AT the third of our #TwililghtTalks on Tuesday, with representatives of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, three candidates who are currently councillors put forward the Conservative approach to Edinburgh’s Third Sector and responded to a range of issues raised by Third Sector representatives present.

Looking forward to the Council Elections on Thursday 3rd May EVOC published last October the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto on behalf of the Edinburgh Third Sector Interface. The series of #TwilightTalks takes forward this work – offering an opportunity for candidates to respond to the challenges within the Manifesto and to ‘set out their stall’ with a Third Sector audience.

On Tuesday 20th March EVOC played host to a panel of three Conservative Councillors – Cameron Rose, Elaine Aitken and group leader Jeremy Balfour.

EVOC Director Ella Simpson welcomed the candidates and invited them to respond to the key challenges within the Third Sector Manifesto.

To recap: Challenges for Candidates from our Manifesto include the following.

• Be Bold – Provide the leadership we deserve. Design and commission services for community benefit;
• Put ‘addressing inequalities’ front and centre of all your policies and strategies;
• Trust the Third Sector’s knowledge, skills and ability;
• Be true to the spirit and reality of Co-Production;
• Focus on increasing fair employment for all;
• Consider the limits of competitive tendering.

Leader of the Conservative Group on the City of Edinburgh Council, Cllr Jeremy Balfour responded on behalf of the panel. He began by reassuring us that what the candidates heard that evening would influence their thinking over the next five-year term. The Conservative manifesto was nearing completion, we heard, and we will be looking for evidence that an open airing of Third Sector issues will have influenced the party’s thinking.

Cllr Balfour went on to outline the three key points that would shape the party’s approach to Edinburgh’s Third Sector: Zero-based budgeting, Three-year funding, and a Senior Third Sector Champion.

This would mean that Local Authority spending would follow more clearly priorities shared across the whole Council, that Council-funded Third Sector organisations could depend on three-year funding agreements, and that a senior politician (possibly the Deputy Leader or the Deputy Provost) would become a ‘champion’ for the city’s Third Sector and – we were told – a ‘gatekeeper.’ [N.B. the word ‘Czar’ was Not mentioned even once!]

The first questions from the audience centred around the contentious question of Competitive Tendering. It was put to the panel that the Competitive Tendering approach to funding forced service-delivering organisations to cut costs and that services suffered as a result.

Cllr Cameron Rose said that the Conservatives were committed to Competitive Tendering in principle, but recognised that the practice had gone ‘off the rails.’ Cllr Balfour was keen to put his view that competitive tendering helped to deliver Value for Money and that the approach encouraged Third Sector organisations to work cooperatively together.

Although it was clear that there were differences, Cllr Balfour suggested that the party and the Third Sector could disagree ‘as friends.’

The last word from the Conservative Group leader was positive and encouraging. ‘Let’s meet more often,’ he suggested – ‘not just once every five years!’

If you’d like to see what’s in the party’s Edinburgh Manifesto, visit the Local Government pages of the Scottish Conservatives’ website.

Now past the half-way mark in our series of Twilight Talks, we look forward to welcoming the Liberal Democrats next Tuesday, and the Scottish National Party at the final Twilight Talks event on Tuesday 3rd April. For details of the programme and of how to book places, visit EVOC’s Events pages.

If you are not able to attend, or would like to follow the discussion from afar, we will continue to tweet live using the hashtag #TwilightTalks. You can also use that hashtag to tweet us your questions or comments to put to party representatives on the following two Tuesdays.

It must be time for #TwilightTalks!

Indeed, it was. Yesterday evening, EVOC welcomed the Edinburgh Labour group – in the form of Forth Councillor Cammy Day and Craigentinny/Duddingston Councillor Ewan Aitken – for a wide-ranging and stimulating discussion about the Third Sector’s aspirations and Edinburgh Labour’s ambitions for the Council Elections 2012.

The Edinburgh Labour group had just that morning launched its own Manifesto for the Council Elections – providing an ideal opportunity for the group to explore linkages and synergies between the Edinburgh Labour Manifesto and the Third Sector Manifesto published last Autumn.

Partnership

Welcoming the guests EVOC Board Member David Griffiths emphasised the Third Sector’s keenness to engage in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council.

In their opening remarks both Labour Councillors restated their commitment to the Edinburgh Compact Partnership. Cllr Ewan Aitken returned through the evening to the core theme of ‘building relationships,’ praising the Third Sector for being ‘great at relationships.’ A City, he reminded us, is built upon relationships. Not shying away from recognising that the Council had to take its share of the responsibility, Cllr Aitken told the group that the Council must rebuild Trust with the Third Sector and with communities. Refreshing candour from a retiring (not shy) Councillor.

