New Statesman

Contact Us Mailing List

• about
• awards
• events
• resources

News

Social enterprise news stories past and present

---

£5m Merseyside project supports social enterprise

11 May 2007
A £5m project will help social enterprises, community and voluntary groups on Merseyside to become more entrepreneurial.

Secure Healthcare Promises “a new era in prisoner and offender healthcare and reduced rates of re-offending”

01 May 2007
The inmates at HMP Wandsworth are promised a significant improvement in healthcare standards as they are invited to become members of the ground-breaking scheme. By giving prisoners the chance to take increased responsibility for their physical and mental health, as well as offering the full range of primary, secondary and specialist care, Secure Healthcare claims to have a positive impact on people’s life choices as a result of their innovative approach.

New ‘enterprise offer’ set to boost West Midlands’ entrepreneurs

01 May 2007
A new enterprise offer is hoping to assist over 43,000 entrepreneurs in the West Midlands. Jill Parker, Enterprise Director at the new organisation, is looking to boost the region’s start-up rates by increasing the number of individuals and established companies receiving help to over 80,000, in order to maximise their potential over the next three years.

Community Interest Companies in Northern Ireland given green light

12 Apr 2007
The legislation which came into effect with the start of the new tax year enables the establishment of CICs. John Hanlon, the UK CIC Regulator and expert on the new type of company, welcomed the extension of the legislation to Northern Ireland. He said: "I would encourage all Social Economy Enterprises in Northern Ireland to take steps to become CIC.

Cabinet office launch hunt for social enterprise ambassadors

11 Apr 2007
The Cabinet Office has published an invitation to tender for developing and delivering an exciting new programme to create at least 20 new social enterprise ambassadors. Ambassadors will be social entrepreneurs with great stories to tell about how this way of doing business changes people's lives.

Social enterprise schemes discover funding allocations

05 Apr 2007
Trailblazing local social enterprise schemes will tomorrow discover their share of £1.4 million of national funding, made available by Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis. The 26 schemes from across England will receive Department of Health funding towards start up costs plus wider support, for example business advice and training, to help them lead the way in delivering innovative community services in health and social care.

Social Enterprise in Scotland

03 Apr 2007
A new strategy and action plan intended to grow and develop social enterprise has been launched. The strategy Better business - a strategy and action plan for social enterprise in Scotland has been drawn up by Communities Scotland. It highlights the contribution a social enterprise business model can contribute to economic growth and business development while at the same time meeting social objectives.

Social enterprise in health report launched today

27 Mar 2007
A major report revealing vast potential of social enterprises to reform health and social care delivery launched today. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt launched healthy business: a guide to social enterprise in health and social care today, following extensive research by a joint team from the Social Enterprise Coalition and industry legal specialists Hempsons.

Economic growth boosted by social enterprise

26 Mar 2007
There are 110 social enterprise organisations in Brighton & Hove operating in the education, environment and community development areas among others. Collectively the city's social enterprises turn over an estimated £21 million a year, employ 1,262 people and provide opportunities for over 3,000 volunteers. A high proportion of their staff comes from the city's disadvantaged groups.

Social enterprises can provide answers for social workers

25 Mar 2007
Social enterprises can be used to empower social care workers to tackle problems in the sector, according to a report launched tomorrow in London. The study, produced by the Social Enterprise Coalition and industry legal specialist Hempsons, also says that social enterprises – businesses that trade for a social purpose – can provide a fresh approach to service delivery.

Campaigners reveal DIY hospital plan

21 Mar 2007
Campaigners last night vowed to build a new hospital for their town themselves after years of broken promises from local health bosses. Peter Clifford, chairman of the Walnuttree Hospital Action Committee set up to fight the closure of Sudbury's existing hospital, said he was confident a social enterprise scheme - similar to those advocated by central government - was the way forward.

New £250m 'social bank' proposed

15 Mar 2007
Dormant money in bank accounts should be used to support voluntary groups and charities fighting social deprivation, a report has argued. The government is currently looking at ways of putting the estimated £400m in unclaimed bank deposits to better use.

Indian grads think beyond profits

13 Mar 2007
If you thought the Great Indian Middle Class to be one big consumer group, think again. In a clear departure from the numbers game, B-school students are thinking beyond profits. This was evident at the Asia semi-final of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) held recently.

