Analysis of Budget 2012's Cap on Tax Relief by Nick Aldridge

Nick Aldridge has posted an excellent summary of the implications and arguments surrounding the Government's decision to put a cap on tax relief: http://nickaldridge.co.uk/?p=169#foundations

Key questions he answers include:

• How did this happen – isn’t the government supposed to be promoting charitable giving?
• How much is at stake, and when?
• Won’t only the big charities be affected?
• But can’t rich people just give the same amount, after paying their tax?
• But the rest of us don’t get tax relief on donations, why should the rich?
• Well, don’t the richest people give much less than the poorest anyway?
• But don’t they give less than rich people in the US, which has a cap on donations already?
• What does the government have to say for itself?
• But what about these bogus charities?

Zac Goldsmith, Conservative MP for Richmond
Park  and North Kingston: "I don't believe
 the Government has any evidence at all to
justify its decision to crap on the charity sector."

So what now?
While the Government is planning a consultation on how to limit damage from the cap, the obvious move is simply to exclude charity donations from the cap, and do it quickly, before more large donations are cancelled. You can join the campaign against the tax relief cap at http://giveitbackgeorge.org/.

You can follow some of the key people, behind the campaign - Karl Wilding and Rhodri_H_Davies  on Twitter, or add to the conversation using the #giveitbackgeorge tag.

Key link
Nick Aldridge posting on the charity cap: Charity tax and the rich: dodgers or donors?
 

Two Community Rights and the official website launched



The Government's new Community Rights website has been
launched: http. The ://communityrights.communities.gov.uk/
Community Right to Challenge and the Community Right to
Bid are expected later this Summer

 A significant portion of the Localism Act 2011 came into effect on 6th April.  This includes two of the four new Community Rights. The aim is that new the Community Rights give local people and groups a greater say about what happens to local amenities, how local services are delivered or how new development is planned.


The Community Right to Challenge (the quality of publicly funded services) and the Community Right to Bid (for local assets) are expected to come into effect sometime this Summer.

Two Community Rights came into effect in April 2012:

• Community Right to Build – giving communities the right to build small-scale, site-specific projects without planning permission
• neighbourhood planning – giving communities more say about what can be built in their area

Two more rights are expected to come into effect between May and July 2012:

• Community Right to Challenge – giving communities the right to challenge to take over a council service they think they can run differently or better
• Community Right to Bid – giving communities the right to bid to buy and take over the running of local assets that are important to them

Further details, future examples of how the rights are being used and an update service are available from the Government's new Community Rights website: http://communityrights.communities.gov.uk/

Big Local - seeking reps



Big Local: The £200m Lottery funded programme to
establish 150 local trust funds for the benefit of
local communities. The Programme is managed by
Local Trust which span out of the
Community Development Foundation.

 Big Local is a lottery funded programme which offers residents in 150 areas around England the opportunity to use at least £1m (through their a new local trust fund) to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their communities.

Call for Big Local Reps

At the moment, tenders from community development and renewal advisors/experts or "Big Local Reps" are being called for: Big Local Reps (Renaisi website) - deadline: Noon, 16 April 2012. The intention is gather up to 100 advisors who will be offered work through a national framework contract which will be managed by Renaisi.

About Big Local

The Big Local programme is being run by Local Trust and has four outcomes:

• Communities will be better able to identify local needs and take action in response to them.
• People will have increased skills and confidence, so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future.
• The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises.
• People will feel that their area is an even better place to live.

What’s it not about?

• It’s NOT about the government or a national organisation telling you what to do.
• It’s NOT about individual groups fixing their favourite problem without talking to a wide range of different people who live and work in the community.
• It’s NOT about short-term thinking – you’ve got 10 years or more to plan and deliver the best options for your area.

Where are the Big Local areas?

