The Conservatives have revived an abandoned proposal to re-name the Office for the Third Sector the Office for Civil Society, and has pitched the voluntary sector as key to delivering its Big Society agenda.

As recently as a month ago, shadow minister for charities, social enterprise and volunteering Nick Hurd told Civil Society in an interview that the Tories would “keep the Office for the Third Sector”.

However, in a letter sent today, from the minister and fellow Conservative shadow cabinet member Francis Maude to voluntary sector leaders, the pair stated that should their party win office: “We will create an Office for Civil Society, to be based within the Cabinet Office, that will act as a champion of the voluntary sector in the heart of the Government”.

"The Office for Civil Society will replace the current Office for the Third Sector and will take a lead role in delivering our Big Society agenda," the letter continued. 

The proposal to change the office's name was originally floated in the party’s 2008 green paper on the sector, but dropped last year.

Today’s letter also expressed an aim to “lock in political consensus on the value of the voluntary sector, and build a more stable framework for these valuable organisations to operate in”.

It reiterated the party’s stated plan to charities winning a greater proportion of public sector contracts, saying that “where, as is frequently the case, voluntary sector organisations deliver extremely good value for money, their performance is recognised”.