Blogs

September 2015 Compact Voice Round-Up

This month’s blog covers all the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in cross-sector partnership working and public service delivery.

Award made us realise how far we’d come: Guest blog from Victoria Lawson, Head of Policy at London Borough of Sutton

In this guest blog, London Borough of Sutton's Victoria Lawson, winner of the Local Compact Partnership award at the 2014 Compact Awards, describes the effect winning an award has had on her work in the last year.

August 2015 Compact Voice Round-Up

Our round-up this month scans all the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in partnership working and public service delivery.

How awards can help: Guest blog from Sally Young, Chief Executive of Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service

In this guest blog, Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service's Sally Young, winner of the Local Compact Partnership award at the 2014 Compact Awards, describes the effect winning an award has had on her work in the last year.

Awards are good for you: guest blog from Mark Hubbard, Compact Liaison Officer at Voscur

In this guest blog, Voscur's Mark Hubbard, winner of the Compact Leadership award at the 2014 Compact Awards, describes the effect winning an award has had on his work in the last year.

Compact Awards 2015: Send us your nominations

Last week we opened the nominations process for the Compact Awards, our annual celebration of the very best partnership working across England.

The Compact Awards give us a chance to take stock of the achievements of cross sector partnerships during the past year, feel inspired by some remarkable success stories, and possibly turn the spotlight on some unsung heroes.

How we got where we are: guest blog from Redbridge local Compact

Compact Voice has recently been supporting One East Midlands, Wellbeing East and the Involvement Network with some workshops they were running in Bedford and Nottingham.

These events focused on helping encourage good partnership working between health bodies and the voluntary sector, and illustrating how local Compacts can be used as a tool for supporting these partnerships.

Ross Diamond, Chief Officer of RedbridgeCVS, came along to the Bedford event with us on 21 January. Ross shared his experiences of how the Compact had helped to form a foundation for strong partnerships with health bodies locally, and this guest blog provides a short overview of what he covered.

Independence in mind

The Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector launched their fourth and final report yesterday. The launch event revealed a lot of really interesting – and really opposing – opinions on the value of an independent sector, and the degree to which this is being threatened by things like the Lobbying Act and ‘gagging clauses’ in contracts.

Some of the coverage of the event in sector press focused on the Panel’s recommendations for a Compact with ‘teeth’.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about working on the Compact, it’s that one of its key strengths is that it is a mutually beneficial, voluntary agreement.

Health check: why our sector matters for health and wellbeing

Last month saw the launch of a major joint review into the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector’s contribution to health and wellbeing. The review will consider whether partnerships between government and the sector are operating in the most effective way possible and how they might work better in future.

Our take on the NAO’s follow up report: Some improvements seen, more work needed.

In January 2012, the National Audit Office published a report reviewing ‘Government’s Implementation of the National Compact’. This week, they have published their follow-up looking at the extent to which the recommendations in the original report have been followed.