Bucks Enterprise have lifted their restrictions on offering advice sessions to businesses
Their original restriction that businesses had to be either 'pre-start' or less than 18 months old has now been lifted and they are happy ot help trading businesses of any age. as well has helping 'pre-starts' as before
Call 0845 603 4013 for more details
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has relaxed the rules on the tax self-employed people can reclaim for using home-based offices. Since 6 April, those working from home on a limited basis no longer need provide records of every business expense in order to make a tax claim. This also applies to home workers making claims for the 2006/07 tax year.
"Keeping records for every bill is not always practical - we don't need to see every receipt," said an HMRC spokeswoman. "For example, if someone is self-employed and they only work at home some of the time, they don't need to keep records of everything they spend to make a reasonable claim for the business use of home facilities."
Under HMRC guidelines, self-employed home workers can re-claim the tax on a proportion of their domestic bills for business purposes. "Following the revised guidelines, if a room within a home is used both for business purposes and as a place where children do homework, then the occupier can claim for the identifiable business costs," explained Martin Little, tax expert at accountancy firm Greenwood Wilson.
Small businesses risk letting rival firms exploit their ideas by failing to protect their intellectual property, legal firm Marks and Clerk has warned.
A survey by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) found that just 13 per cent of small firms thought protecting innovation, through a patent or trademark, was essential. Only 22 per cent of respondents believed it was important to claim copyright.
"Small businesses don't have much spare cash and intellectual property (IP) is not a high priority," said Marks and Clerk patent and trade mark attorney Mike Lynd. "However, it is absolutely essential that firms have protection in place to prevent other people cashing in on their ideas and damaging their chances of being successful."
The UK IPO survey also revealed that only 11 per cent of small businesses knew that a patent application became invalid if an innovation was made available to third parties before the application was filed. Nine per cent of firms did not clear new business or product names with Companies House or UK IPO before using it."The most important thing that small businesses need to protect is the name under which they trade," Lynd continued. "If businesses have an original innovation they should register it for patents. If they trade online, they should make sure their trade mark registration covers goods and services sold via the Internet."
"IP is insurance," Lynd added. "Using trade marks and patents, businesses have a level of immunity from third parties who try to claim an idea as their own. Without this insurance, third parties could adopt the same name and start selling the same goods and services.
Small-business owners will get the chance to discuss the main issues they face with the Minister for Industry and the Regions Margaret Hodge, following the launch of the Government's Small Business Forum (SBF). The SBF is aimed at providing an informal way for small businesses to engage with the Government. The forum met for the first time on 1 May and is due to meet again at the start of July.
The forum also includes representatives from leading UK business organisations, including the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum of Private Business and the Institute of Directors. A Department of Trade and Industry spokeswoman said: "The frequency and details of how the meetings will be run has yet to be decided, but a timetable and more details will be announced in June. "We want the SBF to be fluid, so a wide range of small firms get the chance to have their say," she continued. "Small firms interested in taking part in the forum should contact the DTI." The SBF replaces the Small Business Council, which was closed in March as part of the Government's review of the Small Business Service.
The Government is considering the setting up of a stock exchange specifically for Social Enterprises.
Cabinet Office officials have met with the Social Enterprise Coalition and financial institutions such as Triodos Bank to discuss the idea. Also present were representatives from social enterprises Cafedirect and Traidcraft.
Ed Miliband, the charities minister, said a social stock exchange is one of the key policies he will work on in the coming year. He said: "I'm thinking about whether it's a sensible way forward."
Triodos have themselves launched a share issue in a bid to raise £4m for various projects. The bank has previously raised capital through similar investment schemes in Belgium and the Netherlands, but this is the first time that shares have become available to customers in other countries. The group target is to sell EUR40m (£27m) of shares across Europe.
"This will resonate with our customers because they can see that their money is already working well with the projects that we support," said James Vaccaro, head of investment banking at Triodos.
"It is aimed at those who are seeking to fulfil a social mission and gain from their financial investment. This is just a way of contributing to the next stage of the organisation's development."
Stock market mooted for social enterprises...
Triodos seeks investors for social enterprise fund...
A pilot project to develop a Fairtrade-type kite-mark and trade association for social enterprises has been started in the south-west of England. Rise, a support group for social enterprises in the south west, and the London-based Social Enterprise Coalition are collaborating on the initiative, which aims to change the way social enterprises are perceived commercially.
