championing the voluntary sector

Rory was hailed by the Minister for Decentralisation,  Greg Clark MP, as “a great champion of the voluntary sector”. Rory was pressing the Minister in the House of Commons earlier this week to find out what steps he was taking to allow small local charities to compete fairly in government procurement processes.

Rory said that “local charities are finding it very hard to compete with big national charities for council contracts despite the fact that they know more and can often do more within their locality. It is essential we help them to compete by enabling more flexible local procurement processes.”

As part of his commitment to the voluntary sector Rory has launched a new initiative to host a ‘Charity of the Month’ on this own website in order to promote and raise awareness for local charities within Penrith and the Border. The first to be featured is a local Cumbrian Charity, Sunbeams, which brings music to people of all ages with special needs. Rory,  who is a patron of Sunbeams, added: “Many great Cumbrian charities have complained to me that they find government controls and regulations too complex and burdensome and that they find it difficult to compete with national giants. This is a tragedy. Local charities have often what matters most – common sense, local knowledge and compassion.”