Tale of Two Manifestos

Responding to the challenges posed within the Third Sector Manifesto, the two Councillors made the following points.

1)   Be Bold. Provide leadership.

Leader of the Edinburgh Labour group Cllr Andrew Burns promises to bring the values of public service and co-operation to his leadership of the city. Labour also promises to ‘enhance leadership in schools.’

2)   Put addressing inequalities front and centre of all your policies and strategies.

Perhaps the element of their manifesto which has gathered the most interest has been Labour’s commitment to institute a Living Wage for all Council employees and all those from whom it purchases services. The party also promises to cap the ‘lowest-to-highest paid’ ratio at 1:12 – an ambitious aspiration.

3)   Be true to the spirit and reality of Co-Production

The Edinburgh Labour manifesto doesn’t use the language of Co-Production, but the core theme of the party’s hopes for the City of Edinburgh Council is to build ‘a Co-operative Council’ founded on trusting and honest relationships.

4)   Consider the limits of Competitive Tendering

As part of the Co-operative Council theme, the Labour group promises NOT to privatise services or sell them off to the highest bidder. A Labour administration would ‘tip the balance’ against unfair competition from ‘big outsiders,’ to support local businesses.

As before, issues and questions from the floor covered a range of themes. A lively discussion was held. And we look forward to next Tuesday’s event when the Third Sector meets the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. Do join us – either at EVOC or online via this blog or on Twitter using the hashtag #TwilightTalks.

Hosted by EVOC on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface, this series of Twilight Talks take place from 5.30 – 7.00pm on successive Tuesdays as below.

Tuesday 20 March – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Tuesday 27 March – Scottish Liberal Democrats

Tuesday 03 April – Scottish National Party

Read more about this programme of events: https://www.evoc.org.uk/blog-archive/embrace-the-change/ and view the agenda and details: https://www.evoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Twilight_Talks_on_a_Tuesday2.pdf

And if you’re into Twitter, please use the hashtag #TwilightTalks

Quick Quiz, folks! Which political party – first up at EVOC’s Twilight Talks – outlined the following ambitions for Edinburgh?

 

“Economic Growth on its own is NOT what the Council should be for – What do we really value?”

 

“We want to shift the balance away from profit-making activity.”

 

“We want to create a £10m Endowment Fund built over ten years from sale of unneeded assets and Philanthropic donations – to be used for Voluntary and Community activity.”

 

Well done – you got it in one! That was the Edinburgh Greens at the first in a series of discussion events with political parties called ‘Twilight Talks on a Tuesday,’ where a Third Sector audience got to quiz candidates from the Scottish Green Party about their ambitions and intentions for Edinburgh.

 

During a lively and engaging discussion, Third Sector voices raised issues from the scope for Co-Production in Partnership Working to the needs of vulnerable Kinship Carers.

 

The Edinburgh Greens, represented by Cllr Maggie Chapman, Chas Booth, Melanie Main and Phyl Meyer, brought an openness and honesty to the discussion – describing their ambitions for community-owned assets, a city that works for its people, for equality and sustainability.

 

I’d call it a super Tuesday.

 

Hosted by EVOC on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface, this series of Twilight Talks take place from 5.30 – 7.00pm on successive Tuesdays as below.

 

Tuesday 13 March – Scottish Labour Party

Tuesday 20 March – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Tuesday 27 March – Scottish Liberal Democrats

Tuesday 03 April – Scottish National Party

 

Read more about this programme of events: https://www.evoc.org.uk/blog-archive/embrace-the-change/ and view the agenda and details: https://www.evoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Twilight_Talks_on_a_Tuesday2.pdf

 

And if you’re into Twitter, please use the hashtag #TwilightTalks

Change is in the air. The relationships between different levels of Government – the City Council, the Scottish Government, Westminster and Europe – are developing fast. The Scottish Government clearly has ambitions for Community Planning to engage more meaningfully with its constituent parts, driving Public Service Reform built upon the principles of Prevention and Integration.

 

In this complex – sometimes confusing – web of relationships, where does the Third Sector (at a neighbourhood, city and national level) fit? Staunchly apolitical and non-aligned (and quite rightly so!) how does the Third Sector engage effectively with politicians and political parties? Surely ‘apolitical’ doesn’t mean ‘disengaged,’ just as it doesn’t mean ‘amoral.’ Equality, Social Justice, Community Empowerment, Social Value – the work of the Third Sector is often an ethical enterprise, and we can hardly afford not to engage with politicians, parties and the political process to further the Sector’s aims.

 

Here’s an opportunity for just such effective engagement. On behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface EVOC is hosting a series of Twilight Talks on a Tuesday from 5.30-7.00pm from Tuesday 6th March through to Tuesday 3rd April. Spaces are limited, and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please book your places by emailing Dianne Morrison.