The trade association, which should be in operation by the end of the year, will allow enterprises to collaborate with similar organisations and make use of leadership development training. It will be financed by revenue from membership fees, sponsorship and consultancy work.
The coalition is trying to negotiate funding from central government to enable the project to be carried out across the country.
See Third Sector for the full story.
Social Enterprise company Motiv has helped cut truancy rates amongst Manchester schoolchildren in an initiative run with Manchester City Council.
The '100 Challenge' gave schoolchilden free music downloads to children who managed to achieve 100% attendancy at school. Over 14,000 pupils managed this, which is an improvement of 45% from the previous term. 2,000 other children were also rewarded.
Motiv is now in talks with other local authorities with a view to extending the project nationally.
See The Guardian for the full story.
Four leading voluntary organisations are calling for a new bank holiday in October to celebrate community involvement. The NCVO, CSV, Volunteering England and Navca have joined forces with the TUC to pen a letter to Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown. The letter marks the anniversary of the passing of the first bank holidays bill in 1871.
The charities suggest the day could be used to provide opportunities for voluntary and community groups to have days of action, and for communities to hold gala days to celebrate community spirit.
The letter reads: 'Where voluntary community activity is the norm, people and their communities play a full part in civil society and wealth, health and well-being are more likely to flourish.'
The organisations also argue that the increased social cohesion, improved skills and greater health and well-being that would result from the day would more than offset its costs. They point out that the Home Office's citizenship survey puts the annual worth of volunteering at £40bn in England alone, while CSV research shows two-thirds of first-time volunteers go on to volunteer again.
See Third Sector for the full story.
The number of social enterprises in the UK could be as high as 215,000, rather than 55,000, the figure normally cited.
The 55,000 figure first came from surveys in 2005. It has been considered the definitive number.But closer research has revealed that 160,000 social businesses may have been overlooked.
It seems the discrepency came about as sole traders and partnerships were not counted in the figures. It's now estimated that as of 2005 up to 5% of businesses in the UK were Social Enterprises
Speaking to Social Enterprise magazine, third sector minister Ed Miliband said he was happy with the original 55,000 figure.
'My understanding is that the 55,000 is based on an annual survey of small businesses which we feel is sufficiently robust to justify using those estimates,' Miliband told Social Enterprise: 'My understanding of having a wider estimate including sole traders is that the survey data is less robust and that's why we haven't relied on the larger figure. But obviously that highlights a wider question, which is the need for a better evidence base.'
See Social Enterprise magazine for the full story.
Guests and speakers from the world over ensured the 2007 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship maintained the high profile and glamour of previous years.
Social innovation was the theme of this year's Forum, which took place in Oxford over three days in March and was organised by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University's Sa•d Business School.
Forum founder Jeff Skoll - the eBay pioneer, opened proceedings at the event which was attended by over 700 delegates. Charles Handy spoke of his experiences researching and writing his latest book, The New Philanthropists, which profiles a number of multimillionaire businesspeople from around the world who followed up their success in conventional business with more philanthropic ventures. Social entrepreneurs, he said, 'are the seedlings for a changing type of capitalist'.
US economics professor David Gallenson, of Chicago University portrayed many successful social entrepreneurs, such as Muhammad Yunus and Lord Young (creator of the Open University and the School for Social Entrepreneurs) as 'experimentalists' like the artist Cezanne, who needed time and experience to develop innovative solutions to social problems. Yunus said capitalism was 'a half-told story' and that traditional business only exploited the selfish side of us. He believed people were already convinced of the value of social entrepreneurship.
Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan (pictured below, right) called for a 'compact between the business world and civil society and a new approach, which she called 'corporate multicultural responsibility'.
The Minister for the third sector, Ed Miliband, told the Forum that social entrepreneurs were driving big changes in the public and private sectors. Governments could help by spreading social innovation by being customers of social enterprises. And he urged social entrepreneurs not to ignore politicians, saying: 'There are huge structural injustices in our society which cannot be solved without government.'
Other highlights included a presentation from Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org. He illustrated a speech on 'the case for informed optimism' with the remarkable story of his involvement in the World Health Organisation's campaign to eradicate the smallpox virus from Burma, India, Nepal and Iran.
