APPENDIX
Supplementary Memorandum from Fiona Mactaggart
MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Green Minister,
Home Office
THE SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS
OF HOME
OFFICE GRANTS
TO VOLUNTARY
AND COMMUNITY
GROUPS
When I appeared before the Committee on 2 July[1],
I undertook to submit a memorandum outlining the contribution
that grants awarded by the Home Office to voluntary and community
organisations made to environmental and sustainable development
objectives.
The UK Government's approach to building sustainable
communities recognises the need to improve the places where people
live and work, giving them the chance to play their part in shaping
change. It involves meeting people's social needs—promoting
better health, housing and access to services and recreation and
improving local surroundings—revitalising town centres,
tackling degraded urban environments and reducing crime and the
fear of crime. It also involves addressing problems of poverty
and social exclusion in the most deprived communities and making
it easier for people to get involved in their communities. The
building of sustainable communities is a crucial element in the
Government's sustainable development strategy.
The Home Office has a vital role to play in
this vision of a sustainable society and recognises the value
that the voluntary and community organisations can play in achieving
it. Two of the Home Office's PSA targets demonstrate our commitment
to working with partners across society to achieve these sustainable
development objectives. The PSA target on community cohesion and
race is to bring about measurable improvements in race equality
and community cohesion across a range of performance indicators,
as part of the Government's objectives on equality and social
inclusion. The target on the voluntary and community sector is
to increase voluntary and community sector activity, including
increasing community participation, by 5% by 2006.
The Department, through delivery of its own
key PSA targets and the cross cutting and shared agenda with many
delivery partners, is making a very positive contribution to the
sustainable development indicators relating to:
— Community activity
— Crime
— Fear of crime
— Education
— Truancies and exclusions from school
— Poverty and social exclusion
— Local deprivation
— Housing
— Health
— Quality of surroundings
— Ethnic minority employment
— Women in public appointments and senior
positions
— Employment
— Economic output
— Investment
— Participation in sport and cultural activities
The valuable work of the community and voluntary
sector is supported in two main ways. A number of grant schemes
have been established to address specific issues and a dedicated
Home Office Directorate, the Active Communities Directorate, created
to further support their work in the community to deliver our
shared objectives of a sustainable, vibrant and cohesive communities.
The Active Communities Directorate alone has
funding over the next three years of over £188 million available
to support the community and voluntary sector as well as providing
a dedicated resource of specific teams tasked with developing
the voluntary and community sector's contribution to delivery
of public services. This includes a community development team
to work with organisations to review and implement small, local
grant schemes and a capacity building team to develop a coherent
strategy for the provision of capacity building and infrastructure
support to voluntary and community organisations in order to enhance
workforce and governance skills. Encouragement and facilitation
of volunteering and mentoring schemes is the specific role of
the Community Involvement Team.
As well as playing a key role in the promotion
of the Government's vision for a sustainable society, the Active
Communities Directorate, and other units within the Home Office,
make grants to build capacity of the organisations at national,
regional and local levels and to help the sector in engaging with
the Government's agenda.
However, it is clear that there are tangible
but difficult to measure benefits to be gained from a number of
other grant schemes not directly associated with the voluntary
and community sector. For example, grant funding for improvements
in capacity building for other organisations provides opportunity
for the development of strong and strategic relationships and
partnerships across the community locally. This increases the
ability to engage with community stakeholders, including those
from the supported voluntary and community sector, and should
provide robust and clear frameworks for the development of close
community working and the tackling of shared local issues.
DIRECT GRANT
SCHEMES
In relation to voluntary and community organisations,
there are a number of different grant schemes which contribute
to the wide ranging social progress sustainable development objectives.
The attached annex, summarises the grant schemes funded by the
Home Office, the amounts awarded and the sustainable development
benefits of the scheme.
