The European Commission has proposed to improve the current food distribution programme for the most deprived persons in the European Union by increasing the budget by two thirds to around €500 million from 2009 and extending the range of products which can be provided. Originally designed to provide surplus stocks of farm produce (”intervention stocks”) to needy people, the scheme was amended in the mid-1990s to make it possible to supplement intervention stocks with market purchases in certain circumstances. Now that surplus stocks are extremely low and unlikely to increase in the foreseeable future, the scheme should allow market purchases on a permanent basis, to complement remaining intervention stocks. The choice of food would be for the Member States and food distribution plans would be established for three-year periods. Food would continue to be distributed in cooperation with charities and local social services. From the 2010/12 plan, the scheme would be co-financed (75 percent from the EU budget, and 85 percent in cohesion areas). From the 2013/15 plan, co-financing would be split 50/50, with the EU budget providing 75 percent in cohesion regions. The Commission believes an increase in the budget to be necessary because rising food prices are adversely affecting the food security of needy people and increasing the cost of providing food aid. In 2006, more than 13 million EU citizens benefited from this aid scheme. The revised programme should be available from 2010.

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17 September 2008
© Europa

Profits made by charity shops in the last financial year topped £100 million for the first time, according to new statistics. The Salvation Army was one of the charities to benefit, making profits of £6 million - 64 percent more than the previous year. Sue Ryder care saw increases in profits of 35 percent to £2.8 million and Save the Children, Age Concern England and the Children’s Society all achieved rises of more than 15 percent as shoppers hunted for bargains in the credit crunch. Oxfam was the biggest earner, raising £21m through its shops alone. Charity Finance magazine surveyed more than 5,591 shops, discovering that Books and DVDs were among the biggest purchases for cash-strapped consumers. Some charities have been blamed for carrying out “aggressive marketing” which has been accused of driving other stores out of business. However, profits at Barnardo’s and Marie Curie Cancer Care went down, with representatives from the charities blaming a decrease in the amount of donated items. It has recently been reported that Age Concern has opened a charity shop near a tip in Rugby to take items people want to throw away as donations.

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2 September 2008
© CAF

Labour has been accused of exacerbating regional disparities and social fragmentation despite a decade of economic growth. Unpublished research from Cambridge University, unveiled this week at the Royal Geographical Society’s annual conference, blames ill-thought-out regional policy for contributing to disparities that are now wider than at any time since the second world war. Damning the government’s one-Britain aspirations as ‘challenging, vague and limited’, it said Labour’s record was worse than that of the preceding Tory government, which could at least be blamed on the uneven impact of deindustrialisation.

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2 September 2008
© NewStart

A £6 million package to help bring contaminated land back into use was announced by Environment, Sustainability and Housing Minister Jane Davidson today. The available funding - £2million a year over three years - will go to Local Authorities and the Environment Agency for projects across Wales. They will use it to investigate and take remedial action at contaminated land. Jane Davidson said: “Contaminated land is a by-product of Wales’s industrial heritage and cleaning up these sites is of importance to the Welsh Assembly Government. The majority of contaminated sites are dealt with through land development proposals as part of economic regeneration.”

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28 July 2008
© Welsh Assembly Government

Approaching poverty and deprivation in the context of place is an increasing focus of regeneration policy. How can integration be strengthened between social and economic interventions for deprived places, and what are the key challenges to more effective delivery? This paper summarises evidence about the underlying forces affecting place-based economic deprivation across Britain, and explores how interventions aimed at both people and places can be strengthened to tackle disadvantage. Download details: http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/pdf/2255.pdf

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24 July 2008
© Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The G8 leaders have not done enough to address the world poverty crisis, according to international charity Oxfam. Leaders from the most powerful countries in the world met in Japan but their conference did not do enough to satisfy the demands of the organisation. Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International Executive Director, cited climate change, food prices and poverty as some of the problems which needed to be tackled. According to the charity, the G8’s climate change policies leave the world with a 50 percent chance “of global meltdown” and did not do enough to help the hungry. He commented: “Rich country biofuels are a major cause of the global food crisis at this moment, yet the leaders barely mentioned them and blithely continue to burn food in their cars. It’s like discussing the Titanic but failing to talk about the iceberg.” In addition, no new promises regarding African aid or specific targets were made, Oxfam said.