The Forum also featured a series of masterclasses focusing on social entrepreneurship in education, rural development, conflict management, health, the environment and human rights - with contributions from practitioners such as Jeroo Billimoria from Aflatoun and Andrea and Barry Coleman from Riders for Health. There were also sessions on systems of innovation, tapping the right leadership talent, the future of philanthropy, 'design thinking', 'creating social Silicon Valleys', moving capital, partnering with business, and scenario planning, as well as a debate entitled 'Do governments now run the social entrepreneurship agenda?'.
In his concluding remarks to the Forum, Colin Mayer, Peter Moores Dean at the Sa•d Business School, said there was 'a quiet revolution' in progress - 'a quiet economic and social revolution that's redefining the way people are addressing the needs of societies around the world.'
For more details, see www.skollfoundation.org.
Bucks Enterprise, the project managed by the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group to offer free impartial advice to growing businesses, is delighted to report on another successful 'Advice to Business' event, held last week at the Holiday Inn, Aston Clinton.
Mark Harris, project manager of Bucks Enterprise, said 'Both visitors and exhibitors responded well to our move to Aylesbury following the success of our High Wycombe event in January. Changing the time so that the event finished at 8pm enabled those too busy during the day to take advantage of the event after work.
The event was opened by Norman Skedge, Director of Environment & Planning for Aylesbury Vale District Council who spoke very positively about how highly the Council values entrepreneurship within the Vale.
'Both pre-start businesses and those already trading came along to see how Bucks Enterprise and the other 28 exhibitors might be able to help their businesses. An exit poll gave a clear indication that visitors were glad they had allocated the time and that the event had been of benefit to them.
Similarly, exhibitors were very happy with the quality of visitors, with Neill Barber, MD of Redstone Business Centres saying 'It was a fabulous event. The A2B concept goes from strength to strength and we look forward to the next one in High Wycombe in July.' Stephen Milne, Director of Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Hub commented 'We secured five new members for the Enterprise Hub Network at the Aylesbury A2B Exhibition, and were impressed by the serious interest shown by visitors as a whole. The opportunity to network with the other exhibitors was an added bonus.'
'The exhibition hosted a range of expert guest speakers, each of whom spoke on a different topic, with each presentation well attended and attracting positive comments from the attendees.
For more information on Bucks Enterprise, contact Mark Harris, the Project Manager on 01753 870506 or 07725 823203. Alternatively, email: markharris@bucksenterprise.co.uk or visit www.bucksenterprise.co.uk.
Do you have an innovative business idea you're bursting to share? Do you have the confidence to put your idea to a Dragon's Den-style panel of judges?
RedStone Business Centre, in High Wycombe, is offering a local business the chance to win a free two-person office for six months, worth almost £3,000. The office will come fully furnished, with kitchen facilities, meeting rooms, air-conditioning and much more.
Successful competition candidates will have the chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of five judges, including Mark Harris, of Bucks Enterprise, and Dr Tony Diment, Hub Director of the High Wycombe Enterprise Hub. The grand prize will be awarded to the business with the most enterprising idea, as chosen by the five 'Dragons'.
RedStone are also seeking three more judges to form a panel of 'Dragons'. Judge candidates should ideally have a proven track record and savvy business acumen in order to spot a potential winner.
The competition winner will be announced at an awards presentation on 15th June, where candidates will be given the chance again to meet the five judges, the competition's organisers and to mingle with local business people and media.
To apply to be a judge, or to find out how to enter the competition call 0800 619 20 69 or email highwycombe@redstonebc.com.
Gordon Brown has promised an extra £91m to boost community organisations and innovation in public services.
Brown's 2007 Budget promised £80m to provide core funding to grass-roots community organisations. There will also be £11m from the 'Invest to Save Budget', for 24 new projects supporting 'innovative approaches to the delivery of local services by third sector organisations'.
Highlighting the issue of equity investment for social enterprises, the Budget papers revealed that the Office of the Third Sector will consider whether there is a case for further government intervention in the supply of equity. Subject to state aids approval, the community investment tax relief model (CITR) might 'be enhanced' to encourage such investment, for example by increasing the limit for community development finance institutions making equity investments in social enterprises.
Baroness Glenys Thornton will step down as chair of the Social Enterprise Coalition this autumn.
Baroness Thornton made the announcement at a recent Coalition board meeting. She said the organisation was now in 'fantastic shape' but that the next stage of development 'will benefit from fresh eyes and a new input of energy'.
SEC chief executive Jonathan Bland praised the Baroness for her 'excellent work' and said she would continue her close ties with the Coalition when she stood down. He said 'options' would be presented to the organisation's April board meeting for selecting a replacement.
