Natural England

SUPPORT FOR THE RURAL VOLUNTARY SECTOR (AP01/55)

FOR DECISION

Background

1. The voluntary sector plays an important role in the countryside and covers a wide range of organisations and interests from major national charities to local community based groups. This paper focuses primarily on issues relating to the role of the voluntary sector in rural communities, rather than wider countryside bodies, although some of the issues covered will be relevant to both. A separate paper addresses the immediate issue of funding for the county based Rural Community Councils from 1 April 2002.

2. The Agency works in close partnership with the voluntary sector at all levels and across a wide range of activities. We seek to influence their policies and activities to ensure that they recognise and address the needs of rural people and communities. We also provide support for a number of voluntary organisations, both as a means of helping to develop and implement our programmes and activities, and also in recognition of the sector's varied role in underpinning and supporting local activity and in helping to deliver services generally. This is particularly relevant in rural communities, where the voluntary sector is often the main, or only, provider of local services and facilities, and also the means by which local people become engaged in their communities and their environment.

National influencing

3. Under successive governments voluntary organisations have become key players in delivering services and other government programmes, sometimes, it is argued, at the expense of their independence or pioneering role. The Active Communities Unit (ACU) in the Home Office has the responsibility within Whitehall for government policies vis a vis the voluntary sector and we are working to ensure that the Unit takes full account of the needs and role of voluntary organisations in rural areas. In addition, we are currently seeking to influence two important pieces of work: a study by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) into the legal and regulatory framework for voluntary organisations and the cross cutting review on the role of the voluntary sector in service delivery as part of the Spending Review 2002. A note of these and other relevant initiatives is in the Annex, together with the main issues relating to the rural voluntary sector.

4. The rural voluntary sector is diverse and varies in scope, size and capacity. Typically, in rural areas, the sector is seen as small scale, fragmented, under resourced, with fewer professional staff and with a lower level of skills. Local networks can be weak and difficult to maintain In order to get a better handle on the rural voluntary sector, we have commissioned the NCVO to map it to provide us with more accurate information on its extent and the needs. 

5. Foot and Mouth Disease has had a major effect on the rural voluntary sector and rural communities, adding to their vulnerability and in many cases weakening them still further. National and local organisations have lost funds because they are either unable to deliver the service for which they normally charge (e.g. local play groups and other community based services, the Youth Hostels Association) or they have been unable to hold fund-raising events (eg village halls) or have had to reduce or forego subscriptions (e.g. National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs). Others have had to divert into providing counselling and other services more immediately related to the impact of FMD on local communities. 

6. We have been monitoring the community impacts of FMD, which we included in our input to the Rural Task Force. NCVO are also in the process of updating their research on the impacts of the disease and this should be available by the end of the year. 

7. We continue to administer the FMD charity match funding scheme. By the end of September we had matched nearly £14m of donations from the public and a further £2m has been allocated to continue the scheme until the end of December. Monitoring and reviewing the grants will continue into the next financial year. 

Countryside Agency direct support

8. Agency Board paper AP 00/2 set out our relationship with voluntary organisations. The Agency's principal source of support for the voluntary sector infrastructure in rural areas (as opposed to support for projects or particular pieces of work) is through its annual funding for the 38 county-based Rural Community Councils, which act as intermediary bodies on behalf of local authorities and local communities in their areas. In addition the Agency provides funding for the RCCs' national association, ACRE, and for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the main umbrella and representative body for the voluntary sector in England. The Agency also provides support for projects led by or involving voluntary organisations, large and small, in pursuance of our specific programme and influencing activities. We therefore have a direct interest in the strength and capability of the voluntary sector, as well as in its general role.

