London Councils Summit
The seventh and largest ever London Summit took place on Saturday 12 July at the QEII Conference Centre in Westminster. Among the hundreds of delegates attending, many were members of the public interested in becoming local councillors. The government is keen to devolve more powers to communities at grass roots level and has encouraged councils to contract services from the third sector.
The event focused on the theme of community leadership, and explored how these changes have affected councillors' influence in their communities and whether fewer people will opt to be a local councillor. Elizabeth Balgobin, LVSC's CE was one of the panellists who spoke on Community leadership in the 21st century. Other speakers were Tony Travers from LSE and Merrick Cockell, Chair of London Councils.
Download Elizabeth Balgobin speech 
Community Leadership in 21st Century
Our Way: celebrating and supporting the independence of our sector
Our AGM and conference this year will be held at Amnesty International's Human Rights Action Centre on 12 November.
We are delighted that our special guest speakers will be Andy Benson of the National Coalition for Independent Action, Susan Kramer MP and Lib Dem spokesperson on the Third Sector, and Craig Dearden-Phillips from Speaking Up.
We will also be running our Success Stories awards again, with presentations at the conference. There will be vacancies on our Board of Trustees at the AGM. This is a great opportunity to influence the future development of LVSC and gain experience of strategic leadership.
If you are interested in becoming a Trustee, please contact Susan George on 020 7700 8105 or susan@lvsc.org.uk.
LDA Leadership Sets New Direction
The new head of the London Development Agency is reshaping the organisation to focus on three key areas of importance to Londoners – jobs creation, skills development and sustainable economic growth. Interim Chief Executive Peter Rogers has set a clear direction as he drives forward improvement to restore public confidence in the Agency.
Together with Interim Chairman Harvey McGrath, he has signalled his commitment to learning the lessons from ongoing reviews and investigations, including report by the Forensic Audit Panel, which endorses the extensive improvements already underway.
The LDA’s improvement programme has already created a focus in the Agency to deliver clear outputs and outcomes, better project management and efficiency, clearer monitoring procedures and an increased emphasis on evaluation to ensure Londoners receive value for money.
Stronger governance arrangements - particularly concerning investment, risk and evaluation - are now being proposed and will be put to the new LDA Board when it meets for the first time in September.
Interim Chief Executive Peter Rogers said: “The LDA is committed to delivering benefits to Londoners. We will adopt a more strategic role and our work will be focused in three key areas - the creation of jobs, improving the skills of people in the capital and putting measures in place to promote economic growth”
Third Sector Investment Programme
The Third Sector Investment Programme replaces the Section 64 General Scheme of Grants from 2009 - 10.
The Investment Programme, which replaces the Section 64 General Scheme of Grants from 2009-10, has been informed and developed through a wide ranging consultation with third sector organisations.
The funding programmes will open for applications on Monday 21 July 2008. First stage applications must be submitted by Monday 8 September 2008.
Chain Reaction
The Prime Minister last year announced support for the development of an annual global forum on social leadership. This initiative -called Chain Reaction - is part of the work programme of the Council on Social Action and is being run by Community Links.
The forum will bring together community activists, policy makers, business leaders and young people to inspire new actions for positive social change. The programme will include:
- Inspirational speakers, debates and conversations
- Open space, materials and practical support to develop new ideas
- Activities to make you think entirely planned and delivered by young people
- A 'transformance' programme drawing on learning from creative arts from around the world
- A dedicated social media space, connecting people virtually to the event from all around the world, drawing on their collective brain power to accelerate the development of new ideas for social action
The event is being held on 17-18 November on London's South Bank and is now open for registrations
Conference report