Compact News
Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit
NAVCA's Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit (LCPU) was set up in 2008 as a direct result of requests from NAVCA members who needed help and support with the commissioning agenda.
Read the "Need help with commissioning and procurement?" leaflet for more information about the Unit
Find out more Here
Tendering for Better Services (London)
27th January 2010
Date: Tuesday 19 January 2010
Time: 9.30am to 4.30pm
Venue: NCVO Conference Suite
This training will also be available in Birmingham on 16 February.
A unique training course for public sector commissioners and voluntary sector providers and support agencies - the course will:
• explain in detail the tendering process and documents
• discuss how commissioners can produce effective service specifications to improve their chance of achieving best value
• give providers insights on how to best present their offer and how to price their tenders
• provide an opportunity for practitioners from both sectors to network and discuss challenges and opportunities in procurement
Find out more Here
Public Services 2010 - Equipped for Change
1st March 2010
Date: 01 March 2010
Time: 09.30am - 16.30pm
Venue: NCVO Conference Suite, London
The market for public services is changing. Are you ready to change with it?
A conference for third sector service providers, support agencies and public sector commissioners looking at how public services are changing and how partnership working in the third and public sector need to change with them.
Find out more Here
Acevo challenges charities' exclusion from bidding for NHS contracts
Chief executives body intervenes over decision by primary care trust
Read more Here
Refreshed Compact 'a step backwards for BME groups'
Voice4Change England is disappointed by new version of the agreement
Read more Here
Slimmed-down Compact is published
Document is slashed from 160 pages to 22, and covers policy development, resource allocation and equality
A radically slimmed-down version of the Compact has been published on 16 December 2009.
The new version of the agreement, which sets out how public and third sector organisations should treat each other, is 22 pages long, compared with more than 160 in the old version and its five codes of practice.
Read more Here
Compact refresh
On 16 December 2009, the refreshed national Compact document was launched. Developed following months of consultation, the new Compact is leaner, more focussed and reflects the changing operating environment for the partnership between government and the voluntary sector.
Read more and download Here
Compact Voice will back 'refreshed' version of the agreement
But third sector minister Angela Smith has not given the assurance it wanted that the Government will not break the Compact again
Compact Voice has given its backing for the Compact refresh, due to be launched tomorrow, after previously questioning whether it should go ahead.
Read more Here
Minister promises greater Compact scrutiny at critical time for Compact
Angela Smith yesterday appeared before Parliament, apologising for breaching the Compact in her recent decision to divert funding from the Campaign Research Programme. She stated that this was an "isolated breach" of Compact Principles.
Following her appearance, the Minister met with Simon Blake, Chair of Compact Voice, to discuss ways to reassert the Government’s commitment to the Compact, ahead of the launch of the Refreshed Compact next week. In the meeting she accepted that her action had caused scepticism about her support for the compact, but reaffirmed her commitment.
Read more Here
Angela Smith apologises for Compact breach, but says it was a correct decision.
Minister for the Third Sector tells MPs she cancelled the Campaigning Research Programme after seeing how the recession was affecting charities
Angela Smith, the Minister for the Third Sector, has admitted she "regrets and apologises for" breaching the Compact, but insisted her decision to cancel a £750,000 fund for campaigning by small charities and divert the money into recession support was the right one.
Read more Here
Commission for the Compact rejects call to delay new version of Compact.
Chief executive Richard Corden argues for big push to promote revised document in the new year
The Commission for the Compact has rejected a suggestion from Compact Voice that the publication of the refreshed Compact should be put on hold until third sector minister Angela Smith gives assurances that she will not breach the agreement again.
Read more Here
Department of Health guidance stresses importance of grant funding.
Navca's Kevin Curley says document issued to primary care trusts is 'a welcome early Christmas present'
The Department of Health has issued new guidance to primary care trusts stressing the importance of grant funding to charities.
Read more Here
Councils should warn early about funding changes, says Commission for the Compact
Local authorities should give charities at least three months' notice of any funding changes, it says
Local authorities are being urged to give voluntary organisations at least three months' notice of changes to funding as councils prepare for expected cuts in the spring.
Read more Here
Compact principles 'should be written into contracts'
Charity Law Association's response to Compact consultation also says agreement should be renamed
The Government should tell local authorities to incorporate the terms of the Compact into all their contracts with voluntary sector organisations, according to a Charity Law Association working party.
More info Here