In a statement from the Coalition, Baroness Thornton said: 'I have been chair for the first five exciting years of the Coalition's life and it has been an honour and a source of great inspiration to work with the people and social businesses that we seek to champion. The board and J onathan Bland and the staff of the Coalition are remarkable, and the Coalition's success is testament to their commitment and hard work. They are my friends and colleagues, and I hope will continue to be so.'
See Social Enterprise magazine for the full story.
The Cabinet Office has published an invitation to tender for developing and delivering an exciting new programme to create at least 20 new social enterprise ambassadors.
Ambassadors will be social entrepreneurs with great stories to tell about how this way of doing business changes people's lives. They will commit some of their time to awareness raising activities, for example through events and the media. The new delivery partner will find the ambassadors through an open and transparent process, and provide a supporting infrastructure for them.
The programme was proposed in last November's Scaling New Heights action plan on social enterprise, and aims to raise awareness of social enterprise and to attract new entrants to the sector. It will help to position this growing business sector as an aspirational career choice for people who wish to combine enterprise with achieving social or environmental goals.
Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, said, "Social enterprise is a growing movement, but still only one in four people know about it. That means we are losing potential entrepreneurs, customers, and investors. That has to change. "Once people see social enterprise, they understand it and become enthusiasts. We want to create an ambitious programme, owned by the sector, which will spread the message of what social enterprise can achieve throughout the country. Through their own stories and networks the ambassadors will help the movement achieve even more."
The ambassadors will be in place in time to be at the forefront of Social Enterprise Day on 15 November 2007.
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=276880&NewsAreaID=2
The 26 schemes from across England will receive Department of Health (DH) funding towards start up costs plus wider support, for example business advice and training, to help them lead the way in delivering innovative community services in health and social care. The lessons from the pathfinders will be shared across the health and social care sector so that others can benefit from their experience.
An example of a well known social enterprise scheme is The Big Issue, providing opportunities for people facing homelessness to help themselves. Likewise, the DH social enterprise trailblazers will provide an innovative range of health and social services, from tele-health services for rural communities to mobile drug and alcohol rehabilitation services.
Welcoming the pathfinders' start up funding, Ivan Lewis said, "I am delighted that these excellent social enterprise pathfinders are being supported with this funding. This national programme will support the delivery of innovative services and, in line with our White Paper commitments, will help put people and patients at the heart of what we do.'
Jonathan Bland, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, "At the Social Enterprise Coalition we welcome the news of financial investment in these pathfinders, as it is vital that social enterprises get the capital needed to operate as sustainable businesses offering practical solutions to the issues faced by the health sector.
"This funding is a strong signal of the government's commitment to encourage the public sector to tap into the vast potential of the social enterprise model; which promotes innovation and leads to improvements directly benefiting staff, patients and social care users. I believe it's the ability of social enterprises to combine a public service ethos with commercial efficiency that sets them apart - and that's precisely why health commissioners are taking notice."
Click here for further information...
Zoe Brook, Chief Executive of East Oxford Action (EOA), has followed on from her workshop at last September's Cultural Shift Conference by producing a guide to making the transition from the public sector to Social Enterprise. 'The Snagging List' is based on Brook's experience as EOA went through that very transition and emerged on the other side. Brook as since then run workshops for partners, boards and staff of other organisations who are considering a similar transition. It is hoped that this publication can serve to identify some of the issues that add up to make the move to Social Enterprise such and 'interesting' process. For a copy, or information about the consultancy, training and advice that EOA can offer, please contact Erlinda Koshaj on 01865 203367 or erlinda@eastoxford.com.
The Big Lottery Fund, the Lottery good causes distributor is to manage a new £30 million fund to help community led organisations and Social Enterprises own and run under-used local authority buildings. The Community Assets Transfer Fund, which was proposed in last year's local government white paper is to be handed to the Big Lottery Fund. It is expected that the BLF will involve other partner bodies such as the Adventure Capital Fund, which lends money to community based enterprises in the handling of the fund.
Click here for further information...
Sixty successful Social Enterprises from various parts of the world have joined forces to launch a website enabling new social entrepreneurs to share ideas. Called The Social Innovation Exchange, it's the result of a partnership between the Young Foundation and others including the Global Ideas Bank and the UK's School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Other partners include the Tallberg Foundation from Sweden, Mondragon from Spain, Emude from Italy, Kaosopilots from Denmark and Honeybee in India.