The Mentoring Fund has been established
to enable all non-profit mentoring organisations to improve the
network of mentoring services by better use of and access to information
and communication technology. It also provides for better sustainable,
long-term development of the services and helps to build the capacity
of organisations enabling them to serve their volunteers and clients
and support or improve their services. 65 organisations have been
supported with funding totaling £1.8 million a year.
The Time Limited Development Fund is
aimed at developing community activity in deprived areas by giving
funding for the salary costs of a Community Support worker for
three years. Addressing concerns over lack of workforce resource,
the Community Support Worker provides valuable assistance at grass
roots level to help achieve the Home Office targets on increasing
community participation. The scheme supports 113 organisations
at a cost of £4.5 million this year with £13.5 million
funding made available throughout the three-year scheme.
The Volunteering programme provided funding
to 56 organisations for £8.1 million in 2002-03 to increase
participation in communities through volunteering. The Government
sees volunteering as a substantial social investment that creates
social capital and makes a major contribution to a healthy civil
society. Amongst those awarded grants are umbrella voluntary organisations
that develop practitioner networks, promote, pilot and disseminate
good practice and match up people interested in volunteering with
opportunities and build local partnerships and strong local networks.
Of the 56 organisations in receipt of funding, significant grants
have been made to the Experience Corps, Timebank and Community
Channel. Further information on the volunteering programme can
be found in the "Volunteering: A code of practice" published
as part of the Home Office compacts series.
Public Sector Volunteering Match Funding
supports the creation of 66,000 new volunteering opportunities
in the delivery of public services, including work in libraries,
colleges, prisons, sports coaching and the Merseyside Fire Service.
£60 million matched funding has been allocated for the scheme
for 2001-04 making it £120 million in total. This scheme
is administered by seven departments, including the Home Office.
Sector Development grants aim to support
national voluntary and community sector umbrella bodies by building
capacity of the organisations and to help the sector in engaging
with the Government's agenda. 34 organisations were supported
at a total cost of just under £4 million in 2002-03. Sector
Development grants aim to build infrastructure and indirectly
contribute towards our target of getting more people active in
their communities. For example, the National Association of Councils
for Voluntary Service as an umbrella organisation gives membership
to smaller organisations to provide training and other workforce
and resource assistance to build infrastructure networks across
the sector.
The Capacity Building grant scheme aims
to develop community skills and build local infrastructure. The
scheme supports 28 organisations with total funding of just over
£2 million in 2002-03. Amongst the sectors, which benefit
from the scheme is the black minority ethnic (BME) voluntary and
community sector. It was recognised that the capacity of the BME
voluntary and community sector to be a full and equal partner
with Government and the mainstream sector was limited. Capacity
building within BME organisations is directed towards policies
and initiatives that enhance the skills of individuals within
organisations. This can be achieved by developing initiatives,
which provide various types of support and advice in addition
to strategic and/or project funding. For example, Home Office
recently provided funding for a "Twinning" programme
to encourage equal partnerships between larger established mainstream
organisations and BME voluntary and community sector organisations
to build the fundraising capacity of the BME sector.
The Strategic Relations scheme also aims
to support regional and local voluntary and community sector umbrella
bodies by providing funding to 34 organisations for a total of
£3.1 million in 2002-03. It helps build the capacity of voluntary
sector organisations eg the 18 regional networks (nine generalist
and nine BME), and the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary and
Community Sector Organisations.
Grants in Aid are payments given to finance
all or part of the running costs of an organisation. Funding totaling
£13.3 million a year is made to four, key national organisations,
ie the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, National Council of Voluntary
Organisations, Community Development Foundation and the Experience
Corp for their work in the community which meets the shared aims
and objectives of the Home Office to achieve a sustainable and
inclusive community.
The Capital Modernisation Fund aims to
modernise volunteer bureaux services and to provide easier access
to involvement in community activities. It supported 21 organisations
with capital grants of £4.6 million in 2002-03. This grant
scheme provides investment capital, such as refurbishment of buildings
or buying computers etc, to improve infrastructure and resources
projects to match the quality of services provided to their communities.
