London

RDM: Sharon Long Email: sharon.long1@virgin.net

VCS Engage in the London region has continued to develop through the partnership between NCVCCO, LVSC, Merton CVS, and London Play, which was set up to map baseline strategic engagement and representation in London boroughs. This partnership has been extended to the youth and parenting sectors to establish the steering group.

Mapping of the key contacts for the children, youth and families VCS in each Local Authority area can be found here [pdf 40kb].

LVSC also store details.

Further research was commissioned to establish the:

  1. Support and capacity building needs of the CYP VCS forums, especially regarding commissioning arrangements: download [pdf 238kb]:
  2. Support needs of the VCS representatives on Children’s Trusts: download [pdf 401kb]
  3. Further identification of training and support options for BMER VCS in strategic engagement: download [pdf 256kb]

Additional support
Like other regions, some focused support is going to three areas, where Local Authorities will complete a Self Evaluation Tool (SET) to establish how effective their engagement with the VCS is, in order to develop an action plan for development.

The London Boroughs of Croydon, Hillingdon, Barking and Dagenham have all expressed an interest in taking this work forward and more details of their approaches will be posted on the London Voluntary Service Council website. London Borough of Islington and the London Borough of Enfield were also participants in the piloting of the SET.

Good practice
Please refer to the three reports listed under the mapping section, for good practice examples.

Events
An event was jointly hosted with LVSC and London Councils to facilitate links between commissioners and the VCS, focusing on Local Area Agreement themes. For more information, visit the LVSC website.