Voluntary and Community Sector
Introduction
The Voluntary and Community sector (VCS) is extremely diverse both in terms of the activities undertaken and the structure of organisations involved. Ranging from large-scale agencies with national and international remits to residents groups focused on the needs of a particular community, a diversity rarely found in any other ‘sector’. As a consequence there is a lack of consistency in definitions of the sector with many labels being employed, encompassing organisations with a range of different characteristics and limiting consistent analysis of sector size and contribution. The sector is difficult to map but this does not undermine its important role in helping and supporting North East citizens to fulfil their potential. Here you will find links and contacts which should enable the enquirer to find out information in their chosen subject area.
voluntaryskills.com helps promote skills development and career progression in the Third Sector by offering free information on training opportunities throughout the North East.
The site currently contains a searchable Training Database of 1457 training courses and 183 training providers from across the North East, and many of these courses are FREE or heavily subsidised to enable voluntary and community groups to attend.
Click here to Subscribe to the voluntaryskills.com e-bulletin for all the latest news, events and Third Sector training courses taking place in the North East of England.
Learning and Skills Council Contact: hilary.porter@lsc.gov.uk and christopher.seabourne@lsc.gov.uk
Third Sector Skills Research
The UK Workforce Hub has released two new research publications:
The first edition of the UK Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac provides up-to-date information on the size and characteristics of the UK voluntary sector workforce, alongside ten year trend data (19962005). The analysis covers three broad themes:
- Voluntary sector employment, including the number of paid employees, their employment status and working patterns and the occupations in which they are employed.
- The voluntary sector workplace, incorporating the regional and national profile of the sector's workforce, the industries they are concentrated in, and the size of workplaces.
- The voluntary sector workforce, which includes findings on gender, disability and qualification levels.
The second piece of research from the Workforce Hub is the UK Voluntary Sector Skills Survey 2007. This study, in conjunction with Skills for Health, is based on a survey of 2,000 UK voluntary sector organisations. This research covers a variety of areas including:
- Employers' experiences of hard to fill vacancies and the reasons for these
- Employers' views on recruitment over the next three years
- How many employers have skills gaps in their workforce, the types of functions and skills affected, the causes of these gaps, any actions taken to overcome them, and the impact these deficiencies have, and
- The extent to which organisations have a formal training plan and training budget.
Links
http://www.niace.org.uk/
Learning and Skills Initiatives
The UK Workforce Hub aims to lead and facilitate action which helps voluntary and community organisations be great places to work and volunteer, be better employers and embrace a culture of learning and development.
Regional Learning & Skills Information for the VCS in the North East
http://www.letsworktogether.co.uk
NE Regional Learning & Skills e-bulletin - October 2007 [pdf]
(108 KB)