[cma-l] PM Urges Councils Not to Slash Voluntary Sector Budgets / LEPs to Include the Voluntary Sector

[Phil Shepherd]

17 September 2010 

PM Urges Councils Not to Slash Voluntary Sector Budgets

David Cameron has advised local councils not to view cutting voluntary
sector budgets as an easy option.

The Prime Minister was replying to a question posed in the Commons by Labour
MP for Bolton West, Julie Hilling.

Ms Hilling asked Mr Cameron what he would do to help groups affected by
spending cuts, such as Bolton CVS, which has lost £89,000 of funding this
year.

Mr Cameron said:
³We should say to every single council in the country: ŒWhen it comes to
looking at and trimming your budgets, don't do the easy thing, which is to
cut money to the voluntary bodies and organisations working in our
communities. Look at your core costs. Look at how you can do more for less.
Look at the value for money you get from working with the voluntary sector.'
"That is the message that I would take to her local authority, and everyone
should try to work in that direction."

Source: Third Sector, 17/09/2010
*******************************

16 September 2010 

1LEPs to Include the Voluntary Sector
The voluntary and community sector are to benefit after a decision to
exclude them from the new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) was
overturned after pressure from National Association for Voluntary and
Community Action (NAVCA) members.

Communities and Decentralisation minister, Greg Clark MP said in a letter to
a NAVCA member that the Government welcomed the involvement of the voluntary
sector in LEPs which are being set up to replace Regional Development
Agencies as a way to boost local economic growth. The letter also stated
that the Government recognised the 'considerable economic impact of the
sector'.

Business secretary Vince Cable and Communities secretary Eric Pickles had
previously written to Council chiefs in July and invited both Councils and
local businesses to work together to develop proposals for LEPs. The letter
excluded the voluntary sector which prompted NAVCA and its members to
challenge the decision that has now been reversed.

NAVCA chief executive Kevin Curley said:
"This is a victory for the voluntary and community sector and a welcome and
timely recognition of the economic impact of our sector. It also shows it is
important for us to be prepared to tell the government when we think they
have got things wrong."

Source: New Start, 03/09/10