Public Service Management Wales are organising an Expert Seminar at Ffynnon Las, The Orchards, Ilex Close, Ty Glas Avenue, Llanishen, Cardiff, CF14 5E (next door to Llanishen Leisure Centre) on 21st February 2011
13.00 – 15.30
‘Developing co-operative approaches to service delivery & riding the tide of social innovation’
Robin Murray – Young Foundation and Demos Associate.
For more details and how to book see the Events pages
Cymru / Wales Progressive Co-operators are organising a workshop at Ffynnon Las, The Orchards, Ilex Close, Ty Glas Avenue, Llanishen, Cardiff, CF14 5E
(next door to Llanishen Leisure Centre)
21st February 2011
16.00 – 17.30
Free Event – all co-operators welcome
See events pages for more details and bookings
Figures published in a new report from Co-operatives UK have revealed stark differences between public perceptions of PLCs and co-operative businesses. Co-operatives are four times more likely to be described as ‘fair’ and ‘honest’ compared to PLCs. Conversely, PLCs are seven times more likely to be described as ‘greedy’ by consumers.
The report, Good business? Public perceptions of co-operation, compiled on behalf of Co-operatives UK members to track public perceptions of co-operative enterprise, shows that co-operatives are viewed as local, based on sharing profits, honest, trusted and a good way to run a business, while PLCs are widely associated with being global (74%) and cut throat (56%).
Last month, the Welsh Assembly Government published a three year Action Plan for supporting the Welsh credit union sector which seeks to build upon the great strides already made in the sector’s development since the devolved administration’s creation a decade ago.
The plan, Raising the profile: meeting the challenges, is backed by £3.4 million in available funding and is based on the findings of last year’s research report by the Cardiff Institute for Co-operative Studies. It sets out 5 core objectives:- Continue reading
The Co-operative, Group has announced additional funding for a scheme designed to support a new co-operative business every day in 2011. The Group has announced a 50% increase in its funding for The Co-operative Enterprise Hub, which was Iaunched in Wales at the Senedd last year – to £7.5m.
It has set a target of nurturing more than 350 enterprises across the UK throughout the year to create and grow thriving and sustainable community-based co-operatives. Continue reading
FOR much of her life, Anna Lo has played a key role in bringing communities together in Northern Ireland. Now she is heading up a bid by the Assembly to build stronger links between Stormont and the Co-operative Movement. The 60-year-old Alliance Party MLA for South Belfast has just been elected as the first-ever Chair of the All-Party Group on Co-operatives and Mutuals.
“We have just held our third meeting and it is still very much in evolution with a lot of representatives of different parties. I don’t pretend to be an expert yet on all the different co-op structures and issues, but we are all keen to get things moving. Continue reading
Co-operatives UK are delighted to announce that Co-operatives Fortnight 2011 will take place from 25 June to 9 July with the theme of ‘yours to share’.
The national campaign, which unites the co-operative sector, will highlight how sharing ownership and profits makes co-operative businesses more relevant than ever.
Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, says: “The success of last year’s Co-operatives Fortnight, which involved 2.3million people, came from the enthusiasm and activism of co-operatives across the country.
“This year, Co-operatives UK and the Fortnight’s sponsors want to step it up a gear. Concerns about wealth and fairness are on everyone’s lips. We have a unique opportunity to demonstrate – to customers, employees, members, business leaders and government – that co-operatives are different because they are ‘yours to share.’
“The key to this is co-operatives everywhere getting involved, using the Yours to Share branding and materials to promote how they share ownership and profits.”
Read more, watch the film and share your thoughts at www.uk.coop/yourstoshare
For events in Wales see our ‘Events’ page
Co-operative Futures have announced the programme for their annual conference at the Hayley Conference Centre outside Swindon from 28th to 30th January.
For more information and booking details download the brochure:- Future Coops Programme 2011
Commissioned by Co-operatives UK, Robin Murray – a co-operative innovator and key thinker behind Fairtrade, Twin Trading and much more besides – has produced a radical vision of the how the co-operative sector can expand in the 21st Century.
Co-operation in the age of Google shows that we are living at a time of profound transformation. The information and communication revolution, widespread concerns about private sector greed, public sector finances and impending climate chaos present a wide range of possibilities for co-operative expansion. Continue reading
The “Friends of the Robert Owen Museum” was officially launched on Thursday November 11th at the Museum in Newtown with a short presentation by Professor Chris Williams of Swansea University on the relationship Robert Owen had with Newtown, the place of his birth and death, and the relationship it’s citizens had with him and his memory.
Over 30 people crowded in to the Council Chamber above the Museum to enjoy this event and the liquid refreshements generously provided by the Co-operative Group.
The Museum is open all year round, and is run entirely by volunteers. It receives visitors from all around the world as well as many from across Wales and the UK.