 

A first step was the publication of the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto for Council Elections 2012. This set of Talks builds on that – creating a space for you to have your say.

 

Change is certainly in the air – will the Third Sector be passive bystanders? Or will we engage actively to shape the change we want to see?

 

I know which one I’d prefer.

I’ve always been rubbish at endings, and so the last few weeks has been challenging – with the end of the Charity Law for Advisors Project.

Since May 2010 we have trained over 160 advisors of charities across Scotland in the intricacies of charity law, funded by the Big Lottery Fund through SCVO’s Supporting Voluntary Action intiative.  From Stornoway to Musselburgh the four day course was delivered 13 times – and that was the fun part.  The hard part has been tieing up loose ends, producing statistics and reports and wrapping up the project.  But there has been good news too – Voluntary Action Scotland has agreed to fund the expenses of the thirteen trainers who are committed to continue to deliver the course over the coming months and years, so we can instill knowledge and expertise in both advisors who missed the core project delivery, and new members of staff looking to prepare for all that they will face when dealing with local charities’ issues and problems.

Along with endings come new opportunities and challenges.  I’m now working with older people’s service providers in the city delivering on the Change Fund agenda, developing the Network of voluntary organisations delivering services to children, young people’s and families – and you’d only have to ask any of the city’s community transport operators about my work with them in recent months to get an impression of what a challenge means in the volunary sector in Edinburgh in 2012!  (More to come on that next time…)

 

 

 

 

AT a time of considerable change – economic, social, political – how does the city’s Third Sector need to change and grow?

This is the core question facing the newly-formed Third Sector Strategy Group (TSSG) when it meets on Friday 24th February.

For the first hour or so members will embark on a process of scenario planning, modelling desirable futures.

Members have been invited to pick two of the following four themes for discussion:

Manifesto Themes – Co-Production, Marginalised Communities, Future Funding

Commissioning – City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian (item 12 on the linked Policy & Strategy committee agenda.)

Future Shape of Edinburgh’s Third Sector

Engaging with Public Sector Reform – Christie Commission, Regeneration Strategy.

Following a short break, the group will then consider a few key decisions – along the following lines.

Community Planning issues and themes of current concern:

Single Outcome Agreement 3 and Scottish Government’s Community Planning Review.

Commissioning for Community Benefit – the Third Sector helping to shape City Outcomes.

And looking inwards:

Draft Refreshed Volunteering Strategy – which will be circulated later, once the Volunteering Strategy Implementation Group has considered it.

Forward Planning for the TSSG (Third Sector Strategy Group) – along the lines suggested in the report which proposed setting up the group.

In a time of austerity, the demands on Edinburgh’s Third Sector are growing, just as the resources available to us are reducing. How can the city’s Third Sector – using its innovation, creativity and guile – bridge that gulf? Do we need new ways of working? What will it look like – this Third Sector that is fit for the future?

I can’t wait to find out!

 

Please also see linked Noticeboard item for documents on SOA3 and on Forum (aka TSSG)

 

 

 

 

https://www.evoc.org.uk/noticeboard/notices/a-third-sector-fit-for-the-future/

WOULD you believe it was only last week that the World Economic Forum, the annual trade fair for capitalism with its seemingly-penitent politicians in hair-shirts and its photogenic protesters bare-breasted, took over the sleepy Swiss town of Davos?

Just over a week since President Obama’s election-year State of the Union address, with its promise of ‘no bail-outs, no handouts, and no cop-outs’ and the now-obligatory soaring oratory?

Was it only last week we learned that the UK’s GDP ‘grew’ by -0.2% in the last quarter of calendar 2011?

A week is – in fact – a heck of a long time…

In just under a week’s time the City of Edinburgh Council will consider its annual budget for fiscal 2012-13. At its budget meeting on Thursday 9^th February the Council considers its Revenue budget, Capital Investment Programme and Housing Revenue Account – including consideration of Proposals to Grant Fund services from Third Parties.

Services from Third Parties extend beyond grants to Third Sector organisations. Having said that, the city’s Third Sector will be keenly interested in proposals that could impact on their organisations and the services they provide.

The total Grant Allocation under this heading in 2011-12 was £ 24,510,199, falling to £20,014,054 for financial 2012-13.

Grant Recommendations have been analysed in terms of which National Outcomes they mainly support. This analysis shows a diminishing spread across outcomes as the level of grant support increases, with National Outcome 6 (We live longer, healthier lives) being the outcome most often quoted (followed by National Outcome 4 – Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.)

