Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Published: 2006-03-02
Total Pages: 48
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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.