Bureaucracy Multiplication?

Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us. 

P.J. O'Rourke

Quite by accident I came across a website for an organisation called Community Sector Coalition (CSC). This led me to also discover the following 'organisations'.

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE); British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres (bassac); Community Matters; National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA); Urban Forum; ADEPT; Advice UK; Black Training & Enterprise Group (BTEG); British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV); Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES); Churches' Community Work Alliance (CCWA); Community Development Exchange (CDX); Community Development Foundation (CDF); Confederation of Indian Organisations (CIO); Contin You; Development Trusts Foundation (DTA); Educational Centres Association (ECA); Faith Based Regeneration Network (FbRN); Federation for Community Development Learning (FCDL); Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG); Federation of Stadium Communities; League of British Muslims; National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) Tenant Participation Advisory Services  (TPAS); The Scarman Trust and Voluntary Arts Network (VAN).

ACRE, bassac, Community Matters, NAVCA and Urban Forum are all in the 'Executive Group' of CSC, the remainder being 'Full Members'.

(With me so far - I hope so, because there is a lot more!)

ACRE is the national umbrella of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) which operates at national, regional and local level in support of rural communities across the country. ACRE also has a 'strategic partner status' with the Office of the Third Sector. ACRE is also a member of the Community Partnership for Children and Young People (CSPCYP). Other members of the CSPCYP are bassac, Community Matters, (NAVCA), National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), Rural Youth Network and the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations (NCVCCO) - which has now been renamed Children England.

Then we have the South East Rural Community Councils which presents itself as The Regional Voice of the Rural Community. Members of the SERCC sit on the Regional Assembly, the SE Rural Affairs Forum, (note the SE Rural Affairs Forum was closed by DEFRA on 5th November 2004 but still appears on the website of SERCC) the RAISE Board, the Rural Development Consultation Group, The Regional Housing Forum, the Farming and Rural Support Group Network, the SE Rural Towns Partnership and ACRE; and it also participates, wherever appropriate, in the work of Government of the South East (GoSE); the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). 

Nationally there are also Rural Community Councils, locally this being the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), one of 38 in England. All RCCs are linked together through their national organisation ACRE and in the South East are members of SERCC.

Through the Development Trusts Association, whose aim is to have a DTA in every community I also found the Environment Trust London, Community Ventures Middlesborough, All Saints Action Network (ASAN) Wolverhampton and Action for Market Towns.

Having just discovered these 'organisations' and consequently the opportunity of a only cursory look at their websites it would appear that they have CEOs and all the other 'paraphanalia'-  'appointments/managers/PAs/Assistants/Staff - one would expect in any bureaucratic organisation - oh, they also appear to be, in a number of cases, registered 'charities' - 'charities' no doubt funded by central government. What has not been possible to ascertain easily from their websites is the availability of any Annual Accounts - what a surprise!

There may well be, figuratively speaking, one or two bona-fida charities, 'charities' in the strict sense of the word in that they obtain all their funding from public donations.

It does appear however that the majority of the organisations discovered above are duplicating work and are nothing but quangos by definition. It is my intention, over the coming months, to ascertain their status, annual accounts etc; if necessary by means of a Freedom of Information request.