§ Lord Eltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which programmes of work by the Performance and Innovation Unit, the Active Community Unit and the Regional Co-ordination Unit currently in progress or in prospect are directed at supporting the voluntary and charitable sectors; how they relate to each other; what are their intended effects; and when it is expected that they will be achieved. [H2725]
§ The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)The Performance and Innovation Unit is reviewing the legal and regulatory framework for charities and the voluntary sector. The aims of the review are to enable not-for-profit organisations to thrive; to encourage the development of new types of organisation; and to ensure public confidence in the sector. The review was announced on 3 July 2001 and is expected to report in the spring.
The Active Community Unit provides funding to voluntary and community organisations that support the development of strong and active communities. For example, over the past year, under the capital modernisation grant programme, some £8 million was invested in 46 local voluntary and community partnership projects to enhance and improve access to services by encouraging co-location, integration and refurbishment of community buildings; £1 million a year is also invested in support of 18 networks to ensure that the voluntary and community sector has a voice at regional level.
The unit provides some £12 million a year in three-year grants to key national bodies in the voluntary and community sector that support the development of communities.
250WAThe unit is developing proposals for simplifying access to small grants for small voluntary and community groups. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary hopes to publish an action plan in the next few weeks that will provide for the establishment. at local level, of a simplified mechanism for handling all government small grants programmes. The aim is to encourage more people to become involved in their communities and making it easier for them to do so.
The Regional Co-ordination Unit is undertaking a study to explore how the system of regeneration and community funding could be made more comprehensible to both voluntary and community sector groups as well as small businesses. The study covers regeneration and community funding: that is, resources provided by government and other agencies to support activity which will change the economic, environmental or social state of an area.
There has been regular dialogue between the units and they work closely together. They aim to recommend a package of reforms that will support the sector as a whole.