Office for Civil Society announces Big Society Deregulation Taskforce
Minster for Civil Society, Nick Hurd and Mark Prisk, minister for Business and Enterprise have announced the third sector representatives who will form a government taskforce responsible for exploring how to cut red tape for charities and social enterprises.
The Big Society Deregulation Taskforce will be chaired by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) president Lord Hodgson. Fellow taskforce members will include Andrew Hind, the soon to be retired chief executive of the Charity Commission; chief executive of charity WRVS, Lynne Berry; Sir Graham Melmoth, retiring chair of NCVO and former chief executive of the Co-operative Group; CEO of Community Matters, David Tyler; and David Thompson, chair of pub group Marston's.
Nick Hurd has said of the taskforce: "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 taskforce will work to reduce the bureaucracy that restricts the sector, focusing in particular on possible changes to employment legislation and commissioning, and will produce a report for ministers in early 2011.