The site should encourage the flow of ideas and innovation across differing sectors and countries. Geoff Mulgan, director of the Young Foundation said, The message is that there has been strong growth in the social entrepreneurship sector, but not in innovation. People from cities and businesses and technology sectors each have their own networks, and there is very little cross-sector innovation or learning. We need a new generation of tools to work across these sectors.'
The site will feature news, blogs and suggestions of how ideas can be shared.
For more details see www.socialinnovationexchange.org
According to a new survey conducted in Brighton & Hove recently, Social Enterprises are now making a significant contribution to the local economy. The area has been a centre for successful social businesses since the country's first co-operative retail shop opened its doors in Brighton in 1828. There are now over 100 Social Enterprises in Brighton & Hove which it is now estimated turnover £21 million a year, employing 1,262 staff and engage the help of over 3000 volunteers. And many of these have now been trading successfully for over a decade.
In response to this, the local council has now approved £50,000 from their Business Growth Incentive program to support further expansion and particularly to bring together private sector and Social Enterprises to find mutually beneficial ways forward.
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/9980
Further enhancing it's commitment to Social Enterprise, the Department of Health has launched a major report in conjuction with the Social Enterprise Coalition. 'Healthy Business: A guide to Social Enterprise in Health and Social Care' was published in March and launched to an audience of policy makers, GPs and other health professionals from across the UK.
At the launch Patricia Hewitt said, 'Social enterprises offer real potential for improving our health and social care services, whether they are innovative community-owned hospitals, groups of nurses running services from the bottom up, or businesses that train the unemployed to be skilled and committed carers.'
The report details nine individual case studies, showing the range of Social Enterprises operating in the field. In particular it focuses on how Social Enterprise can empower health workers and patients to tackle issues faced by the sector, such as low morale amongst staff, low patient satisfaction and excessive bureaucracy. Perhaps most importantly the report offers actual advice on setting up or commissioning from a social enterprise in the health sector.
A new report published by The Smith Institute examines how obstacles to the development and growth of Social Enterprise can be overcome. 'Social Enterprise Futures' was produced with the Social Enterprise Coalition amongst others.
It 'brings the experiences of social entrepreneurs together with those of experts from local and regional government, business and the chartable sectors to examine how the barriers to more widespread use of social enterprise could be surmounted'.
A pdf document of the report is available via the SEC's website at:
http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/cms/documents/Smith_Institute_Social_Enterprise.pdf
Tim Campbell, the winner of the first series of 'The Apprentice' has left his £100,000 a year job with Sir Alan Sugar to persue his own projects, including The Bright Ideas Trust that aims to start 'at least 250 new businesses every year'.
Mr Campbell said: "I want the trust to unleash a wave of creativity among people in the UK and give them an opportunity to run their own enterprise in a practical, hands-on way."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6474075.stm
The Motley Fool, the 'UK's leading online financial community', recently ran a feature on the possible benefits of investing in Social Enterpris. In it's article of 19th March 2007 David Holding looked at some individual cases and speculated on the growing opportunities for investing in the sector. Examples sited include Bridges Community Ventures, a venture capital company 'with a social mission'. Apparently this enterprise is in the process of raising it's second community development venture fund with a view to bringing private sector skills and experience to help regenerate some of the countries most deprived areas. The article also sited companies such as Cafedirect and the Ethical Property Company as examples of Social Enterprises that have successfully raised equity from the public.
It recommends Charity Bank or Triodos as a good place to invest savings in both charities and ethical businesses.
Click here for further information
The Governance Hub, along with the Social Enterprise Coalition, has announced it has commissioned the Open University Business School to carry out new research in the governance support needs of Social Enterprises.
The research will consider the challenges of governing a social enterprise. It will look into the resources and services that are currently being used, identify gaps in support and recommend future actions for the Hub and others.
Jolanta Lasota, Head of the Governance Hub, said:
"The governance needs of social enterprises has emerged as a significant area for the Hub to explore. The work will explore the distinctive governance needs and perspectives of this strongly growing part of the third sector and inform our plans."
"Our research has shown that voluntary and community organisations face considerable governance challenges including board recruitment, review and support. The Hub has been working to help meet these needs for the past 18 months. We are now keen to find out if the challenges faced by social enterprises are distinctive, and how we and others can provide support to them."
