Mid Worcestershire MP fills vacancy left by former civil society minister Diana Barran in last month’s government reshuffle – taking on responsibility for charities and social enterprises alongside sport, tourism and heritage.
A £30m budget to tackle homelessness may sound tiny, but the social investment pilot is already leveraging millions more in investment. We unpick the details of a complex collection of funds – and find out what they hope to achieve.
Hopes rise that social entrepreneurship is back on the policy agenda after opposition party number two Angela Rayner picked a London social enterprise to launch new policy proposal.
Nick Hurd, Ronald Cohen and Elizabeth Corley are joined by Douglas L Peterson of S&P Global in new Impact Taskforce which aims to emulate “rocket booster” effect of UK’s last G7 presidency on impact investment worldwide.
A 10% weighting for social value in selecting government contracts – potentially rising to 20% – plus new requirement to pay a living wage welcomed as “major step forward” as Northern Ireland plays catch-up with rest of UK.
Civil society minister Baroness Barran says support was “substantial” – but recognises many social enterprises wish government had done more, as business leaders tell of eating into their reserves in first evidence session.
Confederation of British Industry – which represents nearly 200,000 UK firms – says businesses should ‘bottle the Covid-19 spirit of cooperation’ and ‘lock in’ employee wellbeing as part of wide-ranging vision to transform economy.
Government-backed Covid lending schemes have been a lifeline – but in the long term, high levels of debt cause problems. One solution: transitioning at-risk, viable private businesses into employee or community ownership at scale.
False trade-offs and quick fixes may be appealing during times of fear and uncertainty – but we need to allow for and even embrace the messy reality of multiple approaches if we're to solve today's biggest problems.