The Community Cohesion Pathfinder Programme
provides support for the voluntary and community sector to focus
on and promote community cohesion. The programme recognises the
needs of marginalised communities and aims to build the capacity
of communities themselves to challenge statutory and voluntary
services and provide a bottom up approach to community cohesion.
The programme funds the community and voluntary sector to achieve
outcomes in relation to producing evidence of their contribution
to community cohesion in partnership with the local authority,
evidence of how they effectively contributed to and supported
the overall pathfinder action plan and evidence of having built
community capacity and understanding of community cohesion within
their voluntary and community sector and having encouraged community
facilitation. Fourteen pathfinder areas were selected and each
was awarded £285,000 for the period February 2003 to September
2004. £90,000 was provided to the lead community and voluntary
sector organisation in the local authority area, £150,000
to the local authority and the remaining £45,000 to the Community
Champions programmes targeted at young people.
Positive Activities for Young People is
a cross government and lottery funded school holidays programme
that aims to use high quality cultural, sporting and educational
activities to cut street crime, promote community cohesion and
encourage young people to return to education and training. The
Home Office contribution to the first year funds of £25 million
is £1.5 million. The programme is targeted at eight to 19
year olds and those most at risk will receive key worker support.
The scheme is administered through the nine regional Government
Offices who have in turn appointed sub-regional Lead Delivery
Agents (LDAs). It is the responsibility of LDAs to assess local
needs and commission and deliver services appropriately.
The Family Support Grant is designed
to develop policies and programmes to ensure that every parent
has access to the support they need to build confident families.
The Government recognises the role of the voluntary sector in
providing services to parents and aims to empower them in bringing
up children. The Family Policy Unit runs an annual competition
programme to develop effective and accessible support for families.
The Unit is responsible for the development and management of
the Family Support Grants programme. This was established to provide
infrastructure funding for national voluntary organisations promoting
parenting support and to improve parenting support through the
promotion of innovative methods of work at a national/regional/local
level in the voluntary sector. The current grant scheme funded
119 projects at a total cost of £5.3 million in 2002-03 and
organisations which have already benefited include those giving
advice and support to parents and families, with particular emphasis
on work with boys, young men and fathers. Funding since the programme
started exceeds £10 million and has made a real difference
to parents coping with the pressures of modern family life. The
Family Policy Unit transferred to the Department for Education
and Skills in June 2003.
The Connecting Communities Grant was
developed in 2000 to tackle racial disadvantage at grass roots
level and promote dialogue between communities, to strengthen
the collective voice of minority ethnic communities in order to
help them engage more effectively with service providers and policy
makers. The scheme aims to remove the barriers faced by women
and young men in accessing opportunities for employment, training
and further education. In particular, it encourages people from
minority ethnic communities to seek employment in the police,
fire, prison and probation services in order to help create a
workforce which is representative of the communities they serve.
The grant scheme also helps to counter racist, negative stereotyping
of minority ethnic communities by celebrating the positive contribution
they have made to life in this country.
Grants totalling £11.6 million was awarded
to 75 voluntary and community sector organisations between October
2000 and March 2003 and a further £15 million has been made
available for a new round of funding under Connecting Communities
from September 2003 to March 2006.
The new grant awards, to be announced shortly,
will also focus on new work to build trust and understanding between
minority ethnic communities and public authorities. There will
also be work under the grant to build trust and understanding
between communities of different ethnic or faith origin in order
to promote unity, shared values and community cohesion.
Street Crime Initiative brings together
the police, criminal justice agencies, several Government departments
and local bodies to bring an unprecedented level of focus and
co-ordination to address street crime. As part of the initiative
Victim Support were granted £1.5 million in 2002-03 to complement
resources available to both enhance the service to victims of
street crime and to ensure they stayed confident in the criminal
justice system. It also helps provide the support to victims to
pursue cases through to prosecution to achieve a reduction in
the attrition rate.
