Decentralisation, Accountability and Transparency

• Building the Big Society
  
• The Decentralisation and Localism Bill 2010
  
• Supporting local community groups to reduce poverty and deprivation
  
• Devolving more power to local government – Making them more accountable to the people they serve
  
• Allowing local residents to veto high council tax rises
  
• Increasing openness and transparency in town halls – Showing residents council spending over £500
  
• Neighbourhood groups- Empowering communities to take over local amenities
  
• Giving communities power over planning
  

Clive Betts MP, Chair, Communities and Local Government Select Committee (CONFIRMED)

Re-energising communities to Build Greater Participation

• The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 – Where do we stand?
  
• Empowering communities – Harnessing community input to deliver tailored and efficient services
  
• Implementing localism at a local level
  
• Engaging hard to reach groups
  

Claire Cooper, Deputy Director, Local Democracy, Community Empowerment Strategy, Department for Communities and Local Government (CONFIRMED)

City Regions: Manchester

• The Statutory City Region Pilot – Putting the common interests of communities first
  
• Devolution of power to improve local leadership, drive up economic growth and deliver greater prosperity
  
• The key priorities and reforms – Eradicating child poverty, Improving employment prospects, investing in lifelong skills, transport and tackling climate change
  
• How will these be delivered? – The strategic ‘delivery plan’
  

Lord Peter Smith, Chair, AGMA, Leader, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (CONFIRMED)

The Role of the Voluntary Sector in Service Provision

• Community Enterprise Strategic Framework
  
• Ensuring community sector issues are raised at the highest level of central government
  
• Utilising the ideas and experience of the community sector in shaping Total Place to maximise social and economic returns from public spending
  
• Cross departmental working to coordinate activities relevant to community investment
  

Helen Stephenson, Deputy Director, Office for Civil Society, Cabinet Office (CONFIRMED)

Building Confidence in Communities – A Funder’s Perspective

The Big Lottery Fund has a rich history of engaging, enabling and empowering people and communities to have a say on where Lottery money should go. This has ranged from consultation, to television voting to the use of local community panels. BIG recently announced a £200million programme called Big Local Trust in England that will guarantee 10 years of funding for targeted, overlooked communities. Local people will play a large part in deciding where this money will be spent. Margaret Cooney, Big Lottery Fund Deputy Director of England, will outline BIG’s learning from a wide range of initiatives, highlighting when these processes can have the biggest impact and how they can bring about the biggest benefit for communities.

Margaret Cooney, Deputy Director, England, Big Lottery Fund (CONFIRMED)