The full list is available here: Big Local areas

There are 17 areas in the North West.  They each have a page on the Big Local website with the exact boundary for each area. They are:

• Revoe (Blackpool)
• Tonge with Haulgh (Bolton)
• Gannow Triangle (Burnley)
• Windmill Hill (Halton)
• Collyhurst (Manchester)
• Bradley (Pendle)
• St Oswald (Sefton)
• Ridge Hill (Tameside)
• Barrow Island (Barrow)
• Ewanrigg (Allerdale)
• Shadsworth with Whitebirk (Blackburn with Darwen)
• Rudheath and Witton (Cheshire West and Chester)
• Northwood, Kirby (Knowsley)
• Clubmoor (Liverpool)
• Clarkesfield / Greenacres / Littlemoor (Oldham)
• Little Hulton (Salford)
• Leigh West (Wigan)

Bıg Socıety and the Bank launch

Extract from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9178441/Minister-stands-by-Big-Society-plans.html:

The minister in charge of David Cameron's Big Society vision has said the Government is "completely committed" to the project despite criticism from "knockers" and "rock chuckers".

Speaking ahead of the launch of the Big Society bank, Nick Hurd, insisted that the concept is now at "delivery stage".  Mr Hurd, the minister for civil society, also said the government is also discussing plans with major banks for a "Big Society Isa", which will allow people to invest in and earn a return from community projects in their local area.

Community Organisers: formal Q+A

The following is a transcript of written questions and answers in the House of Lords on 29th March 2012 provided to VSNW by Dods

• how did Re:generate get the Community Organisers training work?
• what is 'Root Solution Listening Matters'?
• about the Community Organiser's Code of Conduct
• what will be the relationship between Community Organisers and parish councils, local councils and councillors?
• should the setting up of a Community Organiser be discussed with a council?
• can people with jobs be Community Organiser?

Questions from Lord Greaves, answers from Lord Wallace of Saltaire.

Legislative support for Mutuals: Co-operatives Bill

A new Co-operatives Bill, to be put before Parliament before the next election, will provide new rights for public sector workers to create mutuals and own a stake in their success.

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said:
"Today, the Prime Minister confirmed our commitment to a fairer market, with diverse and vibrant enterprises. 

"This is as vitally important for the public sector as it is for the rest of the economy. The evidence is clear, mutuals can provide better, more efficient public services, and so we are giving frontline staff, across the public sector, real power to make things better.

"We have developed new Rights to Provide for public sector workers to create mutuals in health and social care services. In health services alone, employee-led mutuals are already delivering almost a billion pounds worth of services. We will extend these rights as far as possible across the public sector. The new Co-operatives Bill will make it even easier for these organisations to become Co-operatives by cutting red tape and helping to build a fairer economy."

The Cooperative Council

The cooperative council is Lambeth's big idea for local government. It's about giving people more involvement and control of the services they use and the places where they live by putting council resources in their hands.

To get the latest cooperative council news straight to your inbox, sign-up to the cooperative council enewsletter.

Seven key principles... 
of the cooperative council that provide direction for public services are:
Principle 1: The council as a strong community leader.
Principle 2: Providing services at the appropriate level personalised and community based.
Principle 3: Citizens and communities empowered to design and deliver services and play an active role in their local community.
Principle 4: Public services enabling residents to engage in civil society through employment opportunities.
Principle 5: A settlement between public services, our communities and the citizen (this is what we provide, this is what you do for yourself) underpinned by our desire for justice, fairness and responsibility.
Principle 6: Taking responsibility for services - regardless of where they are accessed or which agency provides them.
Principle 7: Simple, joined up and easy access to services - location and transaction i.e. "one place to do it all", "one form, one time to do it all" - providing visible value for money.

Cooperative council early adopters
To get the cooperative council started a number of services have been identified as champions or early adopters:

Big Society at the Select Committee

Big Society doesn't do enough to help 'the little society': Without a coherent implementation plan, there is confusion over message, whilst smaller charities face barriers in contracting and commissioning policies, says Public Administration Select Committee (PASC).