The research is due to be completed in Summer 2007.
Click here for further information...
Radio 4's long running business documentary programme 'In Business' dedicated a full programme to Social Enterprise. It featured contributions from Jonathon Bland of the Social Enterprise Coalition, Mark Sesnan of Greenwich Leisure Limited, Faisel Rahman of Fair Finance, Karen Darby of Simply Switch and Sir Ronald Cohen of Bridges Community Ventures.
The programme can be listened to in full here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/inbusiness/inbusiness_20070125.shtml
A £73 million funding boost for social enterprise was announced on January 24th this year by Health Minister Ivan Lewis at the Voice 07 conference. The fund is to be spread over 4 years and will go towards supporting and encouraging the growth of Social Enterprise in the areas of health and social care.
Mr Lewis said 'This money will deliver a real boost to the social enterprise sector and demonstrates our real commitment and support of this way forward. Social enterprises will have a key role in the reform of how health and community services are delivered. We are underpinning these reforms with proper financial backing. They have enormous potential to transform the way in which health and social care services are delivered. '
'Social enterprise has a strong track record of revolutionising services in other sectors, involving staff and users in the design, delivery and management of services. We hope to see this transformation replicated in health and social care.'
Also announced were the 25 successful 'pathfinder' projects who can now apply for a share of a £1 million start up fund announced by Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State of Health, in October last year. He said 'The 25 projects selected will cover a wide range of innovative services that work for the benefit of individuals and the community more widely. Each in some way brings entrepreneurial approaches to delivering health and social care services.'
'The learning from pathfinders will be shared across the health and social care sector.'
Details of the successful pathfinders are available at www.dh.gov.uk/socialenterprise
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/9168
http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/Page.aspx?SP=2057
The Social Enterprise Coalition has launched the Enterprising Solutions Awards 2007, sponsored by RBS and Natwest and in association with DTI, DfES, Capacity Builders and The Observer. Nominations are being sought from established Social Enterprises with original and dynamic business models. The awards were launched at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant. The awards have been run since 2003 and this year the winner will receive a cash prize of £10,000 and a year's free membership of the SEC. Three other finalists and the winner of the New Social Enterprise Award will receive £5,000 each.
For more details see http://www.enterprisingsolutions.org/
It seems there is now increasing cross party support for the role Social Enterprises can play in the country's future. Traditionally the areas in which Social Enterprise has thrived have been those such as transport, recycling and leisure, and the Prime Minister himself now sees the sector growing to fulfil roles previously provided directly by local government such as community health and care services. Now David Cameron agrees. 'We need to recognise the full potential that Social Enterprise has,' he told the Social Enterprise Coalition at a lunch in January last year, which was also attended by other members of the shadow cabinet along with representatives from over 30 Social Enterprises.
The Conservative leader has pledged to develop the idea of Social Enterprise Zones through the Conservative party's policy review, which is already looking into areas of social justice and alternative means of delivery for public services. In theory these zones will mean freedom for Social Enterprises from many of the current rules that restrict their growth. He pledged to clear away some of these obstacles, such as those that discourage people on benefits from taking work within social firms. He told the gathering, 'In every part of Britain, inspiring social entrepreneurs are pioneering solutions to the complex problems of family breakdown, chaotic home environments, drugs, and low aspiration. We trust them to restore respect, and we'll remove the barriers that stand in the way of their growth and success'.
Mr Cameron also toured some of London's best known Social Enterprises, along with eight members of his shadow cabinet. They spent the morning touring successful Social Enterprises such as Finchley Lido (which is run on behalf of Barnet Council by social business Greenwich Leisure), ECT Group's recycling depot in Mill Hill and Coin Street Community Builders where the team visited a children's nursery.
Jonathon Bland, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition was pleased with Mr Cameron's interest. 'It is very encouraging to the Coalition that support for the social enterprise agenda now transcends party lines. We have made some good progress on social enterprise over the last two or three years and look forward to building on that progress in the future.'
More recently Shadow Local Government Secretary, Caroline Spelman told the Conservative Party Conference in October, 'There is a whole network of Social Enterprise schemes which are doing great work, and given the chance could be doing even more. We need to release the spirit of Social Enterprise rather than contain it. Commercial enterprise has been the bedrock of our economy - and Social Enterprises can become the bedrock of our communities. (They) are some of the best drivers of social change, and we all know how much that change is needed.'
