The OCS will provide £1.7m over four years and work with a group of charitable funders to generate match-funding for a programme to boost governance and leadership skills within the voluntary sector.
As part of its work on voluntary sector sustainability, which includes the £20m Local Sustainability Fund currently supporting 265 small and medium-sized organisations, the OCS identified that improving leadership and governance in the sector is critical to securing its sustainability.
This was one of the priority recommendations from the Marsh review into skills and leadership in the sector, conducted by Dame Mary Marsh in 2012/13.
Working with Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of Clore Social Leadership, earlier this year the OCS convened a group of funders and between them they identified four themes to support.
These themes are understood to be:
- Responding to the decline in trust and confidence in the sector
- Sharing foresight information with all charities
- Helping the sector’s million trustees develop their skills
- Developing a new style of executive leadership
Each of these themes is being tackled by a working group comprising the participating funders, with each one tasked with identifying one key project to take forward. They are currently working with minister for civil society Rob Wilson to confirm these.
The projects will only proceed if they can attract match-funding from within the sector.
Once the project ideas have been confirmed and match-funding secured, delivery partners will be invited to pitch for the work.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that the programme has moved with the OCS to DCMS.
In answer to Parliamentary questions last week from shadow minister for the Cabinet Office Tom Watson about what the government is doing to help charities improve their digital capabilities and restore trust and confidence in the sector, Rob Wilson referenced the programme. He said:
“Within the Office for Civil Society, officials are working with independent VCSE sector funders and influencers to build stronger leadership and governance.
“Part of this work will focus on preparing the sector for the future, which we expect to include building an understanding of the importance of developing digital skills and capability.”
Wilson said that the OCS is “working with charities to explore the challenges facing the leadership of the voluntary and community sector”.
He said that issues around public trust were one of four themes that had been identified and said: “A dedicated working group has been convened to explore this issue and identify potential solutions.”
Wilson also said the Charity Commission’s “more robust approach” and the new Fundraising Regulator would help.
Last week NCVO announced the next stage in its programme to improve public trust, which will see the umbrella body launch a public facing website and toolkit for the charity sector.
‘Too early’ to know what the effect of Brexit is on charities
Watson also asked if any assessment of the “potential effect on funding for charities” following the decision to leave the European Union.
Wilson said it was “too early at this stage to make a full assessment”, but that: “We will continue working with charities and their representative bodies to understand the potential effects on charities and the potential impact on funding for charities. These will depend on the arrangements agreed for exiting the EU, and different types of charity are likely to be affected in different ways.”
He said he had received representations from NCVO, Acevo and the Charity Finance Group on the subject.
NCS to be placed on statutory footing
Wilson also confirmed that the government intends to bring a National Citizen Service Bill to place the volunteering programme on a statutory footing but could say whether this would lead to the creation of a non-departmental public body because “classification is a subject for the Office for National Statistics in the first stage”.
Jane Ellison is the Treasury minister with responsibility for charities
The Treasury has also revealed that Jane Ellison, who was appointed financial secretary to the Treasury in Theresa May’s reshuffle, will be responsible for charity issues, such as gift aid.
Previously responsibility for charity tax affairs had been held by the exchequer secretary to the Treasury. May moved Hinds, who had been exchequer secretary, to the Department for Work and Pensions and has not replaced the role.
Ellison’s full list of responsibilities is:
- strategic oversight of the UK tax system including direct, indirect, business, property and personal taxation
- corporate and small business taxation
- European and international tax issues
- charities, the voluntary sector and gift aid
- environment and transport taxation, North Sea oil, gas and shipping
- energy policy and climate change
- excise (alcohol, tobacco) and gambling duties
- customs policy
- personal savings tax and pensions tax policy
- women in the economy
- departmental minister for HM Revenue and Customs and the Valuation Office Agency and the Government Actuary’s Department
- Parliamentary deputy on public spending issues
She was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health at the Department of Health and was elected in 2010. She is a patron of Home-Start Wandsworth and has mentioned charities over 150 times in Parliament, mostly in the capacity as a health minister.
Additional reporting by Kirsty Weakley
