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Futurebuilders Advisory Panel publish their first progress report on the Futurebuilders Fund

The Futurebuilders Advisory Panel (FBAP) today published their first progress report on the Government's Futurebuilders programme – in which they welcomed its work as "highly innovative" and "ahead of its time".

Led by Baroness Jill Pitkeathley, the FBAP congratulated Ministers on creating the programme and recognised the programme's success in distributing valuable funding to third sector organisations across the UK.

In their first ever progress report, the independent Panel recommended the Futurebuilders Fund should be continued into a second phase to run from 2008-2011.

Baroness Jill Pitkeathley said:

“The Panel is pleased to give a positive report to Ministers on this important initiative. We have all been impressed by the difference which Futurebuilders funding, either as loans or development grants, can make to third sector organisations, enabling them to provide public services which are focused on the needs of the users.”

The FBAP was set up by the Cabinet Office in 2005 to provide independent advice to ministers on the objectives and priorities of Futurebuilders.

Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, said:

“Locally-led, with the right support at the right time, Futurebuilders can help unlock the third sector's potential. With a solid foundation from the state, and the sector's compassion, commitment and creativity, Futurebuilders shows how effective partnership can make society more just.

“I'm very grateful to Jill Pitkeathley and the Advisory Panel for this report, and welcome their recognition of the success and innovation of the programme.”

Additional conclusions in today's report include:

• The five broad delivery areas which form the existing criteria for funding applications should remain in place until the second phase, at which point they could be expanded to include other delivery areas;
• The Futurebuilders Fund is widely perceived as a robust and successful policy programme that is enabling a growing number of third sector organisations to build their capacity to win and delivery public service delivery contracts;
• Though still in the early stages of measuring benefits to service users, the Panel notes the positive impact Futurebuilders is having on third sector organisations that have received investment and recommends the Cabinet Office consider how best to capture the programme's ‘social return on investment’;
• Futurebuilders should be actively involved in the implementation of the Cabinet Office's Partnership in Public Services action plan (launched December '06) and its actions on strengthening national, regional and local commissioning processes.
• Development grants can deliver significant benefits at modest cost, and should continue to be part of Futurebuilders investment portfolio.