The National Citizen Service pilot has been hailed a success by the government, with an estimated £1 to £2 social return for every £1 invested, according to an independent report published today.

Lord Wallace, the Cabinet Office spokesman in the House of Lords, sought to justify the tax relief cap yesterday by claiming that not all charities use their funds in a “public-spirited” manner, making the proposed cap necessary.

It’s two years since Britain voted in the previously unlikely coalition of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Celina Ribeiro tracks the main developments of the coalition’s first half of government.

There should be closer engagement between agencies compiling official statistics and voluntary sector organisations that use them, to better understand the needs of the sector, according to a monitoring brief from the UK Statistics Authority.