New figures show voluntary organisations have an increased sense of confidence about staff recruitment and retention. The 16th Annual Voluntary Sector Salary Survey, published by Remuneration Economics in association with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations finds that just over forty per cent of participating organisations are predicting an increase in full time staff numbers in the coming year.That is matched by a fall from 17.6 per cent to just 6.4 per cent in the last year in the number of organisations predicting cuts in full time staff. The UK Voluntary Sector Almanac estimates that the voluntary and community sector now employs 569,000 paid staff, equivalent to one in 50 of the working population. One in three charities now employ paid staff.

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A system could soon be in place to help voluntary organisations that believe they have been treated unfairly by a local authority or other local government funder. The Compact Advocacy Programme has announced that it is looking for funding so it can extend its service to investigating breaches of Local Compacts.Nine out of ten local councils are signed up to local compacts or are in the process of developing them with their local voluntary and community sector. The Compact serves as the framework for their relationship allowing problems to be addressed and any improvements to be made. The local agreements mirror the national Compact and it is hoped that a combination of an agreed Compact and a advocacy service will prevent breakdowns between the parties such as the recent dispute between Leicester City Council and the local voluntary organsiations it funded.

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This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the online television channel for public service modernisation. Procurement modernisation is one of the major recommendations of the Gershon Efficiency Review. In order to meet the savings the review demands, public bodies must consider a broad array of options – from adopting stringent internal procurement strategies and processes to rationalising suppliers, increasing volumes and discounts, to using new sources of supply such as eMarkets. The programme includes discussion panels and case studies, which feature the insight and experience of hands on professionals, policy leaders, advisors and private sector suppliers.GovTV (www.eGovTV.tv) is a dedicated web-cast television channel for senior executives across all public sector organisations and is available free to an unlimited audience at anytime, at any location via the internet.

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