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Assistance to Communities

That is absolutely right. It is cause for concern when organisations are prevented from campaigning on behalf of the people—or animals—whom they were set up to represent. My right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth mentioned the Compact and the refreshed Compact, which ties into the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, West (Mr. Bailey). The hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood mentioned my breach of the Compact. One important thing about the Compact is that it established a framework for the relationship between the Government and the sector. It is important that we embed that through the Government. That does not mean that there will never be another breach of the Compact; it means that the Government must understand the value of the Compact not just to the organisation concerned, but to the Government. My right hon. Friend and I worked on the issue before I was an MP, when he was a shadow Minister for the third sector. The whole point of the Compact was that it gave a different relationship between the Government and the sector, from which both benefited. The Government see the value of three-year contracts being the norm, for example. It would not be something that the Government were doing for the sector; it would be a partnership relationship and a different way of working. I am keen for the refreshed Compact to be implemented and monitored, not in a censorious way that says "Your Department's very bad; it's broken the Compact on X number of occasions," but in a way that says, "This is a really good example of Compact working; this works well," and asks why it works well, why the Department thinks it works well and how other Departments can learn from it and use the Compact in a way that works well for them. I have shared the frustrations of the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood about spreading best practice on more than one occasion. It does not seem that difficult. If we can get it right sometimes, why can we not get it right most of the time? That is what I am trying to do with the Compact. It should be the normal, common-sense way of working, and all sides should benefit. My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, West mentioned financial pressures on local authorities that are making meeting the Compact more difficult locally. I met Regional Action West Midlands when I was in Birmingham last week. It is doing excellent work on procurement and working with local authorities. The case must be made to local authorities as well that they can benefit from the Compact. In a tighter spending round, when their finances are more constrained, a framework within which they could work with the sector would bring huge benefits to them as well as to the sector. Having seen RAWM's work on procurement and a new framework, I think that it is well placed to make that case to local authorities in the area. The hon. Member for South-East Cornwall discussed funding. He is concerned about small local community groups that might find themselves in greater difficulty. I direct him to the Government grass-roots grant scheme, which is aimed particularly at smaller groups. Grants start at £250 and run up to £5,000. His point about decisions being made by funders closer to those receiving funding applies to the scheme, because community development foundations make the awards. As he will know, for many organisations, particularly those that rely on volunteers, that kind of money can make a huge difference. I appreciate that he might not have been aware of the scheme. Some organisations in his constituency might find it useful. The hon. Gentleman did not take the wise advice of my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak; he referred to work done in his constituency. I think that what he said resonated with every Member here. We all have similar organisations in our constituency. He asked about gift aid. We made changes to gift aid when we came into government. As his shadow Treasury team will be aware, we are looking into gift aid and undertaking research, particularly into the higher rate. Gift aid is worth more than £900 million a year to charities. It is huge. We are proud of the support that we are giving to charities through gift aid. The hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood and my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, West mentioned commissioning. We are providing training and support for commissioners and working with the Improvement and Development Agency. The issue relates to the social return on investment model, which we discussed earlier. To respond to the comments of the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood, we need to value the social impact of third sector organisations that undertake contracts on behalf of local authorities or health bodies. There are ways to do that, although the idea is still in its infancy. Some local authorities are working it into their contracts. The key is often to have commissioners who understand the role of the third sector and the wider benefits that it brings in terms of the social return on a contract. That is not just about the narrow confines of what the organisation is being asked to deliver; it is about asking what extra can be gained for the area from the organisation undertaking the contract. That will become more and more important as time goes by, funding becomes harder and people want more for the same money. If a social return can be proved, that is even better. Capacity builders are providing advice and guidance on the issue, and a Cabinet Committee is specifically considering how we can remove barriers to third sector organisations. I think that I have addressed most hon. Members' points, although I have not yet addressed all the points raised by the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood. What can we do to make things easier for charities? The Charities Act 2006 removed many of the obstacles, but we are still implementing some proposals. It makes a difference to be able to reduce bureaucracy. There is still more that we can do. At the moment, I am considering reporting arrangements for organisations receiving funding, whether from grants or contracts. There seems to be so much different information for such organisations. There must be some way that we can narrow down and standardise the necessary reporting to take into account proportionality, which hon. Members have mentioned. On resources, our support for volunteering has been unprecedented, and it is important to recognise the impact that it has had on society. I mentioned grass-roots grants, which supply finance to small organisations as well as larger ones, and our package of support, which has increased significantly since 1997, particularly recession support. On doing business with the state—the social wholesale investment bank was particularly mentioned—the Government are absolutely committed to the issue. The responses to our consultation were clear about what kind of social wholesale investment bank was sought. However, we must get the structure and financing right, and we must not make the bank the only route for social investment. The Government will set up the social wholesale investment bank in the best way that we can to leverage social finance into social businesses, but we will also consider how else we can obtain other, private capital. Our initial £75 million commitment is the greatest commitment that any Government has ever made to put social capital into social businesses. We are committed to increasing social investment, because we know that social businesses and enterprises can make a difference by working with the public and private sectors to deliver services and benefits to the community. Question put and agreed to.