Civil Society Covenant Framework launch
Information about the Civil Society Covenant Framework and how to engage and share your views.
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About the Covenant Framework
The Prime Minister has made it a priority to reset the relationship with civil society and build a new partnership that can harness civil society’s full potential to rebuild our country and deliver against the government’s 5 missions. A relationship that recognises all that civil society does for us - at home and abroad - and aims to realise the enormous potential that exists in organisations like our charities and community groups. DCMS is committed to delivering this vision, ensuring that civil society is viewed by government as an equal partner that is fully valued and heard.
On 17 October 2024 DCMS published a Covenant Framework to catalyse a wider conversation across civil society and government alongside a civil society reception hosted by the Prime Minister. The framework will build momentum and kickstart a period of intensive engagement throughout autumn to develop the final Covenant in the new year. This final Covenant is intended to act as a principles-based foundation for this new relationship and will symbolise the UK government’s recognition of the sector as a trusted and independent partner.
The Covenant Framework sets out the ambition, scope and key principles that should underpin the new relationship. It includes 4 high level principles - transparency, recognition, partnership and participation - that we envisage will form the basis of the future relationship. DCMS has worked closely with key civil society bodies, including the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) to share ideas about their vision for a new relationship with Government. We are now engaging directly to hear what civil society and government want to see in a Covenant.
The scope of the Covenant will be wide, relevant to the full range and diversity of civil society as well as government at every level. Some devolved governments, local authorities and combined authorities have existing arrangements that the Covenant will need to complement.
The 4 high level principles
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Recognition: to ensure a strong and independent civil society
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Partnership: to ensure effective service delivery and policy making, and shared learning of best practices
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Participation: to ensure people and communities can be heard and make a difference
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Transparency: to ensure civil society and government have the information needed to best serve people and communities
Our focus
Our engagement will focus on issues that include:
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are the 4 key principles- recognition, partnership, participation, transparency - the right ones?
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what are the enablers of effective partnership and what are the examples of best practice?
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what are the barriers to meaningful partnership and collaboration?
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how do we ensure this Covenant holds weight and is effective?
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how do we harness the excellent ability of civil society to innovate and find new solutions to societal problems and how do we support that spirit to spread across the sector?
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how do we make the new relationship a reality, especially in the current economic context?
How to engage
DCMS, NCVO and ACEVO (in partnership with a range of umbrella and representative bodies) will lead engagement across the civil society sector through a series of events, roundtables and online.
In parallel, DCMS will engage across government, including government departments, devolved governments, arm’s length bodies (ALBs) as well as local authorities and mayoral combined authorities.
Contact our team and let us know your views in response to the questions above:
Email: [email protected]
Written responses can be sent to:
Civil Society Covenant team
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ
The engagement period runs from 3:15pm on 17 October 2024 to 3:15pm on 12 December 2024.