The Tories and the Third Sector

Event date: 28 January 2010 - 9:30am
Cost: £75
Contact: Tracey McCreanor
Phone: 02890245356
Location: The Ulster Hall, Bedford Street, Belfast

Its policy paper A Stronger Society: Voluntary Action in the 21st Century states amongst other things it would:

• Replace the office of the Third Sector with a more powerful "Office for Civil Society"
• Scrap the Big Lottery Fund and replace it with a Voluntary Action Lottery Fund
• Simplify the Gift Aid System
• Establish volunteering as a social norm
• Set up a passport scheme to bypass repetitive grant application schemes
• Create a network of social enterprise zones to provide incentives for social investment in deprived communities

 So what will this mean, in practice in Northern Ireland, if the Tories win the next election? Will it lead, as the Tories say, to a stronger, more vibrant sector? Or will issues currently the responsibility of the public sector simply be transferred to the voluntary sector without the necessary resources to deal with them?

 And how will Conservative Party thinking influence their new allies in the Ulster Unionist Party.

 About the Speaker

 Shadow Secretary of State Owen Paterson, his newly-appointed chief of staff Jonathan Caine and Councillor Ian Parsley who is working on the Breakthrough Belfast project for the Centre for Social Justice will spell out Tory policy and how it would affect the sector if they came to power. 

 A brief policy paper from the Conservatives will be circulated to all delegates in advance

CO3 has organised this event in partnership with asitis Consulting