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Departmental Bodies

Answer

The Prime Minister announced the creation of the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) in May 2006, to drive forward the Government’s role in supporting and working with the sector. The Office brings together responsibilities that were formally in the Home Office and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).The Office has already supported the passage of the Charities Bill through Parliament; established the new Commissioner for the Compact; launched programmes to promote charitable giving, volunteering by groups at risk of social exclusion and to promote and develop a series of new measures for supporting the growth of social enterprises, as set out in our recent ‘Social Enterprise Action Plan’; embarked upon of a major review of the ‘Role of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration’, jointly with Her Majesty’s Treasury; and prepared measures for enhancing the role of the Third Sector in improving public services, which will be published in December. The longer term impact of programmes funded by the Office, such as the Futurebuilders investment programme and the youth volunteering charity v, are subject to ongoing evaluations.The Social Exclusion Task Force (SETF) now leads cross-government work on social exclusion. The SETF was established in July 2006 and in September 2006 the SETF published ““Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion””. The action plan proposes a range of systematic reforms aimed at changing the way we deliver help and support to the socially excluded.SETF worked closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that the local government White Paper proposals were built upon and developed this approach.The action plan launches a series of pilots, including 10 health-led parenting support demonstration projects from pre-birth to age two, interventions for tackling mental health problems in childhood, such as ‘Multi-systemic Therapy’ and ‘Treatment Foster Care’ and alternative approaches to improving outcomes for people with chaotic lives and multiple needs. The SETF is closely involved in the development and delivery of these projects alongside other Government Departments.The SETF will be focusing on the delivery of the pilots by undertaking evaluations to assess the impact of the new demonstration projects.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

102751; 454 c936-7W;454 c940-1W

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Departmental responsibilities Cabinet Office Office of the Third Sector Social Exclusion Task Force

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk