Management and Admin

A survey on the "Support and Resource Needs of Trustees and Chairs in Voluntary and Community Organisations" is being run by the Office for Public Management on behalf of the Governance Hub.

http://www.opm.co.uk/surveys/hub/governance.htm.

The Telephone Helplines Association is managing a survey, intended to be completed by general managers, into the use of and approach to telephony in the sector. This is part of the ICT Hub's work, to assess the nature and size of the need amongst voluntary sector organisations for support in this area.

A good practice note on how to comply with data protection rules when outsourcing the processing of personal information, aimed primarily at smaller companies without an in-house data protection expert, has been published by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Basic but to the point.

A steering group has been set up to look at forming an Association for Volunteer Managers, for England (SAVM already exists for Scotland), to champion and represent all managers of volunteers regardless of field, discipline or sector.

The Fire Safety regulations originally intended to come into effect from 1st April will now be implemented from October 2006 in England and Wales. They make employers, landlords and occupiers of premises responsible for fire safety.

See Sandy Adirondack's legal update at http://www.sandy-a.co.uk/employment.htm#firesafety, or wait for the specific guidance to be published - we'll let you know when.

Both the Workforce and Performance Hubs, set up to provide national sources of expertise for the sector, have recently launched new web sites. UK Workforce Hub at http://www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk takes over from the old Voluntary Sector Skills site (which currently still exists although it's not being updated). There are some distinct oddities, such as some internal links opening in new windows, and there's more material to come.

Recent changes in company law have substantially expanded possible protections for trustees. Charities which are incorporated as companies limited by guarantee must comply with the Companies Act rules which limit the extent to which they could protect trustees by indemnities. Changed rules permit:

• Provision of a loan to cover directors up front for legal costs when they are sued

• Indemnity against some liabilities

These new powers can only be used if the governing document allows it.

Acevo has launched what it claims to be "the first online learning resource for the sector". VolResource has been listing a number of online courses for several years, so maybe they mean the first one specifically targeted at chief executives in this country.