Civil Society Sector Champions
This theme is now closed for comment. An announcement on Red Tape Challenge plans will be made in due course. You can read comments made during the theme spotlight (17 May 2012 – 13 September 2012) on the theme sub-category pages, available here.
Below you can find out more about our Civil Society sector champions, and here what they have to say about the Red Tape Challenge. Visit the Civil Society comment pages by clicking here.
Lynne Berry
“Despite a great willingness to give time and money to communities, there are barriers. As one of the sector champions, I’d like to urge people to come up with creative and practical ideas for removing them that will encourage us all to be better citizens”.
Lynne Berry is Deputy Chair of the new Canal and River Trust, transferring British Waterways into the voluntary sector; an associate of Civil Exchange and a senior visiting Fellow at CASS Business School, City University London, linking the corporate and voluntary sectors, supporting social enterprise and encouraging women’s leadership and professional experiences to be valued in all sectors.
She has had five Chief Executive posts: WRVS, the General Social Care Council, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Charity Commission and the Family Welfare Association. She has served on many Government bodies including the Office of Civil Society Advisory Board and several Better Regulation Task forces, most recently to reduce burdens on charities and social enterprise. She chairs the Government’s Social Action Fund. Current board roles include the Anne Frank Trust, Cumberland Lodge, the International Women’s Forum UK and Pro Bono Economics. Previous non-Executive roles included NCVO, the National Centre for Social Research, the European Division of the DTI and she was chair of CPAG. She was Vice Chair of the Deakin Commission on the Future of the Voluntary Sector and has received a number of honours including an OBE, an Honorary Fellowship from Cardiff University and Honorary Doctorates from Anglia Ruskin and Bedfordshire Universities and was named one of the ’100 Women to Watch’ in the Cranfield University FTSE list 2012.
Stephen Lloyd – Senior Partner of Bates, Wells & Braithwaite (BWB)
“The emerging social investment market is like a sapling in a dense legal forest – unless we clear away some of the regulatory thickets, it might not get the light and freedom it needs to survive and grow. Through the Red Tape Challenge, we hope to work with Government to clear a path through some of the regulation for the benefit of those charities and social enterprises who are already blazing a trail in the area of social investment.”
Stephen Lloyd is the Senior Partner of Bates, Wells & Braithwaite (BWB), a leading law firm in the fields of charity, social enterprise and social finance. Stephen is one of the original architects of the community interest company legal form and has been advising charities and social enterprises for over 30 years.
Luke Fletcher – Associate at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite (BWB)
“We are living at a time when unprecedented strides are being made to link civil society with the capital markets. Couple this with technological innovation and it becomes clear that the law and regulation have failed to keep up with the pace of change. We will be pointing out where we see legal and regulatory barriers to social investment and will be making the case for an enabling and supportive regulatory environment.”
Luke Fletcher is an Associate at BWB and co-ordinates the firm’s Social Finance Group. Luke authored ‘Investing in Civil Society: A Framework for a Bespoke Regime’ published by NESTA and is the company secretary of the Social Stock Exchange.
