Recommendations published on improving quality of charity leadership
All charity staff and volunteers should receive 40 hours of professional development a year, according to recommendations published by the Leadership 20:20 Commission, at a reception of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Civil Society and Volunteering.
Posted: 15 December 2011
Read the full article on our website here

Charity Act 2011 receives royal assent
The Charities Act 2011 received Royal Assent on 14 December. The new Act, which will come into force in March 2012 repeals and replaces the Recreational Charities Act 1958, the Charities Act 1993 and many of the provisions of the Charities Act 2006.
Posted: 15 December 2011
Read the full article on our website here

New group aims to inspire sector impact
Twelve organisations, including NCVO and Acevo, have come together to form the ‘inspiring impact’ group, which plans to provide collective leadership on impact measurement in the charity sector over the next decade.
Posted: 08 December 2011
Read the full article on our website here

Funding announced for new VCS apprenticeships
Skills – Third Sector has announced that new advanced apprenticeships in campaigning, fundraising and volunteer management have been approved by the National Apprenticeships Service for funding by the Skills Funding Agency.
Posted: 01 February 2012
Read the full article on our website here

Sign up to new Skills Funding Agency register
Organisations who want to receive funding from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) you must be signed up to their Register of Training Organisations, or reapply if they were previously registered on ACTOR, by 10 February for financial statements and 17 February for the online questionnaire.
Posted: 26 January 2012
Read the full article on our website here

£100million fund to help VCS revive neighbourhoods
Communities Minister Andrew Stunell has invited VCS organisations to apply for a share of £100million to help revitalise communities, provide opportunities for employment and training, and create more affordable houses by tackling the problem of empty homes.
Posted: 25 January 2012
Read the full article on our website here

To view the latest edition of the bulletin please click on the link below:

http://www.involvinglincs.org.uk/documents/issue%2017%20jan%202012.pdf

Please click on the stories below that you’re interested in, or on the link at the bottom of the page to view all new items.

New items include:  

Policy and Law

     Stop-and-search ‘highly intrusive’

    First BIG grants to help VSC groups plan for more sustainable future

    Commission funds first age discrimination cases heard at the supreme court

Reports and Publications

    Prime Minister’s speech on the European Court of Human Rights

    Evidence to the Leverson Inquiry on violence against women

    Thirty NGOs call for protection for legal aid

Events and Surveys

    Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010 Seminars

    Holocaust Memorial Day 27^th January - visit http://hmd.org.uk/ to find out what’s happening in the region and how you can play your part

If you would like more information or to book onto one of these events please contact info@redp.org.uk or ring 0116 222 5005

 To read all of the information, please visit our website

 This will be sent out fortnightly to inform you of all the latest news and stories we think will interest you. However, if you would like to be removed from the distribution list, please email us at info@redp.org.uk.

One East Midlands is coordinating a response to the Cabinet Office’s consultation on Introducing a Statutory Register of Lobbyists. The purpose of the consultation is to give all interested parties, including the VCS, the opportunity to comment on the policy options that will underpin the establishment of a statutory register of lobbyists.

The Cabinet Office consultation is open to 13 April. The government will take all responses into account before bringing forward the legislation for debate in parliament.

In the attached document, we have drawn out the key elements of the paper relevant to the VCS and the three questions we would like your responses to. To give us time to collate our response to the consultation, please return your responses by Friday 4 April to us at information@one-em.org.uk or to Claire Chapman, Information & Membership Officer, One East Midlands, 7 Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FB.

Click here for further information.

In this issue:

 ·                    Funding Guidance 2011/12 – Adult Skills Budget Funding Claims and Audit Returns

·                    Discretionary Learner Support second in-year forecast – 2011/12

·                    Consultation on a proposed college merger – Southwark College and Lewisham College

·                    Communicating the Skills Investment Strategy

·                    Take part in National Apprenticeship Week 6 – 12 February

·                    Unit Delivery Trials 2011/12 – Additional briefing document available soon

·                    Applications welcomed for training managers for WorldSkills 2013 – closing date 27 January!

