Commissioning: or how to kill the goose that lays the golden egg
A personal view from Peter Bird, Coordinator of Fulham Good Neighbour Service
The Council’s Proposals
Hammersmith & Fulham Council have recently published a consultation document on their strategy for the third sector. Their definition of the third sector being all organisations that define themselves as voluntary and community organisations, charities, social enterprises, and mutuals or cooperatives. They wish to change the way that they give financial assistance to organisations including Fulham Good Neighbours. A copy of their document can be obtained via their website.
The Duty to Involve – another confidence trick?
The ‘Duty to Involve’ or the ‘Duty to be Involved’: who is involving who and why would you care?
The Duty to Involve is now with us – how does it feel to be ‘involved’? Have citizens up and down the country been writing to their local press in an upsurge of local debate and entitlement? Have you noticed the queues outside the town halls, waiting to attend the latest sub, sub group of the Local Area Agreement (LAA) strand on stronger, safer, sedated communities? Seen those petitions flying about with thousands of signatures boosting levels of scrutiny to a new high? Perhaps not, but has anyone seen those enforcers from the Audit Commission starting to flex? The new regime that was supposed to make the difference is nowhere to be seen and those who have experienced similar posturing over the years know only too well that one set of bureaucrats overseeing another set of bureaucrats is going to achieve, well a bureaucratic outcome – pretty much status quo, same as it ever was.
A letter to the Pavement
Dear Editor
I’m writing to you as someone who has read your magazine since it first came out along with many homeless people – some of whom I have attempted to help over the years.
After 8 years in charities, mainly working with the homeless I’ve decided to leave after becoming so disillusioned. Few charities speak out or appear to have concerns over issues such as hot washing the places where homeless people sleep or the attempted ban of soup runs.
If it works, starve it
The Salford Star …with attitude and love xxx
By Stephen Kingston
In some `less enlightened’ countries they don’t mess about with meddling journalists – they just shoot them or blow up their offices. Here in England they censor and execute you economically. It has the same affect. Hence the winter issue of Salford Star didn’t appear.