Tuesday, 1 May 2007

I arrived early this morning to fix on the walls the artwork that has been kindly leant by the Guideposts Trust. All of the art has been produced by the Trust's users, and all of it is wonderful. I was very pleased, and so was everyone else who saw the pictures.

Shortly after 9:00, Mary Green (my “opposite number” in neighbouring Three Rivers CVS) arrived and we had a useful talk with Vanessa about the future of our joint training programme.

Meanwhile, in partnership with Angelo our ICT contractor, I sent 2,000 e-mails to voluntary groups across Hertfordshire asking them to visit a website and update their contact details etc. A pleasingly large number had already started to amend their details when I disappeared into the HIC meeting at 10:00.

HIC

This morning’s HIC meeting went well. Jacquie and I made our proposals for how to push this work forward, and after discussion these were accepted. There was also a useful update on VCS relations to Hertfordshire’s Local Area Agreement.

All in all, the meeting was very business-like and purposeful and (most importantly) ended sharp at 12:00.

Herts CVS

In the afternoon, the Herts CVS group of chief officers met to consider a strategic plan. This is a seriously difficult undertaking, and Ian Richardson from Broxbourne has done a wonderful job pulling everything together.

There are three key facts we are still slightly struggling with.

First, Hertfordshire is a two tier authority and CVSs are funded locally by Districts and Boroughs, not by the County. Funding levels vary: some CVSs receive £100k in core funding and others receive nothing. Local groups broadly receive the level of support that their District has paid for.

Secondly, Hertfordshire County Council is funding the Herts CVS Group to provide strategic leadership for the voluntary sector in Hertfordshire. This has been interpreted (in part) as securing a minimum level of infrastructure support across the County. But with no significant new resources.

Thirdly, in trying to reconcile these two fact, the Herts CVS Group has to recognise that it is not an executive agency: it has no powers and cannot take “decisions” except unanimously - and even then each CVS is an independent charity and its trustees may or may not accept the conclusions reached collectively by Chief Officers.

Somewhere within all these irreconcilables, the Herts CVS Group of Chief Officers must still adopt a plan demonstrating its Strategic Leadership of the county's voluntary sector. I think this is a work in progress.

Home at last

After a frantic, but productive, day, I arrived home about 8:00 pm. Jackie and I watched a programme about the Large Hadron Collider – the huge circular tunnel beneath Switzerland and France. I was occasionally distracted by Aged Ken (our hopeless toothless old cat) cavorting on the carpet like a young kitten to play with a catnip mouse. Poor old Ken. Will there ever be a Grand Theory of Everything?