Policy
7 December, 2006
Third sector to get enhanced role in public service delivery
Future role of sector beginning to take shape
The government has moved to strengthen its partnership with the third sector following the publication of two reports dealing with the delivery of public services and the future role of the sector, along with the pre-Budget report.The current barriers to third sector organisations wishing to become involved in delivering and designing public services will be removed following publication of Partnership in Public Services: an Action Plan for Third Sector Involvement.
The plan outlines a series of actions that the government proposes to take to ensure increased involvement of the third sector including –
- a national programme to train 2,000 of those who commission public services to build the necessary skills and knowledge to involve the third sector;
- reducing the administrative burdens of contracts with the third sector;
- the Office of the Third Sector progressing the implementation of full cost recovery across government;
- improving access to service delivery for smaller organisations through a review of sub-contracting processes and improving support to consortia-building;
- spreading the best third sector innovation through an innovation exchange website and brokering dialogue between the third and public sectors;
- support the role of the sector in holding services to account;
- support capacity development through the introduction of the £30 million Community Assets Fund to enable community groups to takeover management or ownership of local assets and asking Futurebuilders to open the fund to all third sector organisations working to deliver public services.
Following a review by the Treasury and the Cabinet Office an interim report The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration was also published yesterday which commits the government to passing on the stability of three-year funding, generated by the Comprehensive Spending Review, to third sector organisations as 'the norm rather than the exception'. Further work on the review will concentrate on five key themes –
- enabling voice and campaigning;
- strengthening communities;
- encouraging social enterprise;
- transforming public services; and
- creating the environment for the third sector to thrive.
For more information see the Cabinet Office press release Pre-Budget report: plan for third sector review published.
The Cabinet Office's Action Plan Partnership in Public Services: an Action Plan for Third Sector Involvement is available here.
The interim report The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration is available here.
