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Social Firms UK 1999 Annual Conference, Cabot Hall London11th November 1999Conference Programme 9:15 am Registration and coffee 9:45 am Introduction by the Conference Chair, Bob Grove, Director of the Employment Support Unit at the Centre for Mental Health Service Development, Kings College London and Chair of Social Firms UK Opening address : Social Firms and the Government's disability and employment agenda Margaret Hodge, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment and Equal Opportunities 10:15 am What is a social firm? A brief look at the characteristics of social firms and their development, Gerry Higgins, Chief Executive of Social Firms UK 10:30 am The Marienthal Network, presents the products of three working groups following two years of transnational collaboration European Social Firms and Support Structures, Gerold Schwarz, FAF Berlin Cost benefit analysis of social firm employment Sarah Crawley, Chair of the Social Firm Development Network, West Midlands Employment Standards and good practice, guidelines for workers, Herta Kuna, Pro Mente, Austria 11:00 am Coffee Break and networking 11:30 am "Social Firms, old and new". Social Firms from the South East of England present aspects of their businesses. Introduced by David O' Flynn, of South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Chair of the South East Social Firms Network. Carmen Llorente, Twinings Social Firms, Twickenham, London; John Chestney, Castle Project Print Finishers, Cambridge; Geoff Beavis and Katie Gannicott, Greenboro, Reading; Sally Reynolds and Ian Spires of Surrey Oaklands NHS Trust featuring Netherne Printing Services and Travel Matters. 12:30 pm Lunch and Networking 1:30 pm Presentation and Workshops (Delegates have booked to attend either the presentation or one of the workshops) Parallel Presentation and Panel Discussion Social Firms in the UK - The presentation will deal with the issues frequently raised as queries at previous events; how many businesses are there, how many are viable and how many receive various subsidies? To what extent have social firms managed to create paid jobs for disabled people, what type of jobs, and in which economic sectors? Have social firms been established from other projects or as new start businesses and what are the most frequent difficulties encountered in starting a social firm. This data is presented with examples and case studies from the Social Firms, Social Co-operatives and Emerging Social Firms in all regions of the UK and a panel will deal with questions from delegates. Gerry Higgins, Chief Executive Social Firms UK, Sheila Durie, Edinburgh Community Trust and Chair of Social Firms Scotland, Bob Grove, Director of the Employment Support Unit at the Centre for Mental Health Service Development, Kings College London and Chair of Social Firms UK Sally Reynolds, Surrey Oaklands NHS Trust and Social Firms UK Workshop 1 Worker issues in Social Firms. This includes a brief presentation from Beren Aldridge following research into worker issues within social firms in the South East. The Marienthal Working group "Worker Issues" will open a discussion expanding on the data presented earlier on equal opportunities in social firms. Workshop facilitators, David O Flynn South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Chair of the South East Social Firms Network and Nan Goodman, 6 Mary's Place Guest House, Edinburgh. Workshop 2 Cost Benefit Analysis of social firms. Data from the UK and Europe is examined to establish if jobs in social firms are cost effective. Issues considered include subsidised workplaces and comparison with other models of sheltered /supported employment. (Facilitators Sarah Crawley of Learn Link and Chair of the Social Firm Development Network, West Midlands and Peter Stadler of FAF Germany). Workshop 3 The co-operative model of social firms. About a third of the social firm sector is made up of co-operatives. Some are social firms where workers are employees and owners in viable businesses, others are emerging businesses which have members who are unpaid but attach a high value to the membership/ownership aspect of co-operatives. Guy Turnbull of ICOM, and Economic Partnerships, and Sheila Kelly of Lambeth Co-operative Development Agency facilitate this workshop on the merits of social co-operatives. Workshop 4 European Social Firms and Support Structures. The Marienthal working group "Social Firm Support Structures" contains regional and national support structures from Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Netherlands and Finland. In fact all the major European social firm support structures have been working in this group to establish what characteristics social firms have throughout Europe and what support measures are successful in advancing the development of the sector. Gerold Schwarz from FAF Germany and Gert Rebergen from CEFEC Netherlands will lead the discussion. Workshop 5 "Marketing for the next millennium". Tony Davis of Echo Market and Neal Mackay of ShopEthic discuss the impact of their high profile, expert marketing for social firms and enterprises. These networks have professionalised the marketing activities of many of the social firms in the UK and in this workshop delegates can discuss any marketing issue while learning about the experiences of both of these marketing ventures. 3:00 pm "Equal" and the New Objective 3 The new Community Initiative "Equal" replaces Horizon and the other Community Initiatives next year but it is a large initiative for large projects. What is a sector, what are the priorities and how difficult will it be to access funding? Objective 3 of the European Social Fund has been a constant source of development funding in the social firm sector but now that Objectives 3 and 4 are merging, what opportunities will emerge from the new Objective 3? Presentation, analysis and questions, John Bell, Director of ECOTEC 3:40 pm Social Firms - Looking to the future. The future programme of Social Firms UK and the plans of the Regional Social Firm Networks are outlined by Bob Grove, Chair of Social Firms UK. Concluding remarks and final questions to a panel including David O' Flynn, Chair of the South East Social Firms Network and Renate Goergen, President of The Marienthal Social Firms Network. 4:00 pm Coffee and departure. |
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