Office of the Third Sector Homepage
Last updated: 23 November 2008
The third sector review, looking at the role of third sector organisations in social and economic regeneration, involved the largest-ever Goverment consultation with the sector. It was overseen by a cross-departmental ministerial group and advised by a third sector advisory group drawn from organisations across the sector.
Following the launch of the review in the Budget 2006, 93 consultation events were held across England between May and November 2006. Nine of these events were regional, covering the nine English regions, and 84 were sub-regional or sub-sectoral – at the local level or targeting particular groups, such as equalities groups, faith groups, social enterprises, and the private sector.
The consultation events were carried out with the support of national, regional and local third sector networks, Government departments and Government offices.
The events were held with corporates, social enterprises, credit unions, mutuals and cooperatives, young people's organisations, faith groups, disability groups, black and minority ethnic organisations, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, and other equalities groups.
Local events were organised by local organisations, taking into account the diversity and size of the groups attending. More than 2,000 people attended the events, representing over 1,000 organisations.
In addition, over 200 written submissions were made during the first stage of the consulation, most of which were from organisations.
For the second phase of the review, five seminars on the themes of the interim report were held around the country in February 2007.
The themes of the seminars were ‘communities’, ‘public services’, ‘healthy environment’, ‘voice and campaigning’ and ‘social enterprise’ and were held in York, London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Bristol, respectively.
As well as the seminars, people were invited to fill in an online questionnaire, which was launched in December 2006, to respond to particular issues raised in the interim report. 19 organisations responded online.
A summary of the consultation responses was published in June 2007:
The consultation closed at the end of March 2007.
The result of the consultation was the final report of the third sector review, released on 24 July 2007, which set out a strategy for the government to work closer with the third sector over the next ten years.
Most of the measures in the report will be led by the Office of the Third Sector, which will invest more than £515 million in third sector programmes to support thousands of community organisations across the country.
More details of the consultation process and the final report of the third sector review can be found in the ‘third sector review’ section of this site: