[WiLT] No women's representation for new health and social care spending planning

[WiL Admin]

(not strictly funding or training but forwarded because of the lack of
women's representation in the proposed VCS voice in planning health
and social care spending - Deborah)


Department of Health announces £5.5m funding recipients

Eleven partner organisations will help plan health and social care
spending

The Department of Health has announced the 11 voluntary organisations
it will pay ?5.5m over the next three years to help plan health and
social care spending and provide feedback from the sector.

The organisations have been appointed ?strategic partners' as part of
the department's new Third Sector Investment Programme.

The investment programme replaces the old Section 64 grants scheme,
which was dogged by threats of legal action when grant payments were
delayed in 2006.

It is hoped the strategic partners, many of which are umbrella bodies,
will create a smoother relationship and lead to an improvement in
care.

A DoH spokeswoman said the partners had been selected from a tender
process that considered their track record, reach across third sector
organisations and ability to work collaboratively.

Kevin Curley, chief executive of local umbrella body Navca, one of the
selected partners, said: "This imaginative new programme will mean
more help for the local third sector to keep pace with changes going
on at a local level and give the local sector a direct voice into the
Department of Health."

Phil Hope, the minister for care services, said: "We will be working
with the strategic partners to jointly plan activity to make sure that
health and social care third sector organisations are able to fulfil
their potential and ultimately contribute to improved health and
wellbeing outcomes for individuals and communities."

The Third Sector Investment Programme has two strands: the strategic
partnership with the sector and the creation of an innovation
excellence and service development fund, which will pay organisations
to deliver health and social care projects.

Applications to the fund closed in September and the DoH is expected
to reveal the successful bidders during the next few weeks.

The strategic partners are:

Navca
National Heart Forum
Men?s Health Forum
LifeLine
Radar/The National Centre for Independent Living and the Shaping Our
Lives National Network User (working together as one strategic
partner)
Age Concern England and Help the Aged
National Children's Bureau
Race Equality Foundation
Voluntary Organisations Disability Group and the National Care Forum
(working together as one strategic partner)
Regional Voluntary Sector Networks Forum
National Council for Palliative Care

Third Sector Online, 23 February 2009
http://ecm.hbpl.co.uk/re?l=ew0a8jI450l1k5Iv