By John McCormick from NICVA
Published on 25 Jun 2008
Voluntary and community sector organisations got a chance to witness the day to day operation of an Assembly committee at first hand when the Social Development Committee met at NICVA on 19 June 2008.
The Assembly's Social Development Committee meets in NICVA
Assembly gets the lowdown on funding cuts
The Assembly’s Social Development Committee met away from Stormont for the first time at NICVA on 19 June 2008.
The meeting gave the voluntary and community sector a chance to witness the day to day operation of an Assembly committee at first hand, and over 50 representatives from the sector took up the opportunity.
In among the committee’s regular business a NICVA delegation including Bob Stronge, Chair, Seamus McAleavey, Chief Executive, and Frances McCandless, Director of Policy, was asked to make a presentation on the dire funding situation in the sector.
In his outline of the current situation, Bob Stronge said:
“NICVA is concerned that as public spending contracts in Northern Ireland and many sources of funding come to an end, the voluntary and community sector will be badly affected. A brief snapshot of just some of NICVA’s members shows 54 organisations facing the combined loss of over 130 jobs, loss of support to over 160 volunteers, leading to a resultant loss of services to over 6,500 people.
He pointed out that a smaller more strategic Peace III, the loss of money to the Big Lottery Fund due to the Olympics, the running down of the Executive Programme Funds for Children and Young People, the ending of the Community Investment Fund, changes to Neighbourhood Renewal and the passing on of 3% so-called efficiency savings to organisations are all affecting frontline services and ultimately the viability of the organisations and the services and jobs they provide.
He reminded the Committee that NICVA has raised the issue of efficiency savings in departmental budgets simply being passed on as direct cuts with a resultant impact on services with DFP for over four years. We have recently raised the matter again with the Health Minister and with the Finance Minister. There is now evidence that this is happening and cuts applied universally reward the inefficient and punish the efficient.
He added:
“As funding dries up, organisations will close without there being any overview of what services are essential, what organisations are strategically valuable and what the impact of closure will be. NICVA has asked the Minister for Social Development to bring forward a White Paper on the Voluntary and Community Sector to provide a context for its policy and funding relationship with the sector
NICVA has asked the outgoing Minister for Finance and Personnel, Peter Robinson, to commission an Efficiency Scrutiny of the delivery of public services by voluntary and community organisations to determine their real value for money.”
Briefing Paper
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Briefing Paper
NICVA had submitted a Briefing Paper to the Committee in advance of the meeting, which set out a lot of the evidence of funding cuts gathered from a quick survey of NICVA members.
Questions
The committee asked the NICVA delegates for clarification on a number of issues in the report including: youth funding, efficiency savings, the Supporting People programme, the need for a White Paper on the voluntary and community sector, donations, the future of the sector and dormant bank accounts. This was a great opportunity for NICVA to provide important supporting information and enlist support for its position.
Broad Support
The Committee expressed broad support for NICVA’s suggestions and the Committee made a number of recommendations:
- Write to the Minister about the progress of the White Paper
- Write to OFMDFM about the Executive Programme Funds
- Write to DFP backing NICVA's call for an efficiency scrutiny to be carried out on the sector
- Get more information on dormant accounts
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