Written evidence from Yorkshire &
the Humber Forum
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
— We believe that much experience, expertise
and intelligence is lost if stakeholders and other sectors are
excluded from the preparation of strategies and policies.
— We are concerned that the understanding
that healthy economies need healthy people and communities is
being lost.
— We are concerned that the understanding
(and experience) that an effective approach to the economy requires
collaborative economic, social and environmental actions is being
lost.
— Run-down neighbourhoods generate neither
skilled workers nor spending customers. Those people who are not
part of the formal labour market represent a waste of human potential,
as well as a charge on the competitiveness of the economy.
— There is a differential geography of
recession and of recovery. We know that particular areas and cities
of Yorkshire and the Humber are especially likely to suffer disproportionately
in terms of cuts. We think that vulnerable areas need particular
and targeted support to protect their recovery.
— We are concerned that the potential of
the social sector or Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) is being
missed.
— Many voluntary organisations and charities
are businesses with incomes.
— The VCS has a particular role in creating
the right conditions for a healthy economy.
— Partnership across sectors has been a
defining characteristic of successful Yorkshire and the Humber
working; this learning and experience should not be lost. BIS
should encourage its transition into the development of the LEPs.
— We believe that organisations like Yorkshire
& the Humber Forum offer a well organised and coherent way
for business and public bodies to engage with the social sector
through already existing communication and information systems.
— The north has particular economic challenges
and we would like to see BIS acknowledge these and tailor the
design of economic initiatives to encompass these differences.
1. YORKSHIRE
& THE HUMBER
FORUM
Yorkshire & the Humber Forum supports the
Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS). The Forum is a source of
expert intelligence about the economy and the VCS in Yorkshire
and the Humber. We deliver projects on workforce development,
rural communities, black and minority ethnic development and the
largest trade fair for social enterprises in England—"FOOTSEY".
The Forum was set up in 1997 and is a membership
organisation. We work with the whole of the social economy sector
from volunteers, large charities to social enterprises.
2. FACTUAL INFORMATION
ABOUT THE
VCS IN YORKSHIRE
AND THE
HUMBER
— Annual income of registered VCS organisations
is £3.56 billion per annum (4% of the GDP).
— 49,000 paid staff in the VCS (2.3% of
the workforce and larger than agriculture or the energy sectors).
— 14,109 registered VCS organisations and
36,000 unregistered VCS organisations.
— (drawn from the Third Sector Trends Survey
: Regional Forum and Northern Rock Foundation 2009).
— Over 175,000 volunteers (National Survey
of Third Sector Organisations : Cabinet Office 2009).
The Voluntary and Community Sector is a significant
economic player in Yorkshire and the Humber.
3. CONCERNS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
We have some particular concerns and some recommendations
that arise out of these.
Concerns
A. Over the last few years, any possibility
for the VCS to be involved in decision making has disappeared,
with the demise of regional governance. Whilst we recognise LA
concerns about democratic deficit, we believe that much experience,
expertise and intelligence is lost if stakeholders and other sectors
are excluded from the preparation of strategies and policies.
We note that the business community in general is now involved.
Many of our members work in business, albeit of a different and
possibly unfamiliar nature but which is critical to the economy
for example in housing, care services and skills.
B. We are concerned too that the understanding
that healthy economies need healthy people and communities is
being lost and that this vital economic inter-connection is being
overlooked in the ideas about Big Society.
C. We are concerned that the understanding
(and experience) that an effective approach to the economy requires
collaborative economic, social and environmental actions is being
lost.
D. We are concerned that when the development
of people or "social capital" has been neglected in
economic development, it is to the detriment of positive and long
lasting impact and outcomes. Without a connection between the
economy and people being built into the work of LEPs, there is
a danger of failing to include critical success factors.
E. We are concerned that the absence of
attention to social capital (as well as the reduction in public
services) will result in continued low skills, high crime, social
and family breakdown, mental illness and multiple deprivation.
This will spill out to make local economies unattractive prospects
for investment and for business, and undermine our city regions
overall. We know that employers need motivated, well trained and
stable staff to ensure business prospers.
Run-down neighbourhoods generate neither skilled
workers nor spending customers. Those people who are not part
of the formal labour market represent a waste of human potential,
as well as a charge on the competitiveness of the economy.
F. We are concerned about the vulnerability
of Yorkshire and the Humber, its businesses and communities.
There is a differential geography of recession
and of recovery. We know that particular areas and cities of Yorkshire
and the Humber are especially likely to suffer disproportionately
in terms of cuts. We think that vulnerable areas need particular
and targeted support to protect their recovery.
In addition, the reduction of the public sector
in Yorkshire and the Humber will have a disproportionate impact
on the region and on its voluntary sector because of the relative
high proportion of public sector spending as a proportion of the
local GDP and the relative high proportion of public resources
invested in the voluntary sector here. This means that the VCS
will both lose resources and pick up the results of reduced spending
seen in debt, family breakdown, homelessness and fewer public
services.
