Civil Society Covenant Engagement - North East

Join VONNE for an online engagement session, to share your views on the draft Civil Society Covenant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, NCVO and ACEVO.

The Covenant is a new agreement to improve the relationship between civil society and government, and it’s important that we give a regional perspective to the development of the framework.

The Covenant will:

• Support collaboration between civil society organisations and government
• Ensure respect for the different roles we play, and protect our independence
• Support all public bodies and civil society organisations
• Build on and support existing agreements in place at a local level
• Complement other arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Four draft principles have been developed to support an effective relationship between government and civil society, but they are subject to change based on the feedback NCVO and DCMS receive. Now is your chance to share your views on this work.

Following the unveiling of the Chancellor’s Autumn 2024 Budget, we’ll also be taking time to discuss the impacts of the budget on the charity sector, particularly the National Insurance Contribution increases.

In October, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the ‘new beginning’ of a better relationship with civil society to tackle some of society’s most pressing issues with launch of a new ‘Civil Society Covenant’.

Continuing to work closely with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), the Covenant is a new agreement to improve the relationship between civil society and government.

The decisions public bodies make have a huge impact on charities and communities. Public bodies need a strong relationship with our sector to serve communities. A strong, two-way relationship is vital to ensure charitable organisations like can achieve their mission.

The Covenant Framework sets out the ambition, scope and key principles that should underpin the new relationship. It includes 4 high level principles that they envisage will form the basis of the future relationship:

1. Recognition: to ensure a strong and independent civil society
2. Partnership: to ensure effective service delivery and policy making, and shared learning of best practices
3. Participation: to ensure people and communities can be heard and make a difference
4. Transparency: to ensure civil society and government have the information needed to best serve people and communities

DCMS, NCVO and ACEVO (in partnership with a range of umbrella and representative bodies) are now engaging directly to hear what civil society and government want to see in a Covenant.

The scope of the Covenant will be wide, relevant to the full range and diversity of civil society as well as government at every level. It’s important that the North East VCSE sector respond to engagement to ensure that the diverse needs of our region and communities are taken into account.

To do this, VONNE is hosting a series of online engagement events, in partnership with regional Local Infrastructure Organisations to collect feedback, which we will collate and submit to government with the strength of a collective voice of the sector in the North East.

During the session, engagement will focus on issues that include:

• are the 4 key principles- recognition, partnership, participation, transparency - the right ones?
• what are the enablers of effective partnership and what are the examples of best practice?
• what are the barriers to meaningful partnership and collaboration?
• how do we ensure this Covenant holds weight and is effective?
• how do we harness the excellent ability of civil society to innovate and find new solutions to societal problems and how do we support that spirit to spread across the sector?
• how do we make the new relationship a reality, especially in the current economic context and in light of the Autumn Budget increase to employers National Insurance Contributions?

Following the engagement events, an open letter will be sent to the Civil Society Covenant team at DCMS, as well as regional mayoral combined authorities, who may have existing arrangements that the Covenant will need to compliment.

Feedback will be submitted by midday on 12^th December 2024.

Further resources

NCVO Covenant Framework - https://www.ncvo.org.uk/get-involved/civil-society-covenant/

DCMS Civil Society Covenant Framework - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-society-covenant-framework-launch/annex-a-civil-society-covenant-framework

Government press release - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-partners-with-civil-society-to-transform-lives-across-the-uk--2