Office of the Third Sector Homepage

Main navigation

Third Sector Advisory Body publish health check of the Office of the Third Sector

3 April 2009

Today the Third Sector Advisory Body has published a health check on the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) which examines the capacity of the OTS to deliver the commitments in the Third Sector Review. The report, based on a series of stakeholder interviews, provides a great deal of positive feedback alongside a series of recommendations to take forward. The OTS has today also published its response to the recommendations.

The Office of the Third Sector Advisory Body was asked in August 2008 to undertake a health check of the Office of the Third Sector which would provide an assessment, based on stakeholder feedback on the current capability of the OTS to deliver the commitments in the Third Sector Review.

The healthcheck comprised a series of interviews conducted by Advisory Body members Stephen Dunmore, Clare Gilhooly, Bhupendra Mistry and Cliff Prior.

The report of the health check is published today and contains a great deal of positive feedback.  In particular, stakeholders generally:

• welcome OTS’s enhanced capability and resources to support and work with sector.
• believe that OTS’s position in the Cabinet Office has given it and the sector greater influence across Government.
• recognise the potential impact of OTS’s funding programmes.
• believe that OTS is equipped to deliver its commitments.
• welcome the engagement with the sector demonstrated in, for example, the Third Sector Review and the strategic partners programme.
• feel that the Cabinet Office Ministers and OTS’s senior managers have provided clear leadership and that OTS’s staff are committed, accessible and able to deliver.

The feedback also suggests some areas where OTS could make improvements.   The report accordingly makes a number of recommendations which the OTS has accepted in full. The OTS has today published a response to each recommendation. The report and response to recommendations can be downloaded below.

• Health Check of the OTS [PDF, 26 pages, 655KB]
• OTS Response to Health Check [PDF, 6 pages, 68KB]
• Further information on the Advisory Body