Professor Tony Chapman recently completed a report for O2 on its Think Big programme.  This is the fourth year of the evaluation process and involved, as a new element to the study, a new survey on the alumni of the programme.

The report demonstrates that when young people engage in voluntary work for the first time, sponsored by the O2 programme, they tend to move on to do more voluntary work and say that they will remain committed to making a positive contribution to society.

It isn’t a one-way street though – young people make great gains for themselves when working on their own projects. And certainly for young people who have had few chances in life so far, it gives a boost to their sense of confidence and resilience. The report can be found here.

Northern Rock Foundation have confirmed that the third phase of a seven year study on the structure and dynamics of the third sector in North East England and Cumbria is to go ahead from April 2014 to May 2015. The study, which will be undertaken by Professors Tony Chapman and Fred Robinson will involve a major survey of third sector organisations in the region which will repeat questions asked in 2010 and 2012. This is the first major longitudinal study of its kind in the UK and promises to continue to develop understanding of the contribution of the third sector to society and the economy. The project is co-funded by Community Foundation Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

The project has now run for several years and many reports have been published. These are all free to download from this website

Policy & Practice research was put to test by Durham University’s Applied Social Science Society on the evening of 13^th March in Leech Hall, St John’s College followed by a social event at Varsity. Professor Tony Chapman introduced a debate on volunteering by asking unconventionally challenging questions about the value of voluntary social action for the people who take part and those it aims to help.

The debate addressed the issue in an equally unconventional way by concentrating on why some people choose not to volunteer. Most of the empirical literature says the same thing: that people don’t have time, don’t know what to do, or haven’t been asked. But is that too simple? Maybe people choose not to volunteer because of deeper reasons and just don’t want to feel embarrassed publicly on admitting why. Equally importantly, Professor Chapman asked why those who do volunteer are attracted to particular causes but are repelled from others. What cultural factors underpin this?

Professor Chapman’s recent paper with Dr Barbara McGuinness on the topic can be found here.

A research team led by Maxine Houston and Fred Robinson has now completed a major new study looking at the future prospects for local councils in North East England. This research was commissioned by the Association of North East Councils and the Institute for Local Governance in response to the pressures facing councils as a result of spending cuts and increasing demand for local services.

The research found that councils in the North East have, so far, managed to cut costs while generally protecting key services, but now have little room manoeuvre. It looks like they will have to focus very largely on delivering statutory services to those in greatest need, with much less scope to provide other services that people expect and often rely on. We conclude that central government needs to clarify what the future role of local government is to be and also review how it is financed – given widespread concerns in the North East and elsewhere about the perceived unfairness of the funding system.

The research will be launched on 11^th March in Newcastle, at the North East Local Government Association’s regional event Rewiring Public Services.

On 31^st March a new report will be launched at Cass Business School, London, for Garfield Weston Foundation on how to help local voluntary organisations win funds from major national charitable foundations to tackle local social problems. The report, was written and researched by Professor Cathy Pharoah of the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, City University; Professor Tony Chapman, Policy & Practice at St Chad’s College, Durham University; and Rose Tomlins, Director of qualitative research at GfK NOP Technology.

Tony’s part in the research included a series of interviews with key stakeholders in North East charitable foundations, third sector representative bodies and local authorities to determine how changes in the funding environment had impacted on charities’ access to funding. This work was underpinned with analysis of quantitative data from Northern Rock Foundation Third Sector Trends study.

St Chad’s College recently hosted the latest ESRC-sponsored seminar in a series of discussions assessing the impact of greater Scottish autonomy on the north of England. This seminar looked at the ‘challenges for governance’. Speakers from both sides of the border considered the opportunities for cross-border collaboration, especially in relation to promoting economic development and growth. It was felt that, whatever the outcome of the referendum on independence in the autumn, it was time for northern England to look north and create stronger links with Scotland. Northern England has been too focused on links with London and the south, despite having so much in common with near neighbours in Scotland. Whatever happens, the border needs to become more porous: less of a barrier and more of an opportunity.

