This volume draws together a team of expert contributors to explore how the process of outsourcing is impacting the internal and external labour markets of voluntary organisations, and the implications for the policy objectives underlying the externalisation of the delivery of public services to them.

Voluntary Organizations and Public Sector Delivery examines how aspects of voluntary sector employment are affected by its engagement with the growing trend to the market-based outsourcing in the delivery of public services within industrialized countries. The volume draws together a team of well-recognized academic contributors from the UK, Canada, Australia and the United States to explore how the process of outsourcing is impacting the internal and external labor markets of voluntary organizations, and the implications for the policy objectives underlying the externalization of the delivery of public services to them. These themes of change in employment are covered in depth in the UK with dedicated chapters exploring, workforce patterns and skill needs, HR policies and practices, recruitment and selection, graduate recruitment, unionization, pay and conditions and psychological contracts in organizations. The book also contains a significant international comparative dimension with individual chapter analysis of employment issues in Australia, Canada and the United States, as well as an Anglo-German comparison.

Incorporating HC 540-i-v, session 2006-07

The term third sector describes a range of voluntary and community sector organisations including small local community groups, registered charities, foundations, trusts and co-operatives. Following on from the NAO report (HCP 75, session 2005-06; ISBN 0102933243) published in June 2005, the Committees report examines the progress made by central government departments and other funders to improve the way they work with the third sector to achieve value for money in the provision of public services. Findings include that voluntary sector funding represents less than one per cent of central government spending and only limited progress has been made to increase the sectors involvement in delivering government programmes. Voluntary sector organisations are often subject to greater scrutiny and monitoring than private sector providers, and fairer funding practices need to be applied by departments. The Public Service Agreement target to achieve a five per cent increase in voluntary sector participation in public service delivery by 2006 is likely to be met, but the Home Office and the Treasury need to set revised targets beyond 2006 to provide a real incentive to departments to increase their engagement with the sector.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the role of the third sector--voluntary or nonprofit groups--in the delivery of public services in the United Kingdom. It details the historical development of the relationship between the government and the third sector, reviews major debates and controversies that have accompanied the increasing reliance on third-sector work in recent years, and explores the various fields in which third-sector activity is prominent.

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social or environmental purposes designed to create value for the clients of the business, and to reinvest surpluses into the business or community. They serve as social innovation laboratories, and frequently collaborate with governments or other nonprofits to serve their communities and clientele. The chapters in this book discuss the development and flourishing of social enterprises in eight countries around the world, including China, India, Great Britain, the United States and the Czech Republic. Specifically, the authors cover how social enterprises are managed, how they operate with their national and local governments, and the contributions they are making to service delivery and social innovation. Different theoretical lenses are used to assess the roles that social enterprises play in the different countries, and how they relate both to the nonprofit world and their governments. This book will appeal to all students, researchers and scholars who focus on the third sector, social economy, public policy and social enterprise, as well as to intellectual social enterprise leaders and practitioners. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Public Management Review.

This report, which builds on previous reports by PASC, warns that the Big Society project is hampered by the lack of a clear implementation plan, leading to public confusion about the policy agenda, eighteen months into this administration. PASC has yet to see how the government will engage these charities and voluntary groups who wish to do so to deliver public services: the 'little society' rather than big business and 'Tesco' charities. Government must address the barriers such bodies experience in the contracting and commissioning system, which means developing a plan to address roles, tasks, responsibilities and skills in Whitehall departments. PASC concludes there are two major practical steps Government must take. Firstly they must create a single Big Society Minister, who has a cross-cutting brief, to help other Ministers to drive through this agenda once they begin reporting progress against the aims of Open Public Services White Paper, from April 2012. Secondly they need to implement an impact assessment, to be applied to every Government policy, statutory instrument, and new Bill, which answers the simple question: "what substantively will this do to build social capital, people power, and social entrepreneurs?" PASC says early examples in practice like the Work Programme have left service providers such as the charitable sector - who would play a major role in the Big Society - with serious reservations. The danger is that big contractors and the largest charities continue to dominate at the expense of small and local providers. EU contracting rules need to be revised and smaller providers should be consulted on the legislative and bureaucratic barriers. There needs to be a cultural shift in Whitehall departments

The voluntary sector has a long history of involvement in criminal justice by providing a variety of services to offenders and their families, victims and witnesses. This collection brings together leading experts to provide critical reflections and cutting edge research on the contemporary features of voluntary sector work in criminal justice. At a time when the voluntary sector's role is being transformed, this book examines the dynamic nature of the voluntary sector and its responses to current uncertainties, and some of the conflicting positions with regards to its present and future role in criminal justice work. It also examines the potential impact of economic, political and ideological trends on the role and remit of voluntary sector organisations which undertake criminal justice work.

Implementation of the Carter Review of Legal Aid : Third report of session 2006-07, report, together with formal minutes, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence