Expression of Interest for VCSE Sector representative on the Greater Manchester Planning and Housing Commission
Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the GM VCSE Leadership Group are seeking one individual to represent the VCSE sector on the Greater Manchester Planning and Housing Commission and are looking for someone who meets the following:
You are senior leader from the sector with an active interest and involvement in planning and housing issues.
You are knowledgeable about planning and housing, and in particular the GM agenda around this issue.
You will be committed to supporting the broader VCSE sector beyond your own organisational interests.
You will be willing to make yourself accountable to the wider VCSE sector by reporting to the GM VCSE Leadership Group and GMCVO. You will be supported to inform and consult with relevant peers and colleagues, and might be asked to provide written updates or speak at events.
You will be in a position to actively and accurately champion and represent VCSE issues at Commission meetings.
To find out more about what being a VCSE Board Representative means, what are you committing yourself to do, how will you benefit from, being a representative and how will you be supported as a representative please refer to the VCSE Board Representative Brief and Feedback Form below.
The role and Terms of Reference for this Board are described in Appendix 1 of the Expression of Interest form and an Overview of Planning and Housing Commission policy areas are contained in the Appendix 2 document (both attached below).
If you are interested in becoming the VCSE Representative this role, please read and complete the Expression of Interest form attached below and return it to karen.conway@vsnw.org.uk via e-mail by 5pm on Friday 13th December 2019.
The successful candidate will be contacted on/after Friday 20th December 2019.
Expression of Interest GM Planning and Housing Commission
GM VCSE Board Brief and Feedback Form
Appendix 2: Overview of Planning and Housing Commission policy areas
Greater Manchester Business Survey - call for Social Enterprise participation
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is working with the Mayor’s Business Advisory Panel and the Business Growth Hub to deliver the 6th annual GM-wide business survey, to improve their understanding of the strengths and opportunities local businesses have, as well as the challenges and issues they face. Listening to what matters most to businesses will enable them to design and deliver better policies, programmes and services intended to support the business community to thrive.
GMCA are particularly interested in hearing about issues that are important for social enterprises, and how their needs may be different from private companies and charities. To ensure they reach as many social enterprises as we can, they are keen to hear from social enterprise organisations who would be willing to support this research. Their research consultants have been asked to interview leaders from up to 50 social enterprises from across GM as part of this survey. If you would be willing to take part, please express your interest by emailing Anne Lythgoe (anne.lythgoe@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk) by Friday 22nd November at the latest, giving the name of your organisation, the person nominated to take part in an interview and their email address.
The interviews will take place between November 2019 and January 2020, and each interview will last approximately 20 minutes.
The GM VCSE Reference Group is now the GM VCSE Leadership Group
The VCSE Devolution Reference Group was formed in 2016 as a coalition of leaders from the VCSE sector who wanted to promote the role and involvement of the VCSE sector and communities in Greater Manchester devolution.
The group now oversee a number of significant projects/initiatives and feel that they need a name that better reflects the work that they do. After careful consideration the group will now be called the GM VCSE Leadership Group with the strapline: ‘the sector’s voice in Devolution’.
Warren Escadale, Independent Chair of the group, said:
“We believe that our sector plays a critical role in our communities. As a leadership group we want to make sure that voluntary, community, and social enterprise groups and organisations are not taken for granted and that we influence the future of Greater Manchester and the devolution agenda. Greater Manchester’s 16,000 groups cannot engage in everything but we need to make sure, collectively, that our sector is better understood, that where groups can be engaged they are engaged, and that we are fighting for the principles and programmes of activity that benefit and support our communities and beneficiaries.”
A new website will be launched soon that will explain more about the group, who they are, how they operate and what they do. In the meantime you can find out more on Voluntary Sector North West’s website here.
Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Social Care VCFSE Leaders Group
A recent meeting of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Social Care VCFSE Leaders brought together a range of infrastructure and provider organisations from across the region.
The overall aim of the group is to achieve strategic influence for the Sector and genuine system change. This will be achieved by a mixture of co-ordinated activities such as further strategic meetings; consistent messaging for the Sector on the social value it delivers in communities; and exploring the development of a cohesive engagement strategy with mapped out stakeholders both in localities and the sub-region.
The main topic of discussion was the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership Five Year Strategy, and how the VCFSE sector should influence and respond to this in a co-ordinated fashion. A series of workshops will be taking place in October across Cheshire and Merseyside to generate feedback on what role the VCFSE sector will play in the development and implementation of the strategy. Key contacts and membership organisations across the Sector will be the basis of the feedback body.
At the event, several next steps were proposed, focussing on engagement with relevant organisations and contacts within the VCFSE sector in the Cheshire and Merseyside area to develop robust feedback that will focus on the implementation of the strategy.
These next steps were as follows:
1. VSNW will pull together a ‘plan for a plan’ for VCFSE engagement, leadership and involvement that will be submitted for inclusion in the final strategy.
2. This will be signed off by a developing VCFSE leadership and partnership group that includes leaders from VS6, CVS organisations from across Cheshire and Merseyside, VCFSE ‘Place’ representatives, providers and VCSE equalities networks and organisations.
3. The plan will be circulated via the leadership group and Cheshire and Merseyside CVS.
4. The final 5 Year Strategy will be submitted to NHS England on 15th November 2019.
Recruitment opportunity - VCSE Mental Health Leadership Group
The Greater Manchester VCSE Mental Health Forum is in the process of evolving the way that the VCSE sector works with the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and the wider system around mental health.
