National Compact Workshop – Preston

National Compact Workshop

Wednesday 21st January 2009, 1pm – 3.30pm

Gujarat Centre, Preston, PR1 8JN

A free half-day workshop providing a general introduction about the Compact, organised by VSNW (Voluntary Sector North West) and the Commission for the Compact. Please come prepared to discuss your views!

This is your chance to find out more about the Compact, the partnership agreement between government and the voluntary and community sector in England. The Compact is all about better partnership working and creating better outcomes for individuals and local communities. It recognises shared values, principles and commitments, and sets out guidelines for how both parties should work together, consult and make decisions.

What’s in it for you? Find out more about the Compact and how it can help you. The Compact can help voluntary and community organisations ensure they are treated fairly in any relationships they have with government bodies.

Who should attend? This workshop is designed for those working in small organisations in the North West. We are hoping for some lively discussions and participation from attendees.

1.00pm Registration and Lunch

1.30pm Workshop: An introduction to the Compact together with discussion sessions.

For more information and to book, please contact:

E-mail: events@thecompact.org.uk

Tel: 0121 237 5900 (Ruth Fennemore or Fiona Coulson).

Compact: Third Sector Independence

A new report Dancing to our own tune published by Compact Voice has highlighted that voluntary organisations believe they must take responsibility for their own independence. The report includes the following recommendations:

Implementing the Compact

• More Compact champions are needed, both within the voluntary sector and within government at a local and central level;
• The national Compact and Local Compacts should be nationally monitored to make sure that authorities are acting in the spirit of the Compact and are implementing it properly;
• The Compact must be properly “plugged into” commissioning practice to ensure that inside each statutory organisation Compact principles are part of the commissioning process;

The report is based on the findings of five focus groups in which 47 voluntary and community sector employees discussed what they thought of the Compact and the impact it had on their independence. Participants felt that independence was crucial not just to the sector but to wider society in general.

Participants described conflicts around independence as centring on issues of funding and commissioning of services, interference of organisations’ freedom to determine and manage their affairs and real and perceived fears about criticising government funders.

North West Compact

A consultation on the draft North West Compact was launched yesterday 12th November 2008. The Compact aims to improve partnership working and relationships between regional organisations within the third sector and the public sector in the North West. The Compact provides a basic framework setting out the main principles and commitments for these relationships.

Regional organisations are invited to comment on a draft version of the Compact over the next 12 weeks. The intention is that a final version is adopted and formally agreed at a major Regional Third Sector Conference which is taking place on 12 February 2009. VSNW (Voluntary Sector North West), the third sector strategic umbrella organisation, are amongst those committing themselves to the new Compact.

The Commissioner for the Compact Sir Bert Massie will attend the conference and will oversee the formal signing of the Compact. The Regional Compact has been timed to coincide with the publication of a North West regional strategy.

The consultation closes on the 4th February 2009.

For more information visit Government Offices | North West |

2008 Compact Award Winners

For Compact Week 2008 readers might be interested in the Compact Awards Winners recently announced which reveals areas that can demonstrate how the Compact can be a living document that influences action and encourages both public and third sectors to work together to improve and enhance the services and support they offer, and helps build effective local partnership working.

One of the main barriers to effective partnership working identified by research published last month was a lack of trust and communication between partners. Applying Compact principles is recognised as a way to build trust over time resulting in better working relationships and better outcomes.

What has worked locally? Drop us a comment and share your views.

Compact Week

Click image for website

Local groups and Blackpool Compact members might be interested in Compact Week taking place from 1st – 8th November 2008.

Discussion paper issued on future of the Compact

The Commission for the Compact has started a three month consultation on the future of the Compact and the role of the Commission.

All the information you need to take part in the debate is available on a special sub-section of the Compact Website available by clicking here.

Debate on Future of Compact – but what is it?

Sir Bert Massie CBE, Commissioner for the Compact, has called for a major debate to take place on the future of the Compact after 10 years of its existence.

Many local groups in the town have joined Compact but many more are probably ’signed up’ in principle if not in practice.  For those who still want to get their heads around the Compact – then you can’t go far wrong then downloading this little gem of a document Local Compact Implementation Plan – MiniGuide.

The MiniGuide is a condensed version of a larger document both of which are available from the National Compact website or by getting in touch with Helen Kay at the Blackpool Compact.

Blackpool Compact and Conferences

The Blackpool Compact has gone from strength to strength recently.  Membership is steadily increasing, with 60 public sector and voluntary & community organisations currently signed up and more in the pipeline.  There is a high level of awareness of Compact principles in Blackpool organisations involved in cross-sector partnership working, and member groups are doing a great job of promoting the agreement wherever possible.  Any plans or policies being developed by statutory agencies around such topics as community engagement and public sector commissioning now take the Compact into account.

Community & voluntary groups are increasingly looking to the agreement to ensure that they play a full and equal role in partnership work, and to the Blackpool Compact Network as an avenue for provision of training and support.

Evidence of this success was seen at the Blackpool Compact Conference held in March this year. Nearly one hundred people from across the Fylde Coast attended the event, hosted by Blackpool Council, which looked at the past, present and future of the Blackpool Compact.  The Conference was organised by the Compact Development Group, an independent body made up of representatives from public and voluntary & community sector organisations, with the assistance of the Council’s Compact & Communications Officer, Helen Kay.

Further proof of interest in the Compact was in evidence at the the Fylde Coast 3rd Sector First event held in Fleetwood on June 12th.  Over 120 people attended the Marine Hall to find out more about procurement and commissioning.  Mike Kirkman gave a perspective from Blackpool Council’s point of view and there were presentations of good practice from the YMCA and Age Concern.

For further information see Blackpool Compact.