Ealing Property Strategy

You may have read in the local paper or heard rumours about the possible closure of lots of community centres and other settings where if my count is right well over 100 voluntary and community centres operate.

Let's not panic 'yet' as this is all part of a huge set of documents around an Ealing Property Strategy covering at least 5 years activity which was discussed at the last Overview and Scrutiny meeting on 17 July. If you have a week or so's spare time you will find all the documents on the Ealing Council website. View the documents here


This strategy is likely to go to cabinet in September but the panel asked for a considerable number of extra things to be taken into consideration. Whilst I think some of it will be trimmed back or the whole thing scrapped as happened about 3 years ago it should be noted that the decision not to grant Impact Theatre a lease on Stirling Rd at the last cabinet means that some might say there is an appetite to sell of property where community groups operate.

Government Cuts are already set to hit hard locally

Over the last couple of months we have had announcements of this or that Quango being dissolved and a wide range of funding streams being cut not in the future but this year.
The first and most important of these are in what is known as area based grants as noted in a recent news article on www.ealingnetwork.org.uk.
After the first set of 'surprises' the local implications started to becoms clearer particularly around children's services which has to cut £1.544m which equates to a 24% cut in 27 seperate funding areas. On 20 July a paper is going to cabinet showing the implications of these cuts which are wide ranging.
This includes nearly 30 VCS organisations who are likely to have cuts in their project budgets for this year.
The council are starting 'consultations' on how these cuts will be implimented. What are the questions that need to be addressed in taking this forward - over to you fellow bloggers

Policy updates

It can be hard for people who work and volunteer for charities and community groups to keep up with new policies from local and central government.

One of the services that we provide is a regular policy e-newsletter, which includes short, plain English summaries of important policies which will affect local voluntary groups. These updates are produced by our CANBE (Communities and Neighbourhoods Building Effectiveness) team. CANBE is a project which aims to help local people and groups work as equals with decision makers.

We also do more in depth policy briefings on important issues. For example, we are currently working on a summary of the big changes which the government has announced for healthcare. Some of the past policy briefings that we have prepared can be seen here and our e-newsletters can be seen here.

If you would like to receive copies of our policy newsletters or want an indepth briefing on a particular policy, please contact Rahma Elmi, CANBE Development Worker or leave us a comment.

All change in the NHS

The Coalition Government calls its White Paper ‘Liberating the NHS’, but we think that many Managers of Public And Patient Involvement will fear that it means liberating them from their jobs! The good news is that far-reaching proposals to abolish PCTs, to introduce GPs consortia as commissioning bodies and to convert LINks into local HealthWatch will require primary legislation, with a Bill promised this Autumn. Controversy will be certain, and despite not issuing a consultation paper right now, the Minister has asked for comments by 5th October. He won’t be disappointed! And there will be far more opportunities to contribute. On our calculation, the White Paper promises 15 (yes fifteen!!) further consultations on aspects of this plan. In the meantime, we are keen to discuss the proposals and their impact on public and VCS engagement in the Health service. An open meeting in Ealing will be set up shortly - watch this space.
Carmel

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog, which we hope will be a useful resource for local charities and community groups in Ealing.

Ealing Community and Voluntary Service provides support to local voluntary and community groups in the London Borough of Ealing. We offer a wide range of services, from information and advice to group development and fundraising support. You can find out more about all of our projects on our website.

If you'd like to get in touch with us, then please leave a comment here or send us an e-mail.