04/04/2010 – Communities Secretary says voluntary and community sectors are vital to local areas
Four new steps to strengthen voluntary, charity and community groups were announced by Communities Secretary John Denham. The measures build on ten years of increased support for the voluntary sector which now has over 40 per cent of people volunteering in some form.
The four measures are:
1. A series of new grants which will let local organisations become self-sufficient;
2. New guidance to local councils, telling them to make sure that third sector organisations must be given a fair chance to bid for local council contracts;
3. New measures outlined in the Budget, to enable community groups to raise new finance and to play a bigger role in delivering cost-effective services which prevent, rather than treat, social problems;
4. New support to transfer publicly owned buildings to the ownership or control of local voluntary groups.
The package includes - Making buildings work for the community, helping local people run their own services, and innovative funding for local organisations.
For more information visit http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/