Office for Civil Society Advisory Body

The Office for Civil Society Advisory Body (formerly known as the Office of the Third Sector Advisory Body[1] or sometimes the Third Sector Advisory Body[2]) was a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation (quango) (officially termed a non-departmental public body) set up by the Government of the United Kingdom in July 2008,[2] which advised the government on the needs of charities and voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom,[3] and to implement[2] the July 2007 review by HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office ("The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration").[4] The body was formed as a result of the merger of four previous advisory structures: the Voluntary and Community Sector Advisory Group, Futurebuilders Advisory Panel, Infrastructure National Partnership and the Third Sector Review Advisory Group,[2] was chaired by Baroness Jill Pitkeathley OBE, and was part of the Cabinet Office's Office of Civil Society (formerly the Office of the Third Sector or OTS).

In April 2009, the body published a 'health check' of the Office of the Third Sector[5] (to which the OTS later responded)[2][6] resulting in a set of twelve confirmed recommendations to ensure the effectiveness of the Office of the Third Sector. Following the rename of the Office of the Third Sector to the Office for Civil Society, the advisory body also changed its name to the Office for Civil Society Advisory Body. The body was listed as one of the quangos to be abolished during the 2010 quango reforms,[3][7] the advisory body being abolished once the members' terms of offices had expired on 31 March 2011,[7] resulting in public savings of £0.04 million.[8] Lamenting the closure, chair of the board Baroness Pitkeathley said:

Our time has run out...And with the way things are going, I wouldn't have expected anything else. I hope the government will use other sources of advice from across the sector.

— Baroness Pitkeathley OBE[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Leaked list suggests 180 quangos to be abolished". Greater Manchester Voluntary Sector Support. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Third Sector Advisory Body". Cabinet Office. The National Archives. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  3. ^ a b Plummer, John (24 September 2010). "Commission for the Compact and Capacitybuilders named in leaked quango cuts document". ThirdSector. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  4. ^ HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office (July 2007). "The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration: final report" (PDF). Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  5. ^ Office of the Third Sector Advisory Body. "Office of the Third Sector Advisory Body Health Check of the Office of the Third Sector" (PDF). The National Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  6. ^ Cabinet Office (Office of the Third Sector). "Office of the Third Sector Response to Health Check Recommendations" (PDF). The National Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Public Bodies Reform – Proposals for Change" (PDF). Directgov. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  8. ^ Tessa Jowell and Francis Maud (28 March 2011). "Written Answers to Questions". Hansard. pp. Column 1W. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  9. ^ Wiggins, Kaye (14 October 2010). "Sector quango heads lament closure decisions". ThirdSector. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
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