Professor Fred Robinson, of Policy&Practice, chaired an event on 28th February for the Institute for Local Governance in Newcastle to discuss what contribution charities and social enterprises can make to local social growth. Jo Curry of VONNE explained that there are significant new opportunities for initiatives due to new money coming from the European Union and Big Lottery to tackle issues in Local Enterprise Partnerships in the north and south of the region. Karen Woods from NESEP positioned the social enterprise sector as key players in such developments, giving examples of their innovative practice.
Tony Chapman, from St Chad’s spoke about how to build the capability of social enterprises which were not yet ready to lever funds from new income streams and advised the use of ‘stress tests’ to make sure that organisations were serious about the change required to do such work. Chi Unwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Enterprise, outlined new thinking informing policy reviews for the Labour party. Details of future ILG events can be found here.