And again, in a major speech at the Welsh Conservative Party Conference last month, Mr Cameron reiterated this, saying, 'If we are to bring about the social revival that is our aim, if we are to deliver those lasting improvements to people's quality of life, everyone will have to play their partÉ businesses, communities, charities and Social Enterprises.'
http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/sem/news/detail/index.asp?id=71
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=127152
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=132632&speeches=1
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=135336&speeches=1
Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, and Jonathon Bland, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition discussed the future of Social Enterprise on the Today Programme on Radio 4 on 16th November Ð Social Enterprise Day. Mr Miliband said the the government were looking to meet the needs of Social Enterprise in terms of offering advice, finance initiatives and raising their profile Ð and to that end were launching an Action Plan to raise awareness of the Third Sector. Social Enterprises, he said, offered, 'exciting and different way of doing business, not really about shareholder value, about putting profits back into the company and about tackling injustice and making society fairer. Not enough people know about it and that's the purpose of the plan.' However, he warned that the plan was 'Not about ongoing subsidies for Social Enterprises'.
Mr Bland welcomed the plan, saying it was 'fantastic to have recognition of Social Enterprise as a mainstream business model.' He added that although the money was a great boost to efforts to pilot new investment, 'we do need to scale that up, since SE's don't build shareholder value some of the mechanisms for raising finance can be harderÉ' He added that he also welcomed the plan's review of the tax situation faced by Social Enterprises and in particular community investment tax relief. 'We think that's very important, as we need to incentivise new investment in Social Enterprises.'
Another point he made was that currently Social Enterprises don't always face a level playing field when bidding for local government contracts. Local government commissioners, he said, 'don't really understand the value that Social Enterprises can offer and think of them as not operating at a big enough scaleÉ we have members with £50 million turnovers that are knocked off lists and don't get a chance to bid.'
In response, Mr Miliband said that local government had to over come 'risk aversion' with regard to Social Enterprises, and that the Government was looking into the possibility of 'piloting and encouraging use of Social Clauses into procurement agreements', in order to oblige local government to look at the wider social impacts such as employing local people and assessing benefits to disadvantaged people in the area Ð both of which were benefits to Social Enterprise.
When challenged that the increasing use of Social Enterprises to provide local services released government from its traditional funding obligations he said services would still be dependent on government funding to purchase them and that it was just a different method of delivery. Procuring services through Social Enterprise was 'raising standards of ethical values and making the public sector more innovativeÉ and this is the way we need to go.'
Mr Bland added that Social Enterprises weren't asking for special treatment, but were currently disadvantaged in comparison to traditional private enterprise.
Interestingly, Mr Miliband's radio comments were reinforced by David Cameron recently, who was quoted as saying the government needed 'to trust social enterprises far more in the work that they do'. This meant 'more long-term contracts, and far fewer of those pilot schemes that pop up for a short period of time'.
http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/sem/news/detail/index.asp?id=71
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today0_20061116.ram (approx 14 mins 50 secs into the programme)
The Government now estimates that there are over 55,000 Social Enterprises in the UK. These employ over 775,000 people and it is thought they contribute approximately £8.5 billion each year to our economy. Impressively the annual turnover of the nation's Social Enterprises is estimated to be in excess of £27 billion a year. Results of a recent survey by Business Link London (a London based small business advice service), showed that of 425 commuters asked, more than 20% aspired to set up their own business that could contribute positively to society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6151628.stm
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_releases/070124.asp
No doubt it is with facts like this in mind that the government is becoming active in encouraging this growing breed of socially minded entrepreneurs. Speaking at a gathering of successful Social Enterprise leaders at Number 11 back in November, the Chancellor announced an £18 million campaign to raise both awareness of the benefits of Social Enterprise and to investigate ways of funding new projects in the future. The aim was for social businesses to become a 'Mainstream option for anyone setting up business in the UK', said Gordon Brown at the gathering that included representatives from such well known Social Enterprises as The Big Issue, the Eden Project and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurants.
Specifically, the money is to be provided by the Cabinet Office and will include £10 million to investigate funding options and attract more private investors to take an interest in Social Enterprises. A further £6 million is to be divided between the nine English Regional Development Agencies. In the South East this is SEEDA - www.seeda.co.uk .This is to fund individual case support and educational initiatives such as integrated modules for GCSE and A-Level Business Studies courses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6151628.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/11/16/cnenterprise16.xml