G. We are concerned that the potential of
the social sector, or VCS, is being missed. Business is organised
in many different, legitimate and successful ways. Many voluntary
organisations and charities are businesses with incomes. They
trade, employ people and contribute to the economy. The statistics
above clearly demonstrate the role of the social sector in generating
income and employing people.
In addition, the VCS has a particular role in
creating the right conditions for a healthy economy. In particular:
— providing a wide range of services to
tackle multiple deprivation eg environmental volunteering can
develop skills, improve health and reduce carbon emissions;
— developing skills, especially for people
farthest from the labour market;
— using and developing volunteers who then
gain the skills and confidence to join the labour market;
— developing community involvement in disadvantaged
and excluded localities so that communities and individuals are
brought into the mainstream. This improves stability and supports
SMEs located there;
— community economic development builds
social capital and the local economy by improving the local skills
base, develops the labour market and builds stability;
— enterprising social organisations which
combine social and economic goals and make a profit, however it
is used eg projects that provide re-cycled goods at reduced prices
and create apprenticeships;
— working with ex offenders so they do
not re-offend; and
— mental health work and family support,
and so on, help to ensure that individual and family breakdown
are tackled and do not result in a negative impact on the local
economy.
These contributions of the Voluntary and Community
Sector to the economy are not "add ons" or expendable
extras. They are critical to businesses and the local economy
and need to be recognised in the LEPs.
H. The Voluntary and Community Sector tends
to pick up the problems that stem from these endemic failures.
We know their real and lasting cost to the economy and to individuals.
I. In addition, much of the work mentioned
above has a crucial preventative role. It is cheaper to support
ex offenders in their communities than allowing them to re-offend.
It is more effective to build social capital and re-skill people
than to allow communities to decline, creating crime and disaffection.
Recommendations
Drawing from these observations and concerns:
1. Clarity is needed about what is the precise
national role of BIS in relation to LEPs which have relatively
low capacity for developing the local economy but are in areas
of high need?
2. The Forum supports the notion of a pan Yorkshire
and Humber function to co-ordinate and bring in specialist expertise
to inform and support LEPs and bring coherence across Yorkshire
and the Humber to some of the fundamental requisite business activities
eg the acquisition of inward investment.
3a. Partnership across sectors has been a defining
characteristic of successful Yorkshire and Humber working. This
learning and experience should not be lost. BIS should encourage
its transition into the development of the LEPs.
3b. Partners enrich policy making by providing
expertise drawn from a wider pool of understanding and experience
and from reality on the ground—they are a feedback mechanism.
We would like to see, for example, the Voluntary and Community
Sector, the faiths sector and others bringing their unique insights
into these processes.
3c. It is critical that the vision of LEPs is
one that has wide local support. That needs effective two-way
communication in a variety of sectors to widen engagement and
buy-in, fundamental to success.
4. The VCS role—the VCS in particular,
is not mentioned at all in the descriptions of the LEPs. We believe
this is a serious omission for the reasons set out above. We believe
that organisations like Yorkshire & the Humber Forum offer
a well organised and coherent way for business and public bodies
to engage with the social sector through already existing communication
and information systems. We are a bridge between the local and
the national and between Big Society and the economy.
5. The current emphasis in thinking is about
place. However "communities of interest" are defined
by a particular condition, circumstance or experience and are
equally informed, relevant and legitimate. Their understanding
crosses administrative boundaries. Asylum seekers, faith communities,
particular ethnic minority communities or those with specific
medical conditions have needs and contributions that those planning
the economy must understand.
6. The movement of functions previously delivered
at regional level to a national level needs careful thought. We
know that many of the skills required to regenerate Yorkshire
and the Humber and to deliver economic recovery lie here. We are
therefore very supportive of the emerging ideas for a Yorkshire
and Humber-wide entity to create coherence and co-ordination.
We would expect support from BIS.
7. We think that the tendency in LEPs to organise
hierarchically—seeing some elements of economic development
as strategic and done at one level, and others as local and done
at another level—but to fail to link these vertically is
a mistake and leads to the danger of competing priorities and
lack of understanding of communities of interest which cross boundaries.
We would look to BIS to incorporate elements of co-ordination
in LEPs.
8. The north has particular economic challenges
and we would like to see BIS acknowledge these and tailor the
design of economic initiatives to encompass these differences.
9. The UKCES Skills Audit 2010 identified key
drivers which will shape future skills demand and three of these
are of particular relevance to the VCS:
— demographic change (the VCS work on care
and work with the elderly);
— environmental change (the VCS helps communities
to be resilient, to adapt services); and
— values and identity (the VCS work with
vulnerable communities and with minority groups).
We would expect these skills needs, which are
critical to future prosperity, to be factored into LEPs and other
economic strategy.
11 August 2010
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