1.

Summary

A proposal that the Hampshire Strategic Partnership express its support for a project to develop an interactive `database-driven website' for the voluntary and community sector in Hampshire;

And that it be a recommendation to the Hampshire County Council Executive Member for Community Development, Cllr Kirk, that the design and development costs of the project be supported from community funds.

2.

The Project:

· aims to develop an interactive website holding detailed data on all the voluntary and community organisations in Hampshire. The website will be accessible on different levels from members of the public to support agencies

· has produced a detailed feasibility study and set of proposals after widespread consultation with all the major stakeholders

· is run and funded by a partnership of the Learning Partnerships, Business Link Wessex, the Health Authority, Local Authorities, local Councils of Voluntary Services and Government Office

· has consulted widely with stakeholders, including Chairs of Local Strategic Partnerships, and a detailed programme agreed with relevant partners.

3.

Progress to date

Stage 1 has now been completed.

Over the next year it is planned to:

· Design the database including appropriate fields

· Design the upload facility to a unique website

· Collect data and `populate' the database

· Devise access protocols for the website

4.

Costs

Costs will involve design and development (`set-up'), and over the next three years an ongoing management service.

The current estimate is as follows:

Year 1: £37K set-up, £35K management and running costs

Year 2: Running costs £34K

Year 3: Running costs £34K

5.

Benefits

There is no complete and detailed database currently available for Hampshire. Local CVSs have information of varying quality. The advantages of a database centrally held, accessible over the `Web', and with `downloads' to local databases, the preferred option, are:-

· evaluation of voluntary sector agency performance/activities

· monitoring use of grants

· assessment of overall impact of voluntary sector in social and employment terms

· capability for Local Strategic Partnerships (and their community strategies) to engage in consultation, to assess trends in this sector, to identify gaps in provision, and therefore target resources where needed

· support for the voluntary sector Compact

· integration of information on specialist agencies, e.g. health, youth

· improved volunteer recruitment

· support for capacity building amongst the CVSs themselves

6.

Funding

The estimated requirement for Year 1 is £37K for design and development and £35K for management costs. This could be covered by the existing partners if Hampshire Strategic Partnership and Hampshire County Council were prepared to commit support of £37K for `set up' costs.

Once the database and systems have been established, the running costs for yrs. 2 and 3 (estimated at £34K pa) will be met from partner contributions, revenue raising activities, and the redeployment of resources from `Cousin'.

7.

Management arrangements

The Project has been managed by a `Steering Group' of Partners, chaired by John Rees-Evans, Hampshire's Head of Economic Development. Community Action Hampshire has provided contractual and secretarial support.

With the next phase, it is recognised that these arrangements need to be reviewed and strengthened. It is planned, therefore, to establish a not-for-profit `special purpose vehicle', to `own' the project and data and to make this available to partners. There will also be a dedicated `User Group' to advise project management on matters of implementation.

8.

Conclusion

This project is reaching a critical phase, and will require ongoing commitment from all those involved. The proposed development would be groundbreaking nationally, and provide superb support to the work of all the Local Strategic Partnerships in Hampshire, as well as the Voluntary and Community sector itself.

The Partners commend the project to Hampshire Strategic Partnership and propose a recommended grant of £37000 to cover the first year set up costs.