Thoughts of a CEO July 2024

In case you somehow hadn’t noticed, we’ve just had a general election and now have a new Labour Government. In Surrey, of course, we always like to do things a little differently, so we have six Conservative and six Liberal Democrat MPs now, with nine of them being new to the role. Although it is very early on in the new Government’s tenure, we are starting to see how their policies are likely to develop, and needless to say, there are more than a few things that will affect our sector (understatement of the season!). I’ve cherry picked some things from the King’s Speech that I think might be of particular interest to the voluntary sector of Surrey, but I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts – the good, the bad and the ugly.

Four have jumped out at me. In no particular order, these are:
Devolution might have a significant impact on us all, especially around skills, planning, transport and with Surrey being given more control over “our” portion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Will we see renewed interest in a Surrey Unitary Authority? Local authority funds are stretched tighter than a guitar string. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that I could see about how a new government might help address the local authority funding challenges (and the probable knock-on effect on the voluntary sector).

Mental Health Act reforms should be welcomed, as well as a commitment to reducing violence against women and girls, but it surprised me that there was little reference to adult social care or a National Care Service, nor even a child poverty bill.
Planning changes to promote house building are of particular interest to me (you know we have an amazing affordable rural housing programme, right?). I look forward to invigorating discussions about protecting the green belt (and what exactly is the grey belt?), building new affordable homes, maintaining social housing stock, and more. If there is one topic that is guaranteed to set my inbox on fire, it’s housing!

Martyn’s Law will have a significant impact on Surrey’s 600+ community buildings. The bill will impose requirements on certain premises and events to increase their preparedness for, and protection from, a terrorist attack. These requirements are to be “proportionate” steps, depending on the size and nature of the activities that take place at the premises, but what these are is to be determined – and clearly the risks facing the O2 Arena are very different to those facing a typical village hall, and the resources available to implement are likewise different.
There is so much more to digest: House of Lords reform, private schools and VAT, renters’ rights, employment law changes, etc, etc, etc and I’m sure things will become clearer after the summer recess.

Now that I think on it, there wasn’t much reference to the voluntary sector full stop, which given the role we play was a little disappointing.

Please let me know what you think of the King’s Speech and how it will impact you and your charity.