CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB08/08) issued by The Government News Network on 28
January 2008
The Cabinet Office
today announced its intention to appoint the Adventure Capital
Fund (ACF) to manage the second phase of the Futurebuilders fund.
Their appointment follows a rigorous tender process. ACF will be
responsible for investing an additional £65million of government
funds, on top of the £150m already made available to the
Futurebuilders Fund, to develop third sector delivery of public
services between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2011. ACF will also
manage the existing investments. Current investees and third
sector organisations that have applications in the pipeline will
not be affected. Since its launch in 2004 the Futurebuilders Fund
has provided loan and grant based finance to support charities,
voluntary groups, social enterprises and other third sector
organisations to develop their capacity to deliver better public
services. This first phase, managed by Futurebuilders England,
focused on developing services in five key areas, children and
young people, community cohesion, crime, health, and education.
First announced last year, from 1 April 2008 the second phase will
open up the fund to bids from third sector organisations
delivering any public service.
Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, said:
'It is important that third sector organisations who want to
deliver public services have the opportunity to do so. Many have a
unique focus, specialist knowledge and the ability to reach some
of the most vulnerable people in society. The second phase of
Futurebuilders will bring new challenges for the fund manager but
ACF has demonstrated great ability and enthusiasm to take on this
challenge. I have no doubt that they will build on the success of
the programme to date and the ground-breaking work undertaken by
Futurebuilders England in the first phase.'
'I want to reassure current investees and organisations
with applications in the pipeline there will be an orderly and
well managed transition to the new fund manager and the programme
will not be adversely affected by the change.'
The broader scope of the second phase of the Futurebuilders
programme was a recommendation of the Futurebuilders Advisory
Panel annual report published in March 2007.
Notes to editors:
1. The Adventure Capital Fund is a charity that was set up in
2002 to fund community enterprises by offering a combination of
financial investments and expert support. http://www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk/
2. In order to open preliminary discussion on this tender, we
announced our intention to tender on 2 April 2007: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/070403_tender.aspx
3. We published a discussion document to invite further views on
the tender to deliver the second phase of the Futurebuilders Fund
on 25 May 2007: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/070525_futurebuilders.aspx
4. We published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the
European Union asking for potential bidders to submit expressions
of interest by completing a Pre Qualification Questionnaire and
returning it to the Office of the Third Sector by 10 September. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/070803_fund_manager.aspx
5. The Futurebuilders Fund is currently operated and managed by
Futurebuilders England Ltd (FBE) under a tripartite Agreement
between the Cabinet Office, FBE (http://www.futurebuilders-england.org.uk/),
and Charity Bank (http://www.charitybank.org/).
6. For more information about the Futurebuilders Programme see http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/funding_finance_support/futurebuilders.aspx
7. For more information about the Futurebuilders Advisory Panel,
including their report, see http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/070321_futurebuilders.aspx
8. The Office of the Third Sector was formed in May 2006 to drive
forward the Government's role in supporting a thriving third
sector, and join up sector-related work across government. For
more information see http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/about_us.aspx
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