No. 31/04
Press Release: 2 August 2004

£5M PLUS BOOST TO INNOVATION AND GOOD PRACTICE ANNOUNCED BY CORPORATION

On-line broadband services to bridge the digital divide for tenants in remote areas of rural Cornwall, a package of design and urban planning training for housing associations, and a pilot project to promote the involvment of Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in stock transfers.

These are just three in a £5.35 million package of projects to be funded by the Housing Corporation as part of its re-vamped Innovation and Good Practice programme announced today.

A total of 90 projects across the country will receive funding for 2004/05.

They include 46 Community Training and Enabling (CTE) initiatives - ranging from £25,000 for a London-wide strategy to deal with anti-social behaviour through to £138,000 to establish a neighbourhood regeneration company in the Sefton Pathfinder area in Merseyside - all designed to encourage residents to have a greater say in how their neighbourhoods are run and managed.

Elsewhere there is £300,000 for equality projects and £60,000 to continue the highly successful MBA programme targeted at women and BME staff in the housing sector.

The Corporation is implementing a number of wide-ranging changes to the Innovation and Good Practice (IGP) programme to better reflect central and regional Government priorities, as well as its own corporate and strategic priorities.

These include:
One centrally controlled IGP decision-making panel headed by Corporation Chief Executive Jon Rouse;
Regional coordinators, dedicated staff and support training;
Improved IT systems for handling IGP projects;
A review of existing project commitments;
Improved risk management;
An enhanced IGP website.

Housing Corporation Chief Executive, Jon Rouse, said:"The IGP programme has always been the Corporation's proverbial 'light under a bushel' as the amount of money awarded and scope and nature of the projects supported often goes unnoticed alongside our primary investment role.

"We have had to make some difficult choices but I am pleased that the funding announced today has gone to such a diverse range of projects throughout England.

"The changes to our internal procedures will also ensure that we maximise awareness of, and access to, IGP funding and reflect regional priorities in the projects we support.

"Over the years, the IGP programme has funded a raft of pioneering research and community initiatives, many of which have subsequently paved the way as examples of best practice within the sector. Our funding package announced today will ensure that this continues."

The IGP programme was launched in 1995 and has funded over 2,000 projects to date, to the tune of £75 million.

ends

For more information contact Gillian Watson on 020 7393 2095; email: gillian.watson@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk, or Robert Davies on 020 7393 2227; email: robert.davies@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. The Housing Corporation is the Government agency responsible for regulating and investing in over 2,000 housing associations in England. It is changing the face of affordable homes, creating strong communities that are exciting places to live and work. Its biggest ever investment programe of £3.3 billion for 2004-06 will fund over 67,000 affordable homes. 16,000 of these will go to key workers and 25% will use some form of modern methods of construction.