South Shropshire COMPACT
Regeneration and Partnership Report No 17/06.
Policy Committee 2nd November 2006
SOUTH SHROPSHIRE COMPACT WITH THE VOLUNTARY COMMUNITY SECTOR
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Council has been working with South Shropshire Voluntary Action (SSVA), on behalf of South Shropshire Partnership, on a Compact for the last couple of years.
1.2 Compacts are a national Government initiative, first promoted in 1998 with cross party support.
1.3 A Compact should provide a framework for the relationship between government and the voluntary sector. This should exist right through from central to local government.
1.4 In South Shropshire it is considered that the most effective Compact would be between all South Shropshire Partnership members and the local Voluntary Community Sector (VCS).
2.0 RECOMMENDATION
2.1 That the Policy Committee endorses the South Shropshire Compact with the Voluntary Community Sector.
3.0 BACKGROUND
3.1 South Shropshire Partnership is the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for our District and includes representatives from a wide range of organisations active in South Shropshire. (see Community Strategy report)
3.2 There has been a requirement for local government to form Compacts with their local VCS for several years. Work started in South Shropshire in 2004.
3.3 It was decided that a South Shropshire Compact would be most effective if it incorporated other partners, rather than the district council on its own. Therefore a decision was made during the early stages that the South Shropshire Compact would be between the LSP and the VCS.
3.4 For various reasons, including staff changes, the Compact did not come together for some time. However, considerable work over the past few months has resulted in the Compact.
3.5 The Head of Regeneration & Partnerships has worked together with the Chief Officer at Voluntary Action to produce the document.
3.6 The document is based on the findings from a series of workshops, facilitated by SSVA in 2004, with VCS groups and organisations in South Shropshire. It was clear from these workshops that in general there already existed a sound relationship between the Council and the VCS in South Shropshire, with mutual understanding and respect. However, there is always room from improvement and the Compact identifies areas where both partners and the VCS can work more effectively to better address the issues that affect both.
3.7 The Compact identifies shared principles and values. It then describes the commitment needed to realise these and codes of practice.
3.8 There are sections on Volunteering, Funding, and Equalities.
3.9 At the beginning of 2006 Shropshire County Council launched their Compact with the VCS. Several groups active in South Shropshire may also be part of the County Council's Compact. For that reason it is important that the documents are similar in style, whilst recognising any differences at the more local level.
3.10 South Shropshire Partnership endorsed the Compact at their last meeting in September. The Compact will be formally launched shortly at Voluntary Actions AGM.
3.11 The Council will need to consider the Compact in all its future work with the VCS.
Report Prepared by: Samantha Hine
Head of Regeneration & Partnerships
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