VONNE

Are you interested in Shaping Public Policy?

The policy forum is free of charge and open to anyone within the third sector with an interest in policy development and meets on a quarterly basis. It is envisaged that the Policy Forum will be the focus for a ‘festival of ideas’ and give the sector an opportunity to have lively and informative discussions, which will in turn inform and shape the partnership’s agenda.

Welfare Reform Changes - How Can We Protect the Most Vulnerable?

Friday 27th April 2012, 12.15pm - 4.00pm, CastleGate Centre, Melbourne Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 2JQ

This event provided participants with an opportunity to hear about the Welfare Reform changes and how these changes will affect, in particular, diabsled people. Sue Royston, Social Policy Officer at Citizens Advice delivered an indepth presentation  about the different elements of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, including Universal Credit and changes to Housing benefit, as well as providing an update on the campaign work Citizens Advice are carrying out.

Karen Sheader, founder of Shoot Your Mouth Off presented their documentary film which explores the effects that the cuts and the Welfare Reform changes could have on young people and adults with disabilities.

A discussion was facilitated as to what actions the voluntary sector should take to highlight these issues to policy makers.

Social Impact Bonds - What are the for and will they work? - Event Feedback

Friday 24th February 2012, 12.15pm - 4.00pm  at South Hylton Tansy Centre, Sunderland

Participants were provided with the opportunity to listen to 3 key expert speakers who discussed the following:

• What social impact bonds are
• How Government are developing them 
• Where they fit with funders
• Where the North East is at
• How to get involved

A report from the event (Word 115 kB) has been produced with details of the discussions which took place. Matt Roche, speaker from Big Lottery gave a presentation at the event which is available to download (PowerPoint 516 kB)

Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are currently carrying out a consultation to understand user’s views on regional statistics, since the closure of the Government Office network in a proposal to end the publication of statistics at this level.

There are four questions as part of the consultation to consider including;
•    should regional statistics be no longer published
•    are there alternative methods of presenting information
•    how are statistics currently used
•    what would be the impact if the statistics were no longer available

VONNE will be submitting a response to this consultation and would therefore request your views are sent to Natalie Maidment, Partnership Development Officer by Monday 26th March 2012 by emailing natalie.maidment@vonne.org.uk A briefing (Pdf 227 kB) has been produced for your information.

From Regionalism to Localism - How should the VCS Engage with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP's) - Event Feedback

Presentations were given by Peter O'Brien from the North Eastern LEP and Stephen Catchpole from the Teesvalley LEP. Both speakers indicated that there is an open door for the VCS to influence the LEPs however this must be done in a coordinated way; with an umbrella organisations speaking for the majority of the sector.

Following the speeches there was an opportunity for delegates to attend workshops to discuss the engagement with the LEPs in more detail or discuss one of the Partnership's policy topics.

A full report will be made available in the forthcoming weeks.

Open Public Services White Paper Consultation - The Impact on Commissioning for the VCS

This event provided an opportunity to discuss different aspects of the Public Services White Paper; including what elements of the paper the VCS welcome, where there are gaps, what the barriers will be for commissioners in the public sector making the transition and what the barriers are for the VCS.

Information from this event was used to develop a response to the White Paper which was submitted to Cabinet Office. A copy of this response can be downloaded from the right hand side of the page.

Dissent: How to Influence People but not Necessarily win Friends - Event Feedback

Participants were able to learn the different methods of campaigning and understand how to ‘resist' safely. Speakers were;

• Alan Docherty - Darlington Against Cuts
• Roy Ruddick - Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
• Lizi Gray - Newcastle Students Union
• Professor Tony Chapman - Researcher on Northern Rock Third Sector Trends Study

The session also provided an opportunity to share learning and experiences and delegates the chance to discuss current issues.

How Can the VCS Influence Policy? - Event Feedback

Around 100 people came along to Bowburn Community Centre on Friday 28th January 2011 to hear from the Shadow Minister for Civil Society, Roberta Blackman-Woods MP.

After a speech from Roberta, a panel made up of Katie Schmucker from IPPR North, Mike Worthington from VONNE and Roberta Blackman-Woods answered questions from the floor.

All attendees had the opportunity to attend a workshop to feed into one of the 6 policy topics.

A full report from the event can be downloaded from the right hand side of the page.

Can a Big Society, be a Fair Society? - Event Feedback

This is the question which was asked at the policy forum which was held on 22nd October 2010. This event provided attendees the opportunity to participate in a discussion, led by IPPR North, which looked at the implications of the Big Society Agenda on the VCS, in the context of the Comprehensive Spending Review.  Information gathered at this event is now being used to develop a North East third sector response to the ‘Big Society', which will be used to send a clear message on what the sector welcomes, and where there are questions to be answered.

This research is a policy topic for the partnership in year 2 and information gathered will be shared with policymakers.

Keynote speakers on the day were Neil McInroy from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies and Julian Dobson from Big Society North and there presentations can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page.

A full report from this event, including key findings is available on the right hand side of this page. A further report and updates about how ippr north are influencing policymakers will be published on the policy topic page.

How to Influence Policy in an Age of Austerity - Event Feedback

"it's going to be a tough a miserable next two years" said Lord Michael Bates at the Policy Forum on 16th July. Lord Bates spoke about the four changes we are currently experiencing; Political change, Economic change, Fiscal change and Social change.

This country has had a Big Government for a long time and the gap between rich and poor communities has widened therefore a different model needs to be looked at. The answer, the Coalition Government believes, is ‘Big Society'. Measures currently being brought in:

• We will give the public sector workers a new right to form employee owned co-operatives and to take over the services they deliver.
• Communities First Fund targeted towards the most disadvantaged areas providing start up funding for neighbourhood groups.
• Make it easier for you to work with the state on a level playing field.
• Make it easier for you to set up and run a charity, social enterprise or volunteer organisation.
• More resources - Big Society Bank using money from dormant bank accounts.

Delegates were given the opportunity to shape a workshop, to be held in the Autumn, on Parliamentary Processes and participate in workshop sessions around three of the new policy topics, which the partnership will be focusing on this year.

A copy of the full report from this event can be downloaded from the right of the page.

For further details contact Natalie Maidment, Partnership Development Officer on 0191 233 2000 or natalie.maidment@vonne.org.uk.