social enterprise

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

The government has announced a new red-tape cutting task force to ‘thin the thicket of bureaucracy and regulation’ on the voluntary sector.

The president of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), Lord Hodgson, will lead the task force, which is designed to free-up time and resources and make it easier to run charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises.

Civil society minister Nick Hurd and business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk announced the workforce today, pitching it as a way to help ‘mobilise the Big Society’ and ‘swing the balance back in favour of entrepreneurial spirit’.

Mr Hurd said: ‘This is a tough time for small civil society organisations and we want to make life easier for them. So I have asked for specific ideas on how we can thin the thicket of bureaucracy and regulation that too often gets in the way.

‘I see it very simply. Every pound or hour we can save a small voluntary organisation is a pound or hour that could be better spent.’

The task force will make recommendations about how red tape should be reduced, including changes to legislation. Focus areas are likely to include responsibilities of trustees and directors, employment law and contractual arrangements for when civil society organisations provide public services.

Lord Hodgson will be joined on the taskforce by retiring chief executive of the Charity Commission Andrew Hind, WRVS chief executive Lynne Berry, Community Matters chief executive David Tyler, retiring NCVO chair and former chief executive of the Co-operative Group Graham Melmoth and Marstons chair David Thompson.