Click here to open Update – Issue 92, our primary weekly communication channel for colleges and training organisations.

If you have any feedback, please get in touch by emailing:  Update@skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk

We are pleased to inform that following successful mediation meetings held in January, NOCN and the three awarding organisations Aim Awards, Laser Learning Awards and Open Awards have reached agreement as follows:

• a transitional period up to 31 July 2012, during which the interests of learners and centres will be protected; and
• that the three organisations will leave NOCN and from the 1^st August offer their own branded qualifications.

There will be no adverse impact for learners who are working towards NOCN units and qualifications.

Newcastle, state of the sector report

This excellent report from Newcastle CVS, presents the results of their recent survey, The State of the Sector, and looks at the impact of the economic downturn and public spending cuts on the voluntary and community sector in Newcastle.  The results make for mainly unhappy reading with service closures and redundancies likely; however some organisations report opportunities ahead, particularly with the new GP consortia commissioning arrangements.

UK Labour Market Statistics - January 2012
The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.3 per cent, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 29.12 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 18,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent of the economically active population, up 0.3 on the quarter. There were 2.68 million unemployed people, up 118,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995 and the number of unemployed people has not been higher since 1994. The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 23.1 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter. There were 9.29 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 61,000 on the quarter.
Link

January 2012 Regional LMI
A useful document providing comparison between regions and local areas across a host of indicators.
Link

UK economic performance since 1997: growth, productivity and jobs
The UK’s high GDP per capita growth was driven by strong growth in productivity (GDP per hour), which was second only to the US, and good performance in the jobs market (which was better than in the US). The UK’s relative economic performance appears even stronger in the years prior to 2008 before the Great Recession engulfed the developed world.
Link

Rural Growth Network: £15 million of new funding to support rural growth.
Open to bids from local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and local councils, the Rural Growth Fund (RGN) is aimed at "identifying mechanisms capable of stimulating faster and more widespread sustainable growth, employment and economic activity in rural areas."
Link

Employer ownership of skills: securing a sustainable partnership for the long term
The paper sets out the UK Commission’s high level vision for what employer ownership means and how it has the potential to transform skills in England. It outlines why skills matter, the current system, five high level principles for reform, proposals, benefits and a call to action to employers to come forward with their own bold propositions for how to step up and take responsibility for employer-based training such as Apprenticeships.
Link

How local are labour markets? Evidence from a spatial job search model
Uses data on very small UK geographies to investigate the effective size of local labour markets, and develops a theory of job search across space that allows the estimation of a matching process with a very large number of areas. Reveals that the cost of distance is relatively high, confirming that labour markets are quite 'local'.
Link

Building engagement, building futures: our strategy to maximise the participation of 16-24 year olds in education, training and work
'Building Engagement, Building Futures' has been developed jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. It sets out how reforms to schools, vocational education, skills and welfare provision will all make a significant difference to young people’s opportunities and support.
Link

Supporting local growth
The Coalition Government is committed to a radical shift of power to local communities which puts people, local businesses and councils in the driving seat. They want to give people and businesses the tools they need to deliver economic growth in a climate free of red tape.
Link

Very poor unemployment figures
UK unemployment rose by 118,000 in the three months to November, to 2.685 million, official figures show. The figures showed the private sector was not compensating for job losses in the public sector, with the private sector creating 5,000 in the period, while 67,000 public sector jobs were lost.
Link

Rise in self-employed 'odd jobbers' keeping the lid on unemployment
In its latest Work Audit report, published today, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) questions whether the current 4.14 million record level of self-employment in the UK heralds a resurgent enterprise culture and concludes that the bulk of those at present taking the self-employed route to work are part-time 'odd jobbers' desperate to avoid unemployment.
Link

Regional statistics face axe
Academics have reacted angrily to the news that the Department for Communities and Local Government is considering plans to cease the publication of regional statistics.
Link

Skild is a training programme designed specifically for support and development organisations: from CVS and Rural Community Councils through to black and minority ethnic development organisations, community forums and local development trusts. 

http://www.navca.org.uk/services/learningopps/skild