NCVO and ACRE

9. This year is the first year of a new three year Service Level Agreement with the NCVO which provides each year a major piece of research (this year mapping the rural voluntary sector), a fixed number of pieces of policy advice (they have produced a useful piece on the impact of FMD) and dissemination reports and events related to the research. They have held a seminar on social exclusion, including a session on rural issues, and will host a rural policy seminar in December. NCVO's annual meeting in February 2002 will also include a rural seminar at which the Agency will speak. Any expansion of this work would depend upon additional resources being available and we have no plans to do so at present.

10. We continue to fund ACRE to administer the Village Halls Loan Fund or specific projects. The Chairman and Margaret Clark met representatives of RCCs on 28 November and heard that good progress is being made towards a single representative body for all RCCs from the next financial year.

Strengthening the rural voluntary sector

Scope for future action 

11. There is a clear need to strengthen the voluntary sector in rural areas and to increase its capacity to tackle existing and future demands, whether through strengthening organisations operating at a local level or through ensuring that national voluntary organisations reach out and deliver their 'services' to rural people and communities. Ministers, in particular Alun Michael, the Minister for Rural Affairs, have shown interest in ways to enhance the role of voluntary organisations in rural areas. Given more resources, the Agency would be well placed to assist this process. 

12. One area of potential, is identifying and providing support for local community animateurs/community leaders. In some cases RCC fieldworkers or the new community development workers may carry out part of this role but they cover a wide area and most community leaders are successful when locally based. Parish clerks/councillors, or people involved in activities arising from our other community based programmes, are also potential community leaders, but often action is required to identify the appropriate people and then to support them, as catalysts and focus for action in their communities. We are developing ideas on how the Agency might support this role, perhaps through small grants to individuals and support for the infrastructure to enable networking. The Active Communities Unit and lottery funders (e.g. Awards for All), will also have an interest and, if funds allow, we may pilot the approach in a few areas before putting together a case for a more widespread scheme, either as part of any additional funding which may result from the spending review bid or from other sources. 

Spending review 2002

13. In addition to our involvement in and influencing the outcome of the crosscutting and other voluntary sector reviews, we have put forward a bid to the spending review for an additional £4.5m over three years for strengthening the capacity of the voluntary sector, which would enable us to develop some of the proposals set out in this paper, including further support to increase the capacity of RCCs, additional work with NCVO across broad voluntary sector issues, support for a community leadership programme and identifying and working with new partners. In addition we have submitted 2 further bids in which the voluntary sector would play a major role in helping us to deliver:

• promoting the social economy -  developing existing work on identifying and mapping the social economy and potential of social enterprise in rural areas, supporting pilots and disseminating best practice  

• young people in the countryside - a 6 year rural youth initiative to improve the life chances of young people in rural areas.  

14. If the Spending Review bid is unsuccessful, we propose to investigate other possibilities for ways to help rural voluntary organisations, eg in developing fund-raising strategies and business planning skills, including work with the private sector and charitable trusts. We have already had positive discussions with the Nationwide Building Society who have identified community regeneration and volunteering as priorities for their community programme from next year

Risks of failure and the main ways of guarding against them

15. Apart from funding the most significant risks are that we will be unsuccessful in influencing the priorities of the ACU, the Lottery Boards and the PIU and cross-cutting reviews on the voluntary sector or that the Agency will not be perceived as mainstream to voluntary sector relationships. These influencing activities and the wide range of bodies with which we deal and keep in touch, or which wish to get alongside us, require a heavy degree of staff input, often at a senior level. 

16. The longer term risk is that, if some or all of our various bids are successful, we do not know in sufficient time to work up schemes before they are launched. New schemes with the voluntary sector usually take time to get off the ground before demonstrating positive results, especially where dealing with more intangible issues, such as capacity building. We will undertake some preparatory work without diverting too much resource unnecessarily and will set achievable and realistic milestones for any new work.