• Report: The Big Society
• Public Administration Select Committee

Background

In their report, PASC warns that the Big Society project is hampered by the lack of a clear implementation plan, leading to public confusion about the policy agenda, eighteen months into this administration. The project by its very nature requires substantial change in Whitehall and to the nature of government. 

What Does The Big Society Mean To Me? - A Bradford Perspective

What Does The Big Society Mean To Me: A Bradford Perspective.
by: Ratna Lachman, JUST West Yorkshire.

What does the Big Society mean to me – it is difficult to address a proposition when it's framed in personal terms – even more difficult when there is a lack of consensus over the meaning of the terminology.

Since the task is framed subjectively – it is right that I declare my position.

I believe that in a civilized society the haves have a responsibility to the have-nots, that equity between rich and the poor is best achieved by monies and resources being allocated by the State and finally that in a humane and fair society the private, public and VCS sector have distinct but complementary roles to play.

The results of the Annual Survey of Social Attitudes released yesterday - where more than 1 in 4 felt that poverty is a result of laziness and more than 1 in 2 felt that social security benefits were too high – demonstrates an increasing convergence between the views of the person-in-the-street and the present government.

In the Conservative lexicon the Big State has always been the ideological enemy – stifling enterprise through encouraging welfare dependency; imposing excessive regulation, subsidies and taxes and squeezing out innovation and creativity.

Review of Big Society by Nick Hurd

The following article, written by Alison Thomas, appeared in today's Public Service Magazine.

In it, Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, gives a succinct summary of the Office for Civil Society's activities over the last 18 months.

Nick Hurd MP
Minister for Civil Society

==============================================
Revealing the Bigger Picture

Big Society – it's about a profound culture change... about how community should work, how public services should be shaped, insists the minister for civil society, Nick Hurd. He tells Alison Thomas why 'thinking big but starting small' will enable communities to help themselves to a better future

It's almost a "What did the Romans ever do for us?" moment. Suggest to Nick Hurd that Big Society might be more rhetoric than reality and the minister for civil society responds with an air of pained exasperation and an exhaustive list of everything he has been busy with in 18 months in the Cabinet Office.

There's the fledgling Big Society bank, now called Big Society Capital; the development of social impact bonds and payment by results contracts; the launch of a national citizenship service for teenagers, with 30,000 places commissioned for next year following the initial pilots; the recruitment of 5,000 community organisers; the social action fund; the Giving White Paper; the Public Service Reform White Paper…the list goes on.

Big Society and the Work Programme

As part of a vox pops at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Nicky Campbell (4th October 2011, Radio Five Live) asks what delegates are personally doing for Big Society. The following includes Iain Duncan Smith's response, the Minister for DWP and the Work Programmme (from 0.49). 

This comes at a time when there is growing evidence that the Work Programme:

1. contradicts the principles of the Open Public Services White Paper
2. does not embody the notion of Big Society

There are two main probems running side by side: firstly the Work Programme's prime contractor model  combined with the payment system (which leaves prime contractors in no-man's land); secondly, the Work Programme doesn't just replace the old DWP rationalised programmes but also a whole raft of local initiatives that disappeared with the withdrawal of the Area Based Grants. The top down system has nothing to meet and nothing to tie into. The vast raft of local delivery groups that make a real difference are disappearing at a rapid speed. 

It is these groups that need an honest opportunity to engage. As one experienced local BME delivery group in hard hit Lancashire, reflecting on a conversation with a prime contractor, expressed it recently:

“It’s like being offered the chance to run 100m in 10 seconds. We can’t do it. But if we don’t try no-one will…we’ve got to try otherwise the Work Programme won’t help the young people in our community.” (Joint submission VSNW, 1NW and WSF)

It is our contention that the Work Programme engages far fewer groups in delivery than were previously engaged through the replaced initiatives. There is significant evidence to suggest that The Work Programme has been implemented as a top down, centrally delivered framework at the expense of local delivery, local capacity and local partnership-based working.