Charity news

Mentoring scheme reduces reoffending reveals MOJ
A scheme to mentor and rehabilitate prisoners sentenced to less than 12 months has reduced re-conviction rates, figures published today show. The pilot, being run at Peterborough prison by Social Finance with support from a number of voluntary organisations, has helped prisoners who would previously have had no support. It provides them with help as they prepare for release and then to access the services they need, including housing, employment, financial services and substance abuse services once they are out of prison.

Founding chief executive of Charity Bank appointed CBE
Malcolm Hayday, founding chief executive of Charity Bank, has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for “services to charities and Social Enterprise.� Hayday, who left the bank after 10 years in 2012, was one of the pioneers of social finance. He joined the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in 1993 to explore the possibility of loan finance as a new resource for the charity sector.

Public sector news

Rise in ethnic ghettos reduces interaction
Almost half of ethnic minority people in England and Wales now live in areas where white British people are in a minority

Public sector told to buy IT through the cloud as G-Cloud iii goes live
Government departments ordered to buy IT products and services through the cloud unless they can prove other options are better value for money

Two appointed to new immigration service
Following the disbanding of the UK Border Agency, two temporary director generals have been announced

MoJ ''