Communities & Local Government

Leak suggests 180 quangos to be axed

The BBC has published a leaked list of public bodies earmarked for abolition, merger or reform. The list was included in a letter from Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude to other ministers, dated 26 August and was leaked to the BBC's Politics Show. It suggests 180 quangos will be abolished, 124 merged, 338 retained - though 56 will be subject to "substantial reform" and 100 have their fate to be decided.

A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said the government had "made it clear that it is committed to radically increasing accountability and improving efficiency". Communities Secretary Eric Pickles told the BBC he did not know how accurate the list was: "We are certainly looking towards removing a number of unaccountable quangos and reducing their costs but we haven't come to a firm view with regard to the numbers. But we will be making an announcement reasonably soon."

The list in full

Social Firms UK’s response to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on a Third Sector Partnership Board (August 2008)

The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is setting up a Third Sector Partnership Board to provide them with strategic advice on the design, development, implementation and evaluation of their activities. In our response we stress the importance of the social enterprise sector being represented, in addition to representatives of the voluntary and community sectors. We also point out that the Board’s remit must be clear, and that the work of this board should complement and not overlap with the activities of similar boards in other government departments. We see that this board can provide opportunities to gain greater recognition for the role social enterprises are already playing and to find ways to overcome barriers that constrain social enterprise and Social Firms at a local level.

8 Consultation on Third Sector Partnership Board , Social Firms UK response AUG 2008.pdf

Wednesday 29th July 2009, 11:12am | by Anonymous

Tags:Articles | National coverage | Communities & Local Government, consultation, employment strategy, lobbying, position statement

Social Firms UK awarded part of Communities & Local Government Empowerment Fund

On 1 April 2009, previous Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, announced the names of recipient organisations of the Local Government Empowerment Fund and Social Firms UK was among those chosen. The total £9.25 million fund is being shared among twenty one third sector organisations who work to give people a real say in their communities.

The focus of the Empowerment Fund is delivery on the key themes of the Communities in Control White paper which include being active in your community; access to information; standing for office and ownership and control. Social Firms UK was selected to receive some of the fund to help with its work on using Social Firms to help excluded and disadvantaged groups back into employment.