The Adventure Capital Fund is a new initiative
piloting new forms of financial investment for community enterprise
to overcome the constraints that have hindered innovation. The
Home Office has contributed £2 million funding to the scheme
to secure long term finance to provide the resources and expertise
to plan for the future and work towards promoting capacity building
and enable a wide range of organisations to contribute to community
renewal and on a sustainable basis.
August 2003
Annex
SUMMARY OF HO GRANTS TO VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY
SECTOR
| Grant Scheme |
Purpose of Grant | No of Organisations Supported
| Total Amount awarded | Sustainable Development Benefits
|
| Mentoring Fund | Improve network of mentoring services
| 65 | £1.8 million in 2002-03
| Employment, poverty and social exclusion, education, truancies, crime, fear of crime, ethnic minority employment, women in public appointments and senior positions, voluntary activity and community spirit.
|
| Time Limited Development Fund | Develop community activity in deprived areas
| 113 | £4 million in 2002-03
| Poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, voluntary activity, community spirit, employment.
|
| Volunteering Programme | To increase participation in communities
| 56 | £8 million in 2002-03
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, employment, economic output, housing, health, education and quality of surroundings.
|
| Public Sector Volunteering Match Funding |
Community Participation and support of delivery of public services
| 24 | £12 million in 2002-03
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, employment, economic output, housing, health, education, participation in sport and cultural activities and quality of surroundings.
|
| Sector Development | Capacity building and engagement with Government
| 34 | £3.9 million in 2002-03
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, education, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, employment, crime, fear of crime.
|
| Capacity Building | Development of community skills and build activity
| 28 | £2 million in 2002-03
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, ethnic minority employment, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education, employment.
|
| Strategic Relations | Build capacity of national umbrella voluntary sector organisations
| 44 | £3.1 million in 2002-03
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, ethnic minority employment, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education, employment.
|
| Women's Royal Voluntary Service | Provide support to those in need of care within the local community
| 1 | £4.2 million
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, access for disabled people, access to services, health.
|
| National Council of Voluntary Organisations
| Provide support to voluntary organisations
| 1 | £0.8 million
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, ethnic minority employment, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education, employment.
|
| Community Development Foundation | Work to achieve sustainable and inclusive communities
| 1 | £1 million
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education and ethnic minority employment.
|
| Experience Corp | Provide expertise and guidance to communities through the experience of retired people
| 1 | £7.2 million
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education.
|
| Capital Modernisation Round 2 | Modernisation of the volunteer bureau
| 21 | £4.7 million
| Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local depravation, crime, fear of crime, education, access to services.
|
| Community Cohesion Pathfinder Programme |
Focus on and support community cohesion. | 14
| £4 million 2/03-
9/04 | Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, crime, fear of crime, education, quality of surroundings.
|
| Positive Activities for Young People | Cut crime and build communities
| Administered by DCMS—programme under assessment.
| £1 million HO contribution (£25 million cross govt)
| Crime, Fear of Crime, Truancies, Education, Poverty and social exclusion, local deprivation, participation in sport and other cultural activates, community spirit, voluntary activity.
|
| Family Support Grant | Provide services to parents.
| 119 | £5.3 million |
Crime, fear of crime, community spirit, voluntary activity, education, truancies and exclusions form schools, ethnic minority employment, participation in sport and cultural activities.
|
| Connecting Communities | Tackle racial disadvantage and promote dialogue
| 75 | £11.6 million
10/00-3/03
| Ethnic minority employment, poverty and social exclusion, employment, education, voluntary activity, community spirit.
|
| Street Crime Initiative | Victim Support
| 1 | £1.5 million
| Fear of crime, crime, voluntary activity, community spirit
|
| Adventure Capital Fund | Support delivery of long term improvements to communities
| 30 | £2 million |
Voluntary activity, community spirit, poverty and social exclusion, crime, fear of crime, quality of surroundings.
|
1
Please see Minutes of Evidence, HC 961-i, 2002-03, Ev.1-23 Back
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