Personnel and Volunteers

Nearly half of the people who manage volunteers in the voluntary sector have not received any training that would help them in their work, according to a research report produced for Skills - Third Sector by the Institute for Volunteering Research.

The Institute for Volunteering Research, the research arm of Volunteering England, has launched an Evidence Bank for volunteering research. The bank currently contains all of its own publicly available research produced since 1997, and will include research from other bodies later.

A training programme offering 25,000 places for staff and volunteers in the voluntary youth sector will now start in September (delayed from May). The Progress scheme is funded by the Children's Workforce Development Council and managed by National Council for Voluntary Youth Services.

See CYP Now news item at http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1023533/.

(Part of a Big Society news round-up)

The first stage of the competitive commissioning process for the National Citizen Service pilots closed last week (25th August) when an expression of interest had to be submitted. The Office for Civil Society wants applicants to able to provide all parts of the volunteering programme, which is likely to mean charities forming consortia to qualify.

Using mobile phones to do small chunks of volunteering while out and about is being explored by phone company Orange. The company is inviting ideas for tasks that could be completed in this way, with some initial suggestions such as giving charities opinions on requested topics, mapping local community services, or assisting blind people by recording audio snippets. The best ten will become part of a volunteering app to be launched later in the year.

The government is consulting on the future direction of skills policy contained in its 'Skills for Sustainable Growth' document.

The qualifying age for the adult minimum wage drops to 21 from 1st October, the government has confirmed - previously it was 22.

People Management news item.

The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services has produced seven career information sheets for individuals interested in paid or voluntary work connected to working with young people in the voluntary and community youth sector.

In pdf format, up to 1MB, from http://www.ncvys.org.uk/index.php?alias=carinfoshe.

(Source: NCVO Workforce Development E-Briefing)