Governance

NCVO has commented on the public accounts committee reports on the Charity Commission and Gift Aid.

Volunteers across the UK are being thanked for their efforts as part of a range of events to mark Volunteers’ Week 2015 which runs from 1 to 7 June.

Commenting on the appointment of Tina Stowell as chair of the Charity Commission, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said:

I am looking forward to working with Baroness Stowell. I think she will bring fresh ideas to the role, and her emphasis on the importance of working in partnership with the sector at her pre-appointment hearing yesterday was welcome.

NCVO’s board has announced that it has proposed the Baroness Pitkeathley of Caversham OBE as its choice to become the membership organisation’s next president.

Lady (Jill) Pitkeathley has had a long career in public service and has worked in or with the voluntary sector for more than 40 years. She has been chief executive officer, chair and trustee of many charities.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has announced the results of recent elections to its Trustee Board.

The new appointments include:

• Ciarán Devane - Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support;
• Richard Leaman OBE, Chief Executive of Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

A new easy-read guide to trusteeship published today will help people with learning disabilities to become charity trustees. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has translated its best-selling Good Trustee Guide into easy-read format in order to provide information about a trustee's role and best practice guidance to people with learning disabilities.

By making the information contained in the Good Trustee Guide accessible, NCVO hopes to help charities improve the diversity of their governance structure and increase the effectiveness of their trustee board. Increasing board diversity is a key recommendation of the new draft Charity Governance Code.

NCVO today (Friday 11 October) announced the members of the Executive Pay Inquiry that will draw up guidelines for charity trustees when deciding on pay levels for senior executives.

The Inquiry will explore the arguments about what are appropriate levels of pay for charity senior executives, and how these levels should be arrived at. It will also explore the relationship between salary levels and public trust and confidence in the sector as a whole. The Inquiry will produce definitive guidelines for charity trustees, informed by a broad debate on the issues involved, to take into account when setting salaries.

Four charities from across the country received a national quality award on Monday. The Winifred Tumim Memorial Prize, awarded annually by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), recognises charities which have demonstrated an exceptionally high standard of governance. The awards were presented at NCVO’s annual Trustee Conference, which marked the launch of this year’s Trustees Week.

Embargoed 0001 Tuesday 29 April

Charities have been told they should publish full details of the pay of their senior executives, in order to maintain public trust. The recommendation comes in the report today of an inquiry into executive pay set up by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Download the report (PDF, 1.5MB)

Commenting on the PAC report on Kids Company, Karl Wilding, director of public policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said:

This report will make extremely frustrating reading for the thousands of charities who have to submit highly detailed plans in order to have a hope of funding, and who work very hard to produce honest and accurate assessments of the difference they make.

A consultation has opened today on a significant new version of the charity sector governance code.

The code, a tool to help charities strengthen and develop their governance, was originally created in 2005.

This major overhaul, launched at the start of Trustees Week 2016, sees new and more detailed guidance included in the code, with an enhanced focus on delivering organisational purpose and direction.

Those with an interest in charity governance are being asked to feed back their views on the code. The consultation runs until Friday 3 February 2017.

Commenting on the NAO’s follow-up report into the Charity Commission, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said:

‘This review reflects significant progress for which the Commission and its staff deserve much credit. The NAO identify a number of outstanding areas of concern. We are particularly keen to see the Commission return to a more conventional division between governance and executive. We look forward to seeing the results of the governance audit being carried out in the coming months.

Four charities from across the country have been shortlisted for a national quality award. The Winifred Tumim Memorial Prize, awarded annually by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), rewards charities which have demonstrated an exceptionally high standard of governance.

The four finalists are The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, based in Hampshire; Keech Hospice Care, Luton; Walsingham, a national disability charity; and Cumbria Action for Sustainability.

Commenting on the publication of the Charity Commission's statement of strategic intent, Peter Kellner, chair of NCVO, said:

Baroness Stowell is right to demand the highest standards from charities. The great majority that maintain those standards feel betrayed when a small minority fall short. The Commission deserves support for its efforts to provide a clear regulatory framework and a focus on where things go wrong.

NCVO today launches the start of a month-long consultation period with staff on restructure proposals.

The key reason for the proposals is that following the merger between NCVO and Volunteering England at the start of 2013, when all Volunteering England staff transferred to NCVO, a number of duplicate roles now exist.

NCVO will review the Charity Commission’s governance structure and appointments process in order to find ways for the regulator to put questions about its political neutrality to rest for good, it was announced today.

Sustainable future and greater reach for training and accreditation

Trustees of the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (MBF) and the board of NCVO have today announced that MBF’s core services are to be transferred to NCVO.

Commenting on the three new appointments to the Charity Commission board, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, which represents charities, said:

The new appointees have substantial professional backgrounds, with decades of experience at senior levels in complex organisations.

The independent chair of the cross-sector steering group behind the new Charity Governance Code for England and Wales says she is delighted that it is winning support within such a short space of time.

The way a key government mechanism to improve public services has been implemented has often been ‘seriously flawed’, a report today argues.