We’re delighted to say that Voluntary Sector Partnership Moray (VSPM) now has voluntary sector representatives on the Community Planning Partnership Community Engagement group and all of the theme groups. 

Your representatives are:

Jim Hart                         Community Engagement group

Donna Breen                  Wealthier and Fairer group

Helen Milnes                   Safer and Stronger group

Paul Johnson                  Smarter group

Ian Longley                    Greener group

Eileen Bush                    Healthier group

You can find out more about each of the voluntary sector representatives by visiting the theme group page here on the website. 

Over the next few months, we will be seeking to develop our communication methods so that we are able to inform the third sector in Moray about the issues that are being raised and worked on in the different theme groups of the Community Planning Partnership. 

We will also be looking to establish ways of gathering your views because your voluntary sector representatives want to hear from the sector they are being tasked with representing. You can email any of the voluntary sector representatives by clicking on the ‘contact us’ section on the left hand panel.

Reform Scotland seeks views on how to extend the role of the third sector in public sector provision.

A major transfer of power from government to voluntary organisations will lead to better public services in Scotland, a leading think tank says today.

Reform Scotland calls for a radical re-think on the part that the voluntary - or third - sector can play in helping to improve choice, accountability and value-for-money in many areas of community life.

‘We need a shift in power from government to the institutions of civil society and, in particular, an increase in the role of the third sector in Scotland,’ it declares.

In a consultation paper entitled Voluntary Power, the independent, non-partisan think tank calls on politicians to acknowledge and support the huge, but largely untapped, resource that the voluntary sector offers.

In areas such as education and health, giving people much greater control over the services they receive and choice from a wider range of providers is the key to higher standards,’ it says.

‘By ending public sector monopolies in the provision of such services and creating a level playing field, third sector organisations would have a much greater opportunity to deliver services.’