The Office of the Third Sector is a division within the Cabinet Office dedicated to leading and co-ordinating work across government that relates to the sector.
The OTS was created in May 2006 in recognition of the increasingly important role the third sector plays in both society and the economy. It claims that its work helps the sector to campaign for change, deliver public services, promote social enterprise and strengthen communities.
It also dishes out the government’s funding to the sector and during the 2008-9 year is overseeing a £515m funding programme. Some 45 civil society organisations are strategic partners to the OTS and receive an annual grant.
The OTS is led by the minister for the third sector, currently Angela E Smith MP.
Staff at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator are more motivated than they were, have a greater personal attachment to the organisation and are more confident in the board’s vision for the future, according to a new survey.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has published the key lessons learnt from the first 100 concerns lodged about charities across the country.
Opening a statutory inquiry into a charity will be very much a last resort for the newly-slimmed-down Charity Commission and will be reserved for the most serious of cases such as those involving fraud, terrorist activity, or risk to vulnerable beneficiaries.
The Charity Commission has published an inquiry report into the Needy Children International Foundation, which was forced to wind up last year, after Vince Cable called a trial requesting the High Court to close the charity as a result of the Commission’s investigation.
The Charity Commission has decided not to appeal against the Upper Tribunal’s decision on its public benefit guidance for schools and other charities that charge fees for their services.
The Charity Commission has published its updated public benefit guidance, removing the parts deemed flawed by the Upper Tribunal.
The Charity Tribunal has been asked to review a decision by the Charity Commission to allow two independent schools to merge.
Around a fifth of all new charities in Scotland are now applying to be registered as Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations.
The former policy chief of the Charity Commission has declared her opinion that requiring charities to fund the work of the Charity Commission is not a viable option.
The Charity Commission intends to focus most of its attention over the next three years on its objectives relating to accountability and compliance, according to its new strategic plan.
The Charity Commission is considering a request by Charity Bank to change its governing documents to allow it to distribute profits to its charitable shareholders, a decision that could have wider implications for all charitable companies.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has today confirmed the charitable status of four independent schools after requiring them to widen access to meet the charity test in 2008.
The Charity Commission has defended itself against a stinging attack on its performance and leadership in Saturday’s Times newspaper.
Conservative peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts has been chosen to lead the government’s review of the Charities Act 2006.
Wikimedia UK, the UK membership organisation which supports Wikipedia, has set a precedent by gaining charitable status in the UK under the new charitable purpose of promoting “open content” such as Wikipedia.
The Charity Commission has today published the results of 30 different investigations that it launched in 2004 after the Big Lottery Fund raised concerns about various grant applications.
The new Health Lottery is facing investigations into both its advertising and general structure, after the Culture Secretary voiced concerns about whether it might erode other charitable income.
Charity Commission chief executive Sam Younger says the regulator won't compel any charity to become a member of
anything, but it will promote various umbrella bodies on its website.
Yesterday’s Public Administration Select Committee meeting on the work of the Charity Commission provided some insights into the topics that the forthcoming ministerial review of the Charities Act might address.
MPs from both sides of the House took the Charity Commission to task over its handling of the Atlantic Bridge affair yesterday, with Conservatives accusing the regulator of bias against right-leaning organisations and Labour saying it was not tough enough.
A number of leading charity lawyers believe that the regulatory compliance cases conducted by the Charity Commission in recent years were unlawful – including the investigation into the Atlantic Bridge charity set up by Liam Fox MP.
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbott, president of NCVO and chair of the Red Tape Task Force, has called on umbrella bodies, such as NCVO, Acevo and Navca, to set up and manage charity consortia which can bid for public sector contracts.
The Charity Commission is to stop carrying out regulatory compliance investigations, the type of inquiry it conducted into the charity operated by Liam Fox MP and his friend Adam Werritty last year.
The Charity Commission yesterday blamed Parliament for the ongoing delays in implementing the Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
Further details have emerged about the links between senior figures in the Conservative Party and dissolved charity Atlantic Bridge.
The implementation of the new legal form Charitable Incorporated Organisation is not now expected until the first quarter of next year.
Forty-four charities have applied to take part in the pilot review programme announced by the Charity Commission and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales last month.
A charity founded by Conservative MP Liam Fox and run by Adam Werrity, who are currently at the centre of a political storm about the extent of Werrity’s involvement with the Ministry of Defence, has been removed from the Charity Commission’s register.
David Locke, the executive director of charity services at the Charity Commission, has been seconded to Australia to be chief adviser at the new taskforce charged with setting up a charities regulator there.
OSCR has successfully challenged a Freedom of Information request from Dunnet Head Education Trust to see letters from people complaining about its plans to reorganise the charity.
