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Public Service and the Third Sector - parliamentary view
The Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons has published the "first ever" select committee report on the third sector, 'Public Services and the Third Sector: Rhetoric and Reality'.
The three points highlighted by the committee are
- No compelling evidence to support Government claim that sector provides public services in distinctive ways.
- Report also notes gap between rhetoric of "transformation of services" and reality that sector's involvement still on small scale.
- Committee suggests "intelligent commissioning" the key to discovering if sector has something truly distinctive to offer.
The committee chair discusses this in Society Guardian at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/09/voluntarysector.policy, and Charity Finance has a good round-up at http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2086. PASC press notice or read the report (web or pdf versions - PASC Eleventh Report) via http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmpubadm.htm.
Infrastructure body NAVCA has welcomed the report, but says that "in parts their thinking appears a little behind the time", http://www.navca.org.uk/news/pasc.htm. More reaction still to come, no doubt.
