Belinda Pratten's blog

This is a difficult time for many organisations, as the real impact of government cuts starts to bite. It's not just the speed and scale of the cuts that has been so problematic, it is also the uncertainty as local councils decide where the axe will fall. Many organisations are only now finding out whether they will be funded on April 1.

In June the Government announced its intention to replace Regional Development Agencies with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs): Businesses and local councils were invited to come together to lead local economic development and generate private sector-led growth and job creation in their areas. Although most partnerships will cover several local authority areas, it will up to be councils and businesses to agree workable boundaries - focusing on 'functional economic areas' rather than the nine regions. The first phase of 24 LEPs were announced last month.

Twenty-one voluntary and community organisations have the opportunity to rub shoulders with politicians and opinion formers at this year’s Party Conferences as part of NCVO's Party Conference Bursary scheme. NCVO asked three bursary winners to write a guest blog post about the conferences. Here is the third and final post.

Twenty-one voluntary and community organisations have the opportunity to rub shoulders with politicians and opinion formers at this year’s Party Conferences as part of NCVO's Party Conference Bursary scheme. NCVO asked three bursary winners to write a guest blog post about the conferences. Here is the second post.

Twenty-one voluntary and community organisations have the opportunity to rub shoulders with politicians and opinion formers at this year’s Party Conferences as part of NCVO's Party Conference Bursary scheme.

Good regulation helps to protect VCOs, their beneficiaries and employees. But too much red tape costs organisations time and money. Whether it is long winded application forms or long waits for CRB checks, it sometimes seems as if we spend more time dealing with paperwork than meeting people’s needs.