructure organisations and Public Health England colleagues, is the development of a national approach to equip third sector organisations to access, understand and apply available tools and resources including the PHE knowledge and intelligence gateway and NICE guidance. This could be achieved through awareness raising sessions, sharing of good practice and information, and building the capacity of the third sector to engage with public sector partners. 

Download the Better Data report.

VSNW Conference - VCSE Review

We would encourage everyone to contribute to the VCSE Review before the deadline of 6th November. The chair of the review, Alex Fox, spoke about this at our recent conference and AGM and a video of this speech is now available

Alex Fox