They have listened to concerns about the existing representative structure and have developed a more proactive way of working and are now seeking fifteen active leaders to form a new VCSE Mental Health Leadership group. This will comprise one active leader from each locality plus a further five additional leaders representing communities of identity and work being done on a greater Manchester level. They expect that the roles will result in extra work in terms of attending meeting and bringing together colleagues and, in acknowledgement of that, each leader's organisation will receive £1,500 per year as a contribution toward the time used.
They are looking to hear from those who are already operating as a leader in relation to supporting people's mental health within their localities or across Greater Manchester and are particularly interested in hearing from those who feel they are yet to feel that their voices and passion are yet to be fully utilised.
There are two different Expression of Interest forms, one for those looking to become a locality lead and one for those wishing to be considered as system leads. Please check that you are completing the correct form.
If you have any queries about which form would be the most suitable for you to complete or any other questions about the process please contact either simone.spray@42ndstreet.org.uk or stewart.lucas@manchestermind.org
Completed Expression of Interest forms should be forwarded to via e-mail to kat.rado-barnes@gmcvo.org.uk by 9am on Monday 4th November 2019.
Greater Manchester Poverty Action
Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA) has been working on behalf of the GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group to develop tools that help promote the voluntary and community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector’s role in the Greater Manchester economy.
The following film sets out some of the socio-economic challenges the city region faces and considers the potential role for the VCSE sector in helping to reshape our economy.
The GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group is a group of organisations who come together to promote the role and involvement of the VCSE sector and communities in devolution. Part of this work involves promoting the role of VCSE organisations in the Greater Manchester economy, ensuring the economic value and potential of such organisations is recognised.
Given the twin challenges of economic inequality and poverty in Greater Manchester, the Reference Group recognises that the economy of Greater Manchester needs to be more inclusive, delivering better outcomes for all residents and ensuring everyone living in the city region can benefit from sustainable economic activity. The Reference Group believes VCSE organisations have a central role in achieving this, particularly in respect of encouraging economic activity in place with high levels of deprivation and poverty.
To view the film visit here.
For more information on the work that GMPA are doing in this area, visit here.
What’s next for the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester? Have your say
The Greater Manchester VCSE Leadership Group with support from colleagues at the GMCA have developed a VCSE Policy Position Paper which sets out a long term ambition for the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester.
Please share your views on the draft Paper. Does it describe a way forward that is meaningful for all VCSE organisations?
The paper builds on the Accord with Mayor of Greater Manchester and GM Combined Authority (GMCA), and the Memorandum of Understanding with the GM Health and Social Care Partnership.
It is intended to be really ambitious, describing a future role equal to those of the state and business. It sets out what our sector could bring over the next 25 years to Greater Manchester people and communities, and what would need to be done to enable it, including investment.
It isn’t an action plan, but after the Policy Paper is finalised in November an ‘implementation and transformation plan’ will be developed over the following year in each of the 10 localities as well as for Greater Manchester. The plans will vary, but will all be co-designed with relevant partners within the broad framework set out in this Paper.
Please respond to the online survey and/or come to a consultation event (dates and venues will be advertised once agreed). The survey is open until 30th September 2019.
The draft Executive Summary can be viewed online here. If you would like a copy of the full document, please email Katya Pursall (kat.pursall@gmail.com)
Greater Manchester Spatial Framework
VCSE workshop discussion
On 10th July a workshop took place with the purpose of bringing together a group of stakeholder experts from voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises to discuss and agree how the sector might be involved in the next stage of developing the GM Spatial Framework, with a particular focus on how the Framework describes the process and arrangements for ‘Shaping Places with Communities’. A number of tasks / asks arose:
Develop a Community Impact Assessment tool, building on identification of what makes a ‘good place’.
Define community anchor organisations including VCSE ones, map them and designate them across the patch. This should include geographic and equalities VCSE institutions.
These tasks build on a commitment from the spatial strategy team to working with the VCSE sector and establishing an informal task and finish group building on the previous consultation workshop. The previous session identified a number of areas for consideration, which these tasks look to build on.
Our CEO, Warren Escadale, who attended the meeting on behalf of VSNW, commented:
“VCSE organisations play a pivotal role in supporting communities and community action. We need a way to identify and safeguard those pivotal community centres, hubs, anchors and similar spaces, and think how we respect their role and importance in our spatial planning, in building thriving communities. Clearly the LGBT foundation should not be squeezed out of Central Manchester and St Thomas Centre should not lose heritage lottery funding while land next door goes unused. We should understand the role that Bolton CVS and their building plays in the social economy of Bolton, ask how we could develop a region-wide hub for BME VCSE activity, and look to designate one VCSE community anchor organisation in each health neighbourhood.”
To view the slides from the event, please click on the link here.
Carers in the NHS workforce
VSNW is jointly hosting an event with Health & Care Partnership for Cheshire & Merseyside exploring Carers in the NHS Workforce. This event, which will be of interest to HR teams, Directors / Deputy Directors of nursing, carer support organisations and those with a responsibility for staff health and well-being and staff side colleagues, will take place on Tuesday 24th September at The Foundary, Widnes.
On the agenda will be several case studies from Carers and employers, whilst VSNW CEO, Warren Escadale, will present the findings of research carried out in Cheshire & Merseyside looking at the Informal Carer Workforce. This piece of work was undertaken in partnership with Leeds Beckett University Centre for Health Promotion Research and Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES).
For more information, including the full agenda, and to book your place, please visit here.