Encouraging words for the Third Sector from the Shadow Cabinet 

27th March 2008 - CAN Mezzanine, the social enterprise that provides office space to the Third Sector welcomed Shadow Minister, Rt Hon Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Greg Clark MP, Shadow Cabinet Minister with responsibility for Third Sector to their award winning offices in One London Bridge.

The Shadow Ministers met Third Sector organisations housed within the Mezzanine to listen to their concerns. Topics were varied including business support, loan funds, the delivery of social services, grant support verses contracts and The Compact.

Access to funding was one of the key issues discussed. The group reflected that there seems to be plenty of funds out there, but they can't get their hands on it. They criticised that the funding organisations set out to help them are too risk adverse. What the sector needs are funds which take risks on innovation.

Greg Clark felt innovation was being stifled by the very prescriptive nature of funding. "For there to be progress and dynamism you have to have the possibility that things can go wrong and to understand that not every failure is a culpable failure. There are times to have taken the risk on a well informed and intelligent basis. For every one that goes wrong there will be five that show a real social dividend."

Adele Blakebrough, CAN Chief Executive added, "It's very heartening to see that the Shadow Cabinet are interested in third sector and really trying to tease out these issues. It's also been a great opportunity for our customers to access the ears of Whitehall. We have agreed that the dialogue won't end here and we look forward to continuing these discussions"

Francis Maude said "Thank you for allowing us to visit. It was incredible informative and useful and the discussion afterwards has given both Greg and I much ‘food for thought' whilst we put our Green Paper together."

CAN Mezzanine now house 107 organisations, providing quality office services to over 600 customers. This event was just one of the events organised by CAN Mezzanine on behalf of the organisations. The CAN Mezzanine network encourages sharing and learn from each other as part of their everyday office experience.

The Conservatives are currently drafting a Green Paper outlining their policies for the Third Sector. This will act as a discussion document for continuing the debate. The Paper will be available in the coming months. To submit your thoughts, please contact Francis' office by emailing GASCOIGNEB@parliament.uk

Enquiries

For all press enquiries, interviews and images, please contact Reena Chadha, CAN Communications Manager on +44 (0) 20 7922 7759, +44 (0) 7931 558711 or email r.chadha@can-online.org.uk

Notes to Editors

Attendees and Organisations that took part include:

  • Tom Smith, Membership Advisor, Sedex
  • Rigmor Haga, Account coordinator, Sedex
  • Patrick Wintour, CEO, Employability Forum
  • Dr Ian Akers, Development Manager, The Brightside Trust
  • William Hoyle, CEO, CTT
  • Poppy Lyle, Corporate Relationship Manager, Digital Links
  • Hetan Shah , CEO, DEA
  • Caroline Ffrench Blake, Director, British Albanian Kosovar Council
  • Xhevat Ademi, Education, Community and Youth Leader, British Albanian Kosovar Council
  • Gibril Faal, Director, GK Partners
  • Dominic Morris, Office Manager, GK Partners
  • Uday Thacker, Director, Red Ochre
  • David Ireland, Chief Executive, Empty Homes
  • Henry Oliver, Policy Advisor, Empty Homes
  • John Ditchfield, Senior Advisor, Barchester Green Investment

CAN Mezzanine

CAN Mezzanine is an award winning social enterprise offering affordable, high quality office space to the third sector.

There are 64 organisations in London Bridge office and 42 organisations in Loman Street.

In 2006 CAN Mezzanine won the national Charity Awards for Support and Research in the Third Sector.

A recent independent social impact finding survey found that in 2005/6, CAN Mezzanine London Bridge was 55% cheaper than the average of the three largest providers of serviced office space in the UK. This equates to £2,400,891 savings for the Third Sector based on our average sized organisations being 5/6 people.