More than two-thirds of voluntary organisations in England are afraid to campaign as they fear the funding that local groups get from councils may be affected. An ‘Independence Day’ survey carried out by Compact Voice, based at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ claims independence is far from a reality for many voluntary organisations and councils and others will today face a call to strengthen local voluntary bodies.

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Fewer older people are getting the care services they need and others are facing increasing charges for support, according to a survey of local authorities published today. The annual study by national charity Counsel and Care, has found elderly people are facing an ever-tightening squeeze in trying to access care services.

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This report from PricewaterhouseCoopers commissioned by Communities and Local Government reveals that leisure provision in the UK performs unfavourably when compared with peer group nations in terms of sporting and health outcomes and per capita funding for sport. The Government targets include increasing participation by 1% year on year for the next 15 years.Nationally, the network of sporting provision is fragmented, complex and diverse with a range of public, private and voluntary sector providers. One of the key concerns with public sector facilities is that much of the stock in public ownership is in poor condition. Service planning in the public sector is typically asset focused, lacks strategic direction and is in many instances driven by replicating existing patterns of delivery. It fails to consider what the optimum range, location and management arrangement should be.

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