National News

Health Minister, Ivan Lewis, has announced £27m of new funding for social enterprises to deliver health and social care services bringing the total amount available through the Department of Health's Social Enterprise Investment Fund to £100m.

The Social Enterprise Investment Fund supports the development of social enterprises in health and social care which reinvest their profits back into the organisation or into the local community, promoting independence, well-being and social inclusion and helping to improve people's quality of life.

In the past, arts organisations have not generally been funded by this route but the expanded scheme is likely to encourage a greater number of community arts organisations to seek social enterprise funding.

For further information, visit: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation/Commissioning/Socialenterprise

Arts and Health East is a new group formed to promote and encourage the use of the arts in health in the Eastern region. A small steering group has been formed an plans are underway for events designed to assess the level of interest in such an organisation becoming formally constituted in the summer. For more information, contact Damian@lahf.org.uk

Meanwhile, Arts and Health South West's next members' meeting will focus on Older People and will take place on 10th March from 11am - 3.15pm in Bristol. Membership of the organisation costs £35 per year for individuals. For more information, visit: www.ahsw.org.uk

The Department of Health is reviewing all funding and investment to third sector organisations. This includes primary grant funding streams Section 64 General Scheme of Grants and Opportunities for Volunteering.

Organisations are being invited to respond to the consultation document, which aims to develop a strategic framework for the Department of Health's investment in the Third Sector.

The Consultation closes on 20^th March with workshops currently taking place throughout the country, including one on 24^th January at The King's Fund.

The consultation document is available on the DH website with a questionnaire response document: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations

The National Social Inclusion Programme is looking to develop a network of people and organisations interested in and working in mental health, social inclusion and the arts.

If you are interested in knowing more, please email Antonia Furmston at antonia.furmston@londondevelopmentcentre.org

Arts Council England has published the overall findings of its national arts debate. The report draws on responses to consultation with arts practitioners and the public. Throughout the consultation process the wellbeing agenda and issues around funding and sustaining arts activity in the health sector were raised and received broad support from members of the public and artists working in a variety of sectors.

The scheme formerly known as "Poems for the Waiting Room" has been re-vamped to include other arenas as well as healthcare settings. The new 'Poems for...' scheme will continue to work in healthcare as well as focusing on new work with bi-lingual communities.

w: www.hyphen-21.org

Taking Part Counts - the contribution of art, culture and sport to national outcomes, is a new report from the Local Government Association which describes the benefits of participation in culture and sport - including the impact of participation on health outcomes.

The report calls on government to streamline the indicators related to cultural services, focus on measuring participation and consider the options for a national survey, alongside further strengthening of the evidence base on the benefits of participation.

For a full copy of the report visit www.lga.gov.uk/Publication.asp?lSection=0&id=-A78411E5

The King's Fund has published a review of the second phase of its Enhancing the Healing Environment programme.

The review evaluates the impact of the national phase of the programme focusing on 9 of the 23 projects which were supported.

The review can be downloaded from: www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/other_work_by_our_staff/evaluation_of.html

Strategies designed to support and encourage the use of arts in healthcare settings have been launched simultaneously by Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department of Health (DoH). ‘Arts health and wellbeing: a framework for partnership’ is the first ever Arts Council strategy for arts in health and outlines the ways in which ACE will work with the DoH and healthcare providers to improve health and enhance healthcare environments. It details the work ACE has supported in the sector in recent years, including £6.5m of grants through the Grants for the Arts

Arts Council England’s London office has been selected as a lead partner in a London Health Commission-led bid to the Big Lottery Fund’s Wellbeing Programme. The bid is through to the second stage and is poised to bring £9.46m into London. A unique new ‘Well London’ alliance (including ACE, the University of East London, the London Sustainable Development Exchange, and South London and Maudesley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM)) has been forged bringing together strategic influence and grassroots community-led experience.