Third Sector
Cabinet Office
Gareth Thomas (Harrow West, Labour)
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what work his Department commissioned from civil society organisations in each month since June 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Nick Hurd (Parliamentary Secretary (Civil Society), Cabinet Office; Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, Conservative)
The Cabinet Office does not hold a central record of work commissioned from civil society organisations. The Office for Civil Society works very closely with this sector and the following table summarises recent work they have commissioned.
| Details of work commissioned | |
| 2010 | |
| August | Care and Share Associates, Sunderland Home Care Associates, GLL, and Lord Adebowale from Turning Point announced as providers of pro bono mentoring support to a series of Mutual Pathfinders. The precise form and focus of the mentoring is agreed between the mentor and the pathfinder, rather than being directly commissioned through Cabinet Office. |
| 2011 | |
| February | Locality appointed to deliver the Community Organisers programme. |
| V and Catch 22—To jointly lead a project on volunteering with and to support children and young people. | |
| Innovation Unit, Mutual Ventures, the Cooperative College and FosterCare Cooperative announced as providers of pro bono mentoring support to a series of Mutual Pathfinders as described above. | |
| March | OCS appointed nine strategic partners to represent the VCSE sector to Government and vice versa, and to support the development and delivery of Big Society. The partners are: ACEVO in partnership with Euclid Network and New Philanthropy Capital; Community Foundation Network in partnership with Association of Charitable Foundations; Institute of Fundraising; Locality; NAVCA; NCVO; Social Entrepreneurship Partnership; Social Enterprise UK in partnership with Cooperatives UK; Volunteering England. |
| April | Volunteering England—To lead on sharing learning from other projects with the wider voluntary and community sector. |
| Age UK—To lead a project on volunteering in health and social care. | |
| Arts and Business—To lead a project on volunteering in Culture and the Arts. | |
| Groundwork West Midlands—To lead a project on volunteering in relation to the environment. | |
| Youthnet appointed to run the Do-it volunteering database. | |
| May | Volunteering England—To lead a project on Employer Supported Volunteering. |
| Volunteer Centre Warrington—To lead a project on Volunteer Management. | |
| Attend—To lead a project on opening the door to volunteering to under-represented groups. | |
| Sir Ronald Cohen and Nick O'Donohoe, acting as independent advisers to Government on the Big Society Bank, put forward an outline proposal for Big Society Capital that was accepted by Government on 9 May. | |
| June | Sports Coach UK—To lead a project on volunteering in sport. |
| Community Development Foundation appointed to deliver the Community First programme. | |
| August | Community Matters has been commissioned to report on what Big Society means for the groups it represents. |
| Voice4Change England has been commissioned to report on what Big Society means for the groups it represents. | |
| Women's Resource Centre has been commissioned to report on what Big Society means for the groups it represents. | |
| Research commissioned from National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) titled “Study of the causes of youth involvement in the riots August 2011”. | |
| September | Community Service Volunteers—To lead on the launch of the European Year Tour. |
| Nesta appointed to run the Innovation in Giving Fund. | |
| October | Urban Forum has been commissioned to report on what Big Society means for the groups it represents. |
| 12 grants awarded to civil society organisations for the provision of National Citizen Service pilots. | |
| Social Investment Business appointed to run the Social Action Fund. |