Ways to introduce e-petitioning to the House of Commons will be considered by its Procedure Committee, following the government accepting its key recommendations on improving the petitioning process.

The committee will draw on the experiences of both No.10 Downing Street and the Scottish Parliament. See summary of points.

(Source Kablenet)

From E-Government Bulletin: Personal contact is still by far the preferred route for political activity according to ‘The internet in Britain 2007′ from The Oxford Internet Institute. Their survey shows that 9 per cent of respondents engage in any civic activity online compared with 36 per cent off-line. Only 7 per cent have signed a petition online compared with 24 per cent off-line.

Just part of a major bi-annual study, this time focusing on how digital inclusion and exclusion are changing over time. Full report from http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/oxis/.

The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) has published a ‘Holiday Entitlement Ready Reckoner’ to enable the increased holiday entitlement for existing members of staff to be calculated.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/holidays/page40455.html.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has produced a clarification of its views on the definition of the terms “charitable” and “charitable purposes” in constitutions.

Pdf, 45kb, at http://www.oscr.org.uk/DocumentViewer.aspx?ID=ddf17ce5-eb98-4b5f-8b69-5d83b5dac288.

Guidance from HM Revenue and Customs, for charities considering selling goods on behalf of donors in the hope of the proceeds being donated under Gift Aid, has been updated and expanded.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/guidance-notes/chapter3/sectionf.htm#gg.

Some of the popular leaflets from the Health and Safety Executive have been produced as audio files, with the first to appear covering general safety law, homeworking, office work, occupational health and sickness, electrical safety, first aid, risk assessment, slips and trips and stress prevention.

HSE talking leaflets at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/tlindex.htm.

Nominations for the IT Volunteer Awards 2007 have opened, with 3 volunteering project categories (impact, innovation and accessible) as well as best IT volunteer.

Entries by 6th October, http://www.it4communities.org.uk/it4c/home/Awards2007/awards.jsp.

The current round of IMPACT Awards, its eleventh year recognising charities that are doing excellent work to improve people’s health, is open for applications until 28th September for up to £35,000 in unrestricted funding plus high-level recognition.

From GlaxoSmithKline managed in partnership with the King’s Fund. See details at http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/funding/gsk_impact_awards/.

• Are you involved in a community or voluntary organisation?
• Have you come across the Compact in your work?
• Would you like to tell the government what you think is working and not working with the Compact?

Compact Voice, the representative body for the VCS on the Compact, is looking for people to take part in a focus group either in London, Birmingham or Manchester. The purpose of the focus group is to find out about your experience of the Compact and will be included as part of a wider report exploring the relationship between the sector and the government as framed by the Compact. What you tell us will be presented directly to government ministers (including Phil Hope and Ed Milliband) and will help set priorities for the future.

We are looking for people who have had positive as well as negative experiences. We are also looking to reflect the diversity of the voluntary and community sector so no matter the size of your organisation, the activity you engage in, or the groups you represent, we would be very interested in hearing from you. The focus groups will take place in London on 19^th September and 9^th October, in Birmingham on 27^th September and in Manchester on 2^nd October.

Lunch and travel costs will be provided as well as redeemable NCVO book vouchers and a copy of the final report.

To find out more please contact stefan.simanowitz@ncvo-vol.org.uk or telephone 020 7520 2486.

A number of background papers were commissioned by the Office of the Third Sector during the government’s third sector review.

These are now available on the research section of their web site, and include ‘Improving small scale grant funding for local voluntary and community organisations’, ‘Understanding the role of Government in relation to voice and campaigning’ and ‘Social software for social change’ on the use of new web technologies as tools for campaigning.

There is also a paper with case studies showing the role of cooperatives and mutuals in regeneration. See Research pages.

The National Audit Office has produced a report which examines the public funding of 12 of the largest UK charities, who together receive £742 million from a range of bodies including central government, local authorities and NHS primary care trusts. It finds that this can often be highly fragmented, with many public bodies providing several streams of small amounts of money to a single charity, and the complexities can deter further bids.

Although the Office of the Third Sector and the Treasury have started work on highlighted issues, more needs to be done, according to the NAO. Press notice with link to report at http://nao.gov.uk/pn/06-07/charity_funding.htm.

The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has published its report ‘Unclaimed Assets Within the Financial System’, which largely backs the government’s approach of allocating up to £500 million held in dormant bank accounts to good causes. The chairman John McFall does however say that “A voluntary unclaimed assets scheme won’t work - banks should be compelled to participate.” The committee also supports the creation of a Social Investment Bank from the funds released, which the government had given lower priority. Report available in various formats via http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtreasy.htm. NCVO has largely welcomed the report - http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/press/index.asp?id=5930.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office has confirmed that it had been talking to financial providers about the possibility of them investing in such a social investment bank - from Regen daily. And NCVO has published its response to the consultation on the unclaimed assets distribution mechanism, http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/policy/index.asp?id=5970.