The Office for Civil Society has announced £3.1 million in funding from dormant bank accounts for new projects to support investment in local communities. The Big Society Investment fund which has been set up in advance of the launch of Big Society Capital (formally the Big Society Bank), will invest in four projects including supporting vulnerable young adults to enter employment and the creation of the social stock exchange.

The four organisations receiving funding are:

• Franchising Works
• Triodos Bank
• Community Generation Fund
• The Social Stock Exchange

More investments will be considered by the Big Society Investment Fund at the Investment Committee in February with Big Society Capital due to be fully functional by the end of March 2012.

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Calouste Gulbenikan Foundation have provided funding for an independent audit of the Big Society, to be carried out the think tank Civil Exchange in collaboration with Democratic Audit and DHA.

A range of think tanks, government departments, academics and voluntary organisations have been sent a consultation document on the design of the audit. The document identifies the three key areas of the Big Society of community empowerment, opening up public services and encouraging social action and capital. Each key area has a number of outcomes associated with its measurement.    

It is hoped that with future funding, the audit will be repeated in subsequent years.

The Government has launched the Big Society Bank with the new name Big Society Capital. The social investment pioneer Sir Ronald Cohen has been named as the funds interim chair and he described Big Society Capital as an “investment firm rather than a bank.”

Big Society Capital will be independent from Government and will provide access to social investment from dormant bank account funds and £200 million of investment from four high street banks. The first investment from Big Society Capital has been made to a private equity foundation to support disadvantaged young people into employment, education or training.

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office said, “There are few moments like this when something happens that can really change the world. We’ve all heard about a small charity or social enterprise sweeping away entrenched local social problems. But we have not seen a significant commitment to help social innovations grow and be implemented on the national stage until now. Big Society Capital will undoubtedly change this and unlock the money that charities and social enterprises need to grow when a big opportunity comes along.”

Details of the fund including the application process can be found on the Big Lottery Fund Website.

The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) is launching an inquiry to order to, “identify actions which the government can take to promote the Big Society.” The inquiry will investigate a definition of what the Big Society is or should be, as well as exploring a range of other issues including, the impact of spending cuts on delivery of the Big Society, the capacity of the voluntary sector to deliver public services and the potential challenges faced by the voluntary sector with increased commissioning of services.

A full list of the issues to be discussed in the inquiry can be found here

Responses to the PASC should be submitted by Friday the 18^th of March, by email to pasc@parliament.uk, or by post to the Clerk of the Public Administration Select Committee, Committee Office, First Floor, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA

The Government hopes to start a national debate about the time, money and mutual support that people give to their local community and hope to foster a culture change in Britain. As such, the Government has launched a Giving Green Paper which sets out ways to support building the Big Society through encouraging social action. The paper sets outs plans to nurture a more giving society and looks at how and why a culture change can be achieved. The paper sets out ways to engage people to give more, highlighting the following areas for action:

• Great Opportunities
• Information
• Visibility
• Exchange
• Support

The Giving Green Paper can be accessed here

The Government has published a landmark bill granting more powers to local communities and enabling local people the freedom to run their own neighbourhoods in the way that they decide is best. The legislation aims to revise the relationship between central and local government and between communities and individuals.

Eric Pickles the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said, “By getting out of the way and letting councils and communities run their own affairs we can restore civic pride, democratic accountability and economic growth – and build a stronger, fairer Britain. It’s the end of the era of big government: laying the foundations for the Big Society.”

The Localism Bill contains the following measures to strengthen local communities:

• Devolving significant new powers to councils;
• Establishing powerful new rights for local people and communities;
• Radically reforming planning;
• Making housing fairer and more democratic;
• Creating powerful incentives for economic growth.

The Office for Civil Society has begun a consultation process to improve support for frontline civil society organisations to help build the Big Society. The consultation is running between 14 October 2010 and 6 January 2011 and aims to understand how central Government can best provide the advice, support and influence to ensure that civil society in England is able to modernise and respond to change.   

The consultation is aimed at local frontline voluntary organisations and social enterprises, infrastructure agencies, local public sector agencies and private sector businesses. Feedback is requested in six specific areas: access to advice through online services, access to wider sources of support, direct support to frontline organisations, consolidation of infrastructure, better local public sector partnerships and better national public sector partnerships.

Click here for more information on the consultation including details on how to respond

Ministers have announced plans to put the Big Society at the heart of public service reform in a “radical shift” in public service contracting.  Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, announced the publication of a Green Paper for discussion on creating  “a level playing field” for civil society organisations to bid for public service contracts. The Green Paper will outline an approach to remove barriers for charities and social enterprises to bid for the delivery of public services.   

Speaking at a Downing Street summit of charity, voluntary and social enterprise sector leaders, Maude said, “A Big Society Approach will drive improvements by giving power to people working on the ground who know how to do things better.” The plans being outlined will allow more power to be exercised at a local level enabling voluntary groups to have the right to deliver more services locally. The Green Paper will be used to inform a Public Service Reform White Paper to be published next year.