Enterprising links between East and West

09 Mar 2007
A group of delegates from Shanghai were on a two-day stay in West Cumbria this week as part of their 10-day trip to Britain exploring the ways in which social enterprise could help communities.
The event was being hosted by the Rev Jim Baker who is a director of Global Links, a non-profit organisation which promotes social inclusion and enterprise across the world.

Has Red failed?

08 Mar 2007
It was launched with help from celebrities across the world and in a fanfare of publicity centred on U2 frontman Bono. The Irish singer's Red initiative was intended to help millions of Aids sufferers in Africa. But the project, which cost an estimated £50million to set up, has raised just £9million for the needy, critics have claimed.

The T-shirt that helps alleviate poverty

06 Mar 2007
Edun LIVE , a sub-brand of Edun Apparel, the socially conscious clothing label founded in 2005 by U2 singer Bono and Ali Hewson, his wife, focuses on selling mass-market blank T-shirts for merchandising purposes. The T-shirts are made in the sub-Saharan countries of Lesotho, Uganda and Kenya.

Unique Manchester garage set to expand

28 Feb 2007
A Salford garage which was established last year to train people who have been out of work for a long time has now expanded its services to include MOT testing. Under the FST SMaRT Service Centre's scheme, trainees work alongside qualified mechanics to develop skills and gain the experience they need to eventually find paid work.

Creating Sustainable Childcare the Social Enterprise Way

26 Feb 2007
Responding to the ongoing challenges facing the childcare sector both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the University of Ulster’s Knowledge Club, in partnership with Social Economy Solutions, has organised a seminar, entitled Sustainable Childcare on March 6 from 10am – 2pm in the Rural College and Derrynoid Centre in Draperstown.

Social enterprise evidence base to grow

22 Feb 2007
Social enterprise evidence base to grow as vital new research into the sector’s governance support needs is commissioned .

New programme to help Malays gain employment

21 Feb 2007
A new S$500,000 programme has been launched to help three targeted groups of Malays gain employment. The new programmes will be implemented through the Social Enterprise Network Singapore (SENSE), which is the training arm of self-help group, MENDAKI.

Social enterprise event in North Yorkshire

20 Feb 2007
Business people and voluntary organisations will team up this week to discuss ways they can mutually help the region.

Poverty to be put in museums by 2030

18 Feb 2007
Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus yesterday said Bangladesh can be the first country to put poverty in the museums by 2030 tapping the huge potential and natural resources it has.

'Dragons' tackle economic inactivity

13 Feb 2007
A new enterprise organisation will be launched in Wales today with the key objective of tackling the issue of economic inactivity. The Business Dragons - eChamber Wales initiative will be the largest enterprise representative in Wales with a combined membership of around 6,000 enterprises.

Cowen launches Social Finance Foundation

05 Feb 2007
The Irish Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, T.D., today launched the Social Finance Foundation to act as a wholesale supplier of social finance for on-lending to support social and developmental projects and social enterprise in local communities.

Let there be a stock market for social business

05 Feb 2007
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on Saturday called for a social stock market to list a new variety of business — social business — to do good to people on a no loss, no dividend basis.

Think bigger and better

31 Jan 2007
Social enterprise is not just about tiny community projects: it is a model for running big business and public services alike.

Yunus slates 'financial apartheid' against poor

30 Jan 2007
Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank founder Prof Muhammad Yunus has criticised the existing international financial institutions for shutting out the world's poor from receiving their credit.

Multi-million pound social enterprise fund unveiled

24 Jan 2007
A £73 million funding boost for social enterprise was announced today by Health Minister Ivan Lewis.
The money in the social enterprise fund, to be spread over four years, will go towards supporting and encouraging the development social enterprises in health and social care.

Major £500,000 plan to help the have-nots

17 Jan 2007
A new pilot scheme, believed to be the first of its kind in Leeds, is aiming to generate over £500,000 in funding for a range of social and regeneration initiatives focusing, in particular, on job creation.

Pupils offered campaign cash fund

18 Dec 2006
Schools are being sought for a project offering small cash grants to pupils to run their own charitable campaigns.

Government support for social enterprise

15 Nov 2006
Chancellor Gordon Brown, Minister for the Cabinet Office Hilary Armstrong and Minister for the Third Sector Ed Miliband are making some £18m available to try and raise awareness of social enterprise and encourage people either to get involved or to invest in them.

(c) New Statesman 2007 :: privacy policy :: disclaimer :: about New Statesman :: about Edge