Annex 1

GOVERNMENT POLICY ON THE RURAL VOLUNTARY SECTOR

Active Communities Unit, Home Office

The lead responsibility for the voluntary sector and co-ordinating government policy towards it is the Active Communities Unit within the Home Office. Established as a successor to the Voluntary Services Unit, the ACU has been undergoing a process of reorganisation, culminating in the appointment of a new Director who will take up post in the new year. Whilst we have good relations with individual members of staff within the ACU, we have not managed to make a major input to their policy thinking. We are meeting them shortly and intending to seek an early meeting with the new Director to see how we can work together more effectively. 

Alun Michael has a particular interest and background in voluntary sector issues and is keen to do more in this field. He met Angela Eagle, the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Home Office with responsibility for voluntary and community policy, in October. The Agency attended the meeting. The ACU is proposing to develop a more decentralised approach and is interested in developing social enterprise and undertaking social audits. We have agreed to provide them with experience from our own social exclusion programme and will endeavour to work with them on the rural dimension of this work. 

A major recent initiative from the Unit has been the development of a Compact governing the relationship between government and the voluntary sector. We are aiming to build on this in developing a memorandum of understanding with Rural Community Councils. The Unit has also developed proposals for a single application form for all government grants. We have responded to the consultation paper, with reservations, and are to meet officials on 30 November to discuss our concerns.

Performance and Innovation Unit, Cabinet Office, review of the voluntary sector

The Performance and Innovation Unit within the Cabinet Office is undertaking a review of the legal and regulatory framework for charities and the voluntary sector. We have submitted written comments and requested a meeting to discuss our interest in more detail to ensure that the review takes account of the particular nature and circumstances of rural community groups. We would like the review to address some of the constraints imposed by charitable status, which may prevent community groups from being involved in more flexible service provision which could be beneficial, especially to small communities.

Spending Review 2002

The Treasury is leading a cross cutting review of the role of the voluntary sector in public service delivery. We have submitted written evidence and have recently been invited to sit on the officials' working group. The voluntary sector plays a key role in service provision in rural areas especially in issues such as child care, transport, activities based in village halls, regeneration and access to the countryside. 

National Lottery 

Whilst not a formal part of government the Lottery is a major source of funding for voluntary organisations and community projects. We have recently had discussions with the Community Fund (ex National Charities Lottery Board) as part of their strategy review. The Community Fund seemed well aware of issues in rural areas and we agreed to maintain close working relations in future. For example, it was agreed that the Agency would be consulted about bids to the Fund which seem to be relevant to our areas of interest, in particular transport schemes, and that contact would be encouraged between our Regional Directors and the Fund's regional boards. We have contributed advice to targeting the new Fair Shares programme, jointly funded by New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund, to reach parts of the country which are underrepresented in lottery funding. Pam Warhurst has been invited to attend a meeting hosted by Alun Michael on 10 December to talk about targeting of the Community Fund. We have agreed to provide some background papers on deprivation indicators for rural areas, including the relevance of area based initiatives and advice on the sustainability of community projects.

Main issues concerning the rural voluntary sector

• despite addressing similar issues as organisations in more populated areas, there are distinctive features to the rural voluntary sector, with particular needs and circumstances
• the underresourcing of many rural voluntary organisations, their small size, lack of professional and skilled staff, the difficulty they have in networking and accessing the support services they need
• the paucity of services in rural areas and the key role the voluntary sector plays in filling the gaps and its potential for doing more, given the necessary resources and support,
• its key role in promoting and supporting local community activity
• the additional costs occurred in delivering services and facilities in sparsely populated areas, the scattered client base and the impact that can have on small organisations. The need for funding regimes to recognise these factors.
• the wide variation of voluntary organisations operating in rural areas - from branches of very large national organisations to small singleton local bodies - and the variety of issues covered across the social, economic and environmental agendas, which makes single policies etc difficult to apply
• rural voluntary organisations may cover a wider range of issues and not sit easily in any one category
• the need for a flexible definition of what is a 'voluntary organisation' and for a regulatory framework which recognises the diversity.
• the need for networking, within and across sectors and across geographical boundaries
• the need to strengthen the capacity and the infrastructure.  

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