A Snapshot of the Voluntary Sector in the... Wishaw and District Area LOCAL AREA... SECTORAL PROFILE... ORGANISATIONS... The Wishaw and District area includes the towns of Wishaw, Shotts, Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire research indicates that 330 voluntary sector organisations listed Brief synopsis of a few key local voluntary sector organisations Overtown, Allanton, Harthill and Salsburgh, and has a population of premises in the Wishaw and District area as their main address (as at 2015), with an estimated total operating in and specifically providing services to the Wishaw and 54,509 (2011 census). Wishaw is the area’s biggest town with a 1300 voluntary sector organisations, including a high proportion of local authority wide and national District area: population of 30,510 (2012 estimate). The area is split into the three organisations, having a footprint in the Wishaw and District area during the period April 2014 to March wards of Fortissat (Ward 12), Murdostoun (Ward 19) and Wishaw 2015. Key investors in the voluntary sector locally include North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Getting Better Together Ltd - Provides a range of healthy living (Ward 20). Geographically, outside the town of Wishaw, the area can Government, The Big Lottery Fund, Voluntary Action Fund, and several private sector trust funds. and community services for citizens of the greater Shotts area be largely classified as rural, with a number of smaller settlements. Motherwell & Wishaw Citizens Advice Bureau – Provides free, The rural profile of the Wishaw and District area outside the main town of Wishaw provides a impartial, and confidential advice services for local citizens Former industrial employers in the area included many steelworks, fundamental and interesting role for the voluntary sector locally, very much represented by tight-knit Made 4U in ML2 – Provides a range of youth work and personal but these days the biggest employers include NHS Lanarkshire communities adopting a grassroots approach. A good example of this can be seen in Shotts, where development programmes for young people in the local area (Wishaw General Hospital is located in the area), Royal Mail (Scottish Getting Better Together Ltd plays a significant role in offering a hub for the community and providing Newmains Community Trust – Received £2.3million Big Lottery distribution centre is located at Shieldmuir), HM Prison Shotts, and extremely valuable (and arguably essential) services for local and isolated people living in a rural area. Fund investment to develop a Community Hub in Newmains. large supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. Within the town of Wishaw and its urban areas, the role of the voluntary sector is equally great, helping in Brief synopsis of a few key local authority wide voluntary sector Issues affecting local citizens include social deprivation, many ways to address local issues such as social deprivation relating to health, employability and organisations with a major footprint in the Wishaw and District area: unemployment, and rural isolation. Craigneuk in Wishaw is education. Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire’s town centre office base and Community Hub facility Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust – Provides volunteer drivers for recognised as the 9th most deprived community in Scotland, offers a key central location for voluntary sector activity to take place. These premises are utilised by a cancer patients who do not have transport of their own according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (2012). high number of voluntary sector organisations, volunteers and service users on a weekly basis. North Lanarkshire Leisure Ltd – Charitable Trust delivering sport, recreation and health improvement services for local people Routes to Work Ltd – Provides employability support, advice and These days, North Lanarkshire Council suggest that the majority of VOLUNTEERING... ONLINE RESOURCES... PARTNERSHIPS... guidance to local citizens from its Wishaw office the biggest employers in the town are supermarkets, with the have taken significant steps to provide extremely valuable and arguably essential services for local and Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire – Scottish Government’s excepti ons of Royal Mail, which has its main Scottish distribution isolated people living in rural areas. From January 2014 to December 2014, 352 new Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire – Listing some of the key local partnerships and Third Sector Interface for supporting voluntary sector in local area. volunteerscentre at Shieldmuir from the and Wishaw the NHS and as aDistrict result ofarea Wishaw Generalwww.voluntaryactionnorthlanarkshire.org.uk forums relevant to the local voluntary sector: wereHospital successfully. There are matched many service with local industry volunteering businesses located Voluntary in the Action Scotland – Brief synopsis of a few key national voluntary sector organisations Wishaw & District Local Area Partnership – with a significant footprint in the Wishaw and District area: town's industrial areas, though none with more than a few hundredwww.voluntaryactionscotland.org.uk opportunities through support provided by the employees.local Third Sector Interface (Voluntary Action NL). Scottish CouncilIssues for Voluntary affecting localOrganisations citizens include – social deprivationLocal and strategicunemployment. community Craigneuk planning in table. Wishaw Key is items on the agenda include continued British Red Cross – Provides a Care in Home Service from www.scvo.org.ukrecognised as the 9th most deprived community in Scotland, according to Scottish Scottish development of Wishaw town centre, estate Wishaw General Hospital and Retail Shop in Wishaw town centre During the same period, 330 voluntary sector Volunteer ScotlandGovernment’s – www.volunteerscotland.net Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (2012). management, environmental improvements, Capability Scotland – Operates the Alexander Anderson Centre organisations listing a main premise in the Locator Tool (for older people’s services) – development of vacant and derelict land, health in Wishaw, providing care services to disabled children and adults Wishaw and District area promoted 297 live www.voluntaryactionnorthlanarkshire.org.uk/locator improvement, and community safety Central Scotland Forest Trust – Aspires to improve landscape volunteering opportunities through engagement Saltire Awards – www.saltireawards.org.uk and environment in Scotland, with central office based in Shotts with the Third Sector Interface. The most frequent North Lanarkshire Voluntary Sector Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator – www.oscr.org.uk The Richmond Fellowship Scotland – Provides support to genres of volunteering opportunities available in Partnership Group – Key strategic group people with a range of needs to help them live independent lives. the local area were working with children or young linking the voluntary sector to North Lanarkshire people and working in a health or care setting. Partnership TRATEGIC RESOURCES... Please note that the organisations noted above represent only a small Based on the number of active volunteering S Wishaw and Shotts Area Voluntary Sector sample of active local and national voluntary sector organisations. opportunities in the local area, Voluntary Action Locality Network - Network for the local North Lanarkshire estimates that approximately North Lanarkshire Voluntary Sector Strategy 2013-18 – voluntary sector, facilitated by Voluntary Action 15,000 individuals from the Wishaw and District North Lanarkshire Voluntary Sector Partnership Group’s North Lanarkshire on behalf of the North area engaged in volunteering during 2014-15 strategy document outlining a vision for the voluntary sector Lanarkshire Voluntary Sector Partnership Group HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE (two gatherings per annum) (conservative estimate including charity trustees). North Lanarkshire Partnership Community Plan and Single Outcome Agreement 2013-18 - Key strategic Wishaw, Murdostoun and Fortissat The voluntary sector, along with NHS Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire Volunteering activity was also notable in the local documents of North Lanarkshire Partnership highlighting Community Forum – North Lanarkshire Council and the Independent Care sector, played a key role in the area through opportunities provided by statutory priorities and objectives for developing communities Partnership’s recognised vehicle for engaging delivery of North Lanarkshire’s Reshaping Care for Older People partners, including NHS Lanarkshire (several A Framework for Third Sector Connectivity to and consulting with citizens of the Wishaw and Change Plan during the period 2011-15. Following on from the Change opportunities based within Wishaw General Community Planning in North Lanarkshire 2015-18 – District community Plan, the voluntary sector is a central delivery partner in Scottish Hospital and Cleland Hospital), North Outlines a vision and three-year Improvement Plan for Wishaw and Shotts Community Learning Government’s Health and Social Care Integration agenda. Lanarkshire Council (mainly through Active voluntary sector involvement in Community Planning and Development Partnership – Multi-agency Schools North Lanarkshire and Community Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire Business and Partnership to assist the development of local As part of a well-established Locality Partnership Development Learning and Development), and Secondary Operational Plans – The Business and Operational