Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
To Hugo Swire, the Big Society is a major culture shift to give power to citizens but critics claim the concept is shallow and disguises cuts.
Peter Cheney discusses the idea with the NIO Minister.
Instead of a cover for cuts, Hugo Swire sees the Big Society as a kind of confession. The NIO Minister, who leads on the subject in the province, describes it as an admission that “big government can’t always do it, shouldn’t always do it and when it does things, it doesn’t always do it very well.”
He sums up David Cameron’s concept as a transfer of power from the state to local...
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Tags: Voluntary
Posted in Economy, Homepage Stories, Reform, Voluntary, Westminster | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Lisa McElherron warns that welfare reform will hit the poorest hardest.
The welfare reforms currently working their way through Westminster have been widely described as the most radical shake-up of the social security system in over 40 years. With the aim of simplifying the benefits system, improving work incentives to encourage the move from benefits to work and reducing administration costs, the implementation of the changes will impact upon a significant percentage of the working age population in Northern Ireland.
No one can argue that the present overly complicated and bureaucratic...
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Tags: Voluntary
Posted in Social, Voluntary, Westminster | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Bryson Energy’s aim is to ‘energy proof’ homes across Northern Ireland.
Bryson Energy, part of the Bryson Charitable Group, Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprise, is committed to tackling fuel poverty and its long-term aim is to ‘energy proof’ homes across Northern Ireland.
Bryson Energy is the European energy agency for Northern Ireland and is part of a large network of over 380 energy agencies working across Europe committed to reducing energy usage in the home. Operating as a social enterprise, it is one of the largest and most successful energy agencies delivering...
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Tags: Energy
Posted in Energy, Housing, Voluntary | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a professional organisation and a trade union.
It is not a member of TUC or ICTU and is not affiliated to any political party.
At the end of 2010 its membership stood at 409,801, including 13,418 members in Northern Ireland. Members include registered nurses, student nurses and healthcare assistants.
The union covers four regions: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the English regions. The six RCN branches across Northern Ireland hold regular meetings and organise events to promote nursing and the RCN at a local level.
Its governance structure...
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Tags: Trade union profile
Posted in Health, Voluntary | Comments Off
Monday, October 10th, 2011
In the latest of a series of articles looking at the work of Early Years – the organisation for young children, Siobhán Fitzpatrick CBE highlights the growing international demand for the organisation’s training and expertise in early years education and care.
The early years sector in Northern Ireland employs more than 6,000 staff and contributes approximately £65 million to the Northern Ireland economy.
Over the last 46 years, Early Years has become the lead organisation in providing specialist support and advice to early years and pre-school providers throughout Northern...
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Tags: Skills
Posted in Education, Europe, Reform, Social, Voluntary | Comments Off
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Bryson ‘steps’ forward with new contract and brand name
Bryson Charitable Group, a Northern Ireland leading social enterprise, has announced that its training and employment division, North City Training, has won a major contract from the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL). Bryson has also unveiled the new brand name and logo for the training and employment division which will be rolled out over the next few months.
New ‘Steps to Work’ Contract
North City Training Ltd was awarded the contract to manage and deliver the ‘Steps to Work’ Programme in South and East...
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Tags: Skills
Posted in Economy, Social, Voluntary | Comments Off
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Peter Lynas sees opportunities for churches and other faith groups in the Big Society, and the potential for building better relationships all round.
The Big Society is not a new idea. In fact, David Cameron caused outrage when he claimed that Jesus founded his Big Society crusade.
Part of the difficulty with the Big Society is that different people mean different things when they refer to it. Lord Wei, the former Big Society advisor, said it “is based on an unshakeable belief that people, when equipped with the right resources, can achieve more than central government.” Others describe...
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Tags: Voluntary
Posted in Assembly, Reform, Social, Voluntary, Westminster | Comments Off
Monday, October 10th, 2011
The GMB, with strong membership among manual workers in local government and the Health Service, is one of the largest trade unions in the UK. It has over 600,000 members.
At the end of 2010, the GMB had 12,351 members in Northern Ireland, with 589,796 in Great Britain.
The union has nine regions, with Northern Ireland forming part of the North West and Irish region, established in January 2007. It has three industrial sections: commercial services, manufacturing and public services. Each section is headed by a national secretary. National secretaries and national officers report to...
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Tags: Trade union profile
Posted in Economy, Social, Voluntary | Comments Off
Monday, September 5th, 2011
Credit unions across Northern Ireland rely on teams of volunteers to assist members in their financial transactions. Meadhbh Monahan discusses the operations of Cloughfern Credit Union with manager David Dowey.
From small beginnings in 1989, Cloughfern Credit Union has accumulated 2,500 members and is run by 12 volunteers and two part-time members of staff.
Situated in Cloughfern Protestant Hall, the credit union now requires bigger premises. It has “grown so rapidly and large” that it has also had to open more hours. Previously only open on Friday and Saturday evenings, the credit...
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Tags: Voluntary
Posted in Business, Economy, Finance, Voluntary | Comments Off
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
The Building Change Trust Investing in Social Change; working to make today’s challenges tomorrow’s opportunities.
The Building Change Trust was established by the Big Lottery Fund with a National Lottery grant of £10 million as an investment for community capacity building and promotion of the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland.
info@buildingchangetrust.org www.buildingchangetrust.org T: 028 9040 8725
New Life Counselling New Life Counselling is committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing needs of our clients. We provide free counselling...
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Tags: Voluntary
Posted in Voluntary | Comments Off
