December 2009
Our third newsletter of the year hopefully finds you full of festive cheer! With the festive season upon us and the time of giving fast approaching this newsletter hopes to gift you some useful information and insights that you may find both interesting and practical.
Benchmarking Tool for Success!
We have won a contract to provide an impact tracking study of performance for Badminton England. This will allow us to put to use our recently developed benchmarking tool which is highly effective in identifying progress in softer outcomes and process issues for local delivery projects and services within a wider context.
To Read More on benchmarking
New Good Practice Guide available
The Good Practice Guides that we have produced so far have been very well received and so we thought, if we're on to a good thing, why stop now? This latest guide is all about young people becoming decision makers. This is a very important skill for young people to learn and vital to the success of myplace projects. However, we urge everyone to have a look at the guide as, even if you are not involved with a project, it could be very informative.
Stay Positive
At a conference in The Bloomsbury Hotel on 9 December 2009 people with an interest in developing and delivering support to young people came together. There were valuable presentations by recognised experts as well as participative workshops. The myplace support team was represented by David Gourlay, Director of Hall Aitken and Deputy Leader of the myplace support team joined by two of the young consultants from the programme, Siobhan Martin and Robbie Cheyne.
Read More and View Slides
Shadow Rounds
In January 2007 the Scottish Government introduced the Shadow Rounds to bridge the gap until funding under the 2007-13 Structural Fund programmes became available. £10.4m were available to projects eligible under Priority 1 of the European Social Fund (ESF).
Hall Aitken was asked to evaluate the programme.
A League of Our Own!
Thursday 19th Nov saw the launch of the Premier League 4 Sport (PL4S) programme in Birmingham. Hall Aitken has been enlisted to evaluate the £3.8m programme which has been formed through a partnership between the Government, Sport England, The Youth Sports Trust and 20 Premier League teams.
Read More on creating successful partnerships
ISO Seal of Approval
We have been assessed and approved by Certified Quality Systems Limited to the following Environmental Management Systems, standards and guidelines.
We now have BS EN ISO 14001:2004 accreditation as well as ISO 9001:2000 quality compliance.
Sustainable Wellbeing
In order to create a legacy it is essential to ensure that projects remain sustainable.
Sustainability is a challenge for all funding programmes. From our visits to projects in the North West Wellbeing portfolio we found this has two parts:
- Keeping the project going; and
- Keeping the engagement going.
To Read More on creating a sustainable legacy
Ex Defence Minister outlines the future role of the armed forces
At an event in The Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-on-Furness on Friday 4th Dec 2009 John Hutton, Ex Minister of Defence, was the keynote speaker. As a local retiring MP he had gone along to support Furness Enterprise at their annual conference. Due to the actions of Furness Enterprise and others the area has weathered the economic storms fairly well and is showing positive signs of continuing improvement.