Professors Keith Shaw, Fred Robinson and Jonathan Blackie discussed the work they had done for the Association of North East Councils on the potential impacts of greater Scottish autonomy. Their Borderlands report was published a few months ago and is available here.

Digital exclusion has become a major concern in policy circles. In rural areas, the problem is particularly acute, but doubly so in less affluent households. Policy Research Group researchers: Maxine Houston, Gordon Allinson and Paul Braidford undertook an evaluation of the impact of digital exclusion for social housing tenants in Northumberland. Householders were given reconditioned computers and six months free internet access. The aims were to: help give people access to economic and social opportunities; prepare people for digitisation of government benefit processes; and, identify possible advantages for social housing providers and Northumberland County Council from using online transactions such as rents and council tax.

The evaluation, which involved surveys, case studies, interviews and internet usage data, considered the social, cognitive and economic gains and contrasted the benefits people expected from the project and those which they actually achieved. The project was shown to be very successful, reporting many benefits. People used the internet more often and more widely than they had expected – particularly unemployed people, who keenly sought information about job opportunities. Older people improved their confidence and skills the most and felt committed to use the internet in future. While children and young people were enthusiastic about their experience, many families could not afford to commit to future spending once the period of free access ended.

The partnership of four housing associations Isos, Bernicia, Four Housing & Homes for Northumberland now wants to find affordable solutions so that all social housing tenants in Northumberland have the opportunity to access the internet’.

Policy & Practice have published their most recent report on the success of the Cabinet Office Social Action Fund. The report, by Professor Tony Chapman and Emma Dunkerley presents new evidence on why young people continue to volunteer after they have taken part on the government’s National Citizen Service programme. The research project evaluated youth work practice by Key Fund in North East England, Envision in Yorkshire and Humber, Youth Action in North West England and Connexions in Kent and Medway from 2012-13.

The Social Action Fund/Think Big programme was shown to be effective by helping young people to become more resilient and feel more in control of their destiny. What really made a difference for young people, whatever their backgrounds, was the trust invested in them to make good decisions and to be responsible for allocating the money invested in their projects wisely. As a social programme, the Social Action Fund also aimed to promote positive interactions amongst diverse groups of young people and the communities within which they live and widen social horizons, contribute to social cohesion and increase levels of empathy and tolerance. The report shows that the programme made good progress in achieving these objectives. Read the report here.

Professor Fred Robinson, of Policy&Practice, chaired an event on 28^th February for the Institute for Local Governance in Newcastle to discuss what contribution charities and social enterprises can make to local social growth. Jo Curry of VONNE explained that there are significant new opportunities for initiatives due to new money coming from the European Union and Big Lottery to tackle issues in Local Enterprise Partnerships in the north and south of the region. Karen Woods from NESEP positioned the social enterprise sector as key players in such developments, giving examples of their innovative practice.

Tony Chapman, from St Chad’s spoke about how to build the capability of social enterprises which were not yet ready to lever funds from new income streams and advised the use of ‘stress tests’ to make sure that organisations were serious about the change required to do such work. Chi Unwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Enterprise, outlined new thinking informing policy reviews for the Labour party. Details of future ILG events can be found here.

The Cabinet Office is supporting the ‘Step up to Serve’ campaign by investing £11m in its Youth Social Action Fund and Youth Social Action Journey Fund. Tony Chapman has been appointed to evaluate the National Youth Agencies contribution to the programme supported by O2/Telefonica’s Think Big programme by researching how young people, aged 14-17, can be encouraged to take part in voluntary action. Step up to Serve, which enjoys cross party support, aims to double the number of children and young people involved with social action by 2020.

Cabinet Office Minister Nick Hurd said “We want to make sure that young people develop the skils, values and confidence they need as they move into adulthood.” The aim of the research project is to see how to see how this can be done. The Step up to Serve ‘Generation Citzen’ programme, launched and supported by the Prince of Wales, can be found here.