More information on how to support the Museum, which has plans to improve and update this unique exhibition of Robert Owen’s life can be found at: http://robert-owen-museum.org.uk/friends
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“There is but one mode by which man can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which his nature is capable of enjoying – that is by the union and co-operation of ALL for the benefit of EACH”
The Welsh Assembly Cross Party Group on Co-operatives and Mutuals met again on 10th Nov 2010.
David Melding AM, the Chair, introduced a presentation by Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK to the 25 people, AMs and others from the movement, who attended.
Ed talked about the new economic agenda for co-operatives, touching on a wide range of issues. Co-operatives and Mutuals are a very different form of business as the shares are not traded, and so are not subject to the vagaries of the market, and democracy is inbuilt into the model, ensuring they cannot easily fall into the wrong hands. Continue reading
Shaping The Future of Care
Can Co-operative forms of organisation help us to deliver sustainable services and healthy communities against a back-drop of so many challenges? Should Co-operative models become a valued part of Welsh health and social care provision/
These questions are explored in the Report of a Study Day organised earlier this year by the Health Social Care and WellBeing Network (supported by WCVA).
The Report:-
Altogether the Report makes a compelling argument for the encouragement of co-operative solutions to many of the problems facing social care in Wales today. It should interest anyone wanting to explore ways of delivering health and social care services which empower citizens and communities.
Download the report here:-
Shaping the Future ~ Oct 2010
Llunio Dyfodol Gofal ~ Hydref 2010
Further information from:-
Andi Lyden
Chair, Network 3
The Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Network
WCVA
Baltic House
Mountstuart Square
Cardiff
CF10 5FH
Despite the criticism aimed at other banks for lending less and less to businesses, even where they are in profit and expanding, the Co-operative Bank is bucking the trend.
Since 2007 it has increased lending to businesses across the UK from £6.2 billion to £8.7 billion, an increase of 40%. Over the same period they have received a threefold increase in business deposits to a high of £4 billion.
Neville Richardson, Chief Executive commented “Our presence in the corporate market has benefitted from a strong financial position that has supported growth when our competitors were scaling back …We plan to capitalise on our success and further strengthen our position in the market”.
Andrew Davies AM has recently published an article on the “New Mutualism” in which he sets out his position on this important debate.
Andrew was elected to the Assembly in May 1999. He was a prominent member of the “Yes for Wales” Campaign and co-ordinator of Labour’s Assembly referendum campaign in 1997. Andrew served as a member of the Cabinet for ten years from the Assembly’s inception in May 1999, as Assembly Business Manager (Trefynydd) from 1999-2002; Minister for Economic Development from 2002-2007, with Transport added from 2003; and as Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery between July 2007 and December 2009.
Read the article at http://waleshome.org/2010/10/the-new-mutualism/
The second open meeting of the Welsh Assembly Cross Party Group on Co-operatives and Mutuals was held on September 29th in the Assembly Media Briefing Room.
The presentation was given by Glyn Thomas, Vice Chair of CDS Co-operatives http://www.cds.coop on
“Keeping control of our lives – Mutual Housing for older people”.
This Report was presented as evidence to the Commission on Co-operative Housing, a UK wide study which reported earlier this year.
Glyn outlined his propsals for developing both Commonhold and fully Mutual Housing solutions for older people, as well as explaining and learning from some of the history of co-operative housing developments over the last century.
The event was organised by Co-operatives and Mutuals Wales in partnership with Twin Trading and Fair Trade Wales on September 15th at the Mulberry Centre in Abergavenny.
Mark Bishop of Big State Theatre
With the number of freelancers in UK creative industries continuing to rise and creative graduates facing a difficult job market, Co-operatives UK, the national trade body that campaigns for co-operation, has launched Creative Co-operatives, a new guide and website. Continue reading
The Co-operative Forum (Northern Ireland) held an international conference, “From Plunkett to the credit crunch” at Trinity College, Dublin over the weekend of July 31st/August 1st 2010.
The conference welcomed over 50 delegates from across the British Isles and as far away as the ICA in Geneva to a wide ranging and well received series of presentations and discussions. Continue reading
The way to improve football in the UK, now the World Cup is over, is to follow the approach of leading Spanish clubs and hand them over to their fans. This report – written by Dave Boyle and launched by Co-operatives UK and Supporters Direct – details how.
This report, launched as part of Co-operatives Fortnight, is published alongside the first English translation of the statutes of Spanish club FC Barcelona, the poster child of co-operative football.
Download the full reports below:-
On July 15th, Alex Bird, Chair of Co-operatives and Mutuals Wales was asked to give evidence to the Welsh Assembly’s Enterprise and Learning Committee, together with John Bennett, CEO of the Welsh Social Enterpise Coalition.
Watch the full presentation below:-
(To start the video – click on the Hi Med or Lo buttons)
The written evidence is available at:-
Secretary - David Smith
54 Capel Dewi Hall Road
Newport
NP20 2QP
+44 (0) 7597 008176
david(at)cooperatives-wales.coop
Skype: Davidsmith.wales
Follow us @CoopsWales