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21 July 2008
© CAF

Over one million people are benefiting from 419 new non-charging cash machines installed in low-income areas throughout the UK in the last 18 months, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Kitty Ussher MP and Treasury Select Committee Chairman, John McFall MP announced today. This substantial progress is the result of a joint initiative between HM Treasury and the ATM working group, chaired by John McFall. Kitty Ussher and John McFall announced that: 419 new free access cash machines are now operating in low income areas; A further 143 locations for free access cash machines have been identified and are planned for end- 2008; These 562 free cash machines will benefit around 1.3m residents who as a result will not have to pay charges or to travel outside their community to withdraw cash; and work continues to ensure there is a free access cash machine in every identified target area.

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17 July 2008
© HM Treasury (National)

The benefits of providing new public transport in deprived areas
This study assesses the social and monetary value of public transport initiatives in four deprived areas of England in order to identify who benefits and how they benefit in relation to wider social inclusion objectives. The travel needs of people in the deprived areas studied could not be wholly met by traditional commercial public transport.
New bus services enabled people to take up job opportunities, access health appointments and make shopping trips that were previously not possible. Participation in leisure and social activities also increased.
Improving public transport information and helping with the cost of fares was as important as improved bus services in helping people on low incomes move from welfare into work.
On the basis of total fare and journey time savings alone, the services studied had an aggregate social benefit of between £21,000 and £661,000 a year. These figures do not take account of any wider social benefit from wholly new trips.
People in the deprived areas studied agreed that more needs to be done to support transport services if regeneration is to be successful. A lack of systematic evaluation of new transport services means local authorities and other agencies lack vital evidence to secure further funding once initial funding ends. The study recommends a comprehensive review of the commercial bus network and publicly subsidised services in deprived areas. This would help identify shortfalls in provision and show where public spending on transport could be most effectively targeted. The full report, The value of new public transport in deprived areas: Who benefits, how and why?, can be downloaded from the site.

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8 July 2008
© Joseph Rowntree Foundation

A new three-year £25m fund to boost community regeneration in Wales will be focused more closely than its predecessor on projects that provide clear and lasting benefit to deprived communities, the Welsh Assembly Government has announced. The Outcomes Fund replaces the Assembly Government’s original Communities First programme, which was established in 2002 to allow community groups to bid for money to improve their local areas.

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18 June 2008
© Third Sector Online

Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, today joined volunteers at Newark Mind to help prepare lunch for people attending the charities’ resource centre. As well as pitching in with the work, the minister saw first hand the contribution that volunteers make to helping people with mental health problems. Newark Mind provides a range of social and educational services to people who have or once had mental health problems. Trained volunteers offer advice, support and information. Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, said: “I can’t speak highly enough of the work that Newark Mind are doing and the achievements of their volunteers. It’s all too easy for people suffering from mental illness to become isolated and cut off from their community, these people stop that happening. I want to give more people the opportunity to volunteer in all sorts of ways. I had a great time lending a hand and got a lot out of it myself.” Nic Roberts, Business Manager, Newark Mind said: “Today’s visit has been an excellent opportunity for members, volunteers and staff of Newark Mind to showcase their work and their achievements both locally and nationally. Volunteers play a pivotal role in the running of the organisation, from membership of the management committee to emotional support and practical help within the Resource Centre. Without a team of committed volunteers Newark Mind would be unable to fulfil its role in providing education, activities, information and support systems for people with mental health issues.”

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30 May 2008
© Cabinet Office (National)