Test of government record on compact

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is to publish a
series of reports next year looking at how well individual
government departments are honouring the compact with the
sector.

The compact, signed in 1998, is a non-binding agreement covering
issues such as funding.

The reports will be used to lobby national government, although the
NCVO also hopes to influence local authorities.

The NCVO also confirmed it was investigating possible breaches of
the compact in a three-week delay to the payment of almost
£50m in section 64 grants to more than 250 charities.

“We are looking for some new evidence that the Department of Health
will try to minimise the damage caused by these delays,” a
spokesperson from the NCVO said.

The DoH blamed the delay on the transfer of records from an old
database to its new system.