Elsewhere on the agenda, considering ‘Performance and Outcomes,’ the Council estimates that for every £1 spent on revenue grant, the grant-funded organisations levered in an additional £9.05 in financial 2010-11.

Readers will have noticed the surprise good news that the City of Edinburgh Council has managed to find £2m for a range of projects from repairing potholes to enabling young people to access music tuition.

The process the Council undertakes to agree its overall budget remains, however, adversarial and oppositional – with the administration presenting its budget and opposition parties presenting theirs as amendments to the administration’s budget motion. This year the Labour party has published its intended proposals in advance, challenging other parties to do the same.

In previous years the wrangling has continued right up to the wire – might this year be different?

After all – a week’s a long, long time….

As EVOC’s Business Manager, I’m very pleased that this year we decided to publish our Annual Accounts on our website.  A lot of work went into producing these documents and I think they should be readily accessible, for anyone to see. 

There is a great deal of information contained with these Accounts, both for EVOC and for EVOT, which provide a comprehensive report on our activities during the year to the end of March 2011.  A few highlights I would like to draw to your attention are as follows:

• First of all these Accounts are longer than in previous years.  For example, EVOC’s Director’s Report at the start of the EVOC Accounts is 6 pages longer in 2011 than in 2010 and EVOT’s Trustees Report is 2 pages longer.  In both cases we have chosen to provide more details of our Achievements and Performance, to illustrate the breadth and depth of our activities throughout the year.
• The Statement of Financial Activities shows a small decline in EVOC’s financial situation for the year ended 31 March 2011, following a 13% drop in Total incoming resources and negative Net movement in funds of £-43,277.  The Balance Sheet shows a reduction in EVOC’s Net Assets of 8% with the biggest change being a reduction in our Cash balances of 20%.  However, our total Unrestricted Funds increased by 3% during the same period.
• By way of contrast, EVOT’s Statement of Financial Activities shows positive Net movement in funds of £213,782 and an increase of 27% in Total incoming resources.  The Balance Sheet shows an increase in EVOT’s Net Assets of 6%, with the biggest change being an increase in the value of our Investments of 9%.

In next year’s Accounts we plan to move beyond words and figures to include some graphs and diagrams as well – watch this space!

I must confess to being rather taken by Twitter.

It’s easy-to-use, very portable, and – best of all – it’s really helping my education.

For example – here’s a coupla ‘fun facts’ I discovered in the last few days.

Did you know:

– that Pope Pius XII invented subsidiarity? Yes, that hallowed European principle that tends to find expression here in the ‘localism’ agenda;

– or that the average pay gap for FTSE 100 companies was 262:1? Yes, that’s the average – the steepest ratio reported (by One Society) of top pay to bottom pay is a whopping 656:1 (for every pound earned by the lowest-paid M&S worker, the best-paid earned £656.)

‘And?’ I hear you ask. ‘What do I care about subsidiarity?’ and ‘Companies must pay their top executives well to remain competitive!’

One at a time:

Subsidiarity: “It is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organisations can do.” Thus Pius XII’s papal encyclical. What I take him to have meant is that power resides with people, and that ‘remote’ bodies taking that power away is unjust.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. Devolution exemplifies this principle, with relevant powers devolved by central governments to a more local level.

In his perceptive blog the New Economics Foundation‘s Andrew Simms reminds us that E F Shumaker (of Small is Beautiful fame) wasn’t a fan of smallness, per se, but of ‘appropriateness of scale.’

Most of us will have come across examples of decisions which affect us having been taken at such a remove from our lived experience that the reality ‘on the ground’ appears not to have informed the decision-making process at all, a ‘one size fits all’ approach often shaped by politics rather than by evidence.

The trick, then, is for people close to the effects of policy decisions to become empowered and informed – to acquire the tools needed to gather and present evidence and to negotiate the policy landscape.

I’d call this CoProduction of Policy-making.

The pay gap: The Equality Trust has launched a new campaign to address the runaway ratios of top-pay to bottom-pay. The campaign particularly targets Local Authorities – but encourages them to use their influence over private sector organisations as well.

Social inequalities damage all members of an unequal society right across the gradient – as demonstrated by Wilkinson and Pickett’s The Spirit Level. More equal (and happier) societies such as in Scandinavia have not become more equal by accident – governments (with a clear mandate from their citizens) implement social policies explicitly aimed at ‘flattening the gradient’ or ‘reducing the gap.’

The Equality Trust’s new campaign calls on Local Authorities to take action themselves, and to use their influence on private sector providers, to reduce income inequality. The campaign says simply: Act Local = Reduce the Gap.

A ‘mash-up’ of Tackling Income Inequality and the Principle of Subsidiarity could lead us to take action wherever we are, whatever our sphere of influence might be, because every action counts – and YOU have the power.