Office of the Third Sector Homepage
Last updated: 19 November 2009
In May 2009, the Minister for the Cabinet Office brought together Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government, Work and Pensions and Business, Innovation and Skills to talk to leaders from the social enterprise sector. The discussion focused on the role social enterprise can play in fighting the downturn, rebalancing the economy and shaping post-recession Britain.
Following the Summit, OTS published a set of next steps to be taken by the four departments whose Ministers attended.
• Summary of Discussion
• Next steps
Following the establishment of the Office of the Third Sector in 2006, the Social Enterprise Action Plan set out a cross-government ambition to support social enterprise along with commitments from 12 government departments and bodies – including the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Department of Health, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, as well as the Office of the Third Sector – on the promotion and support of social enterprise. Many of the commitments made still guide government’s work on social enterprise today. The complete document contains more details of this work, as well as case studies giving examples of successful social enterprises.
• Social enterprise action plan: scaling new heights [PDF, 1.67MB, 73 pages]
Leaflets looking at progress one and two years on are also available:
• Social enterprise action plan: one year on [PDF, 199KB, 6 pages]
• Social enterprise action plan: two years on [PDF, 380KB, 4 pages]
The action plan builds on the Government's 2002 strategy, Social enterprise, a strategy for success [PDF, 389KB, 81 pages]
Policy commitments to support social enterprise are also given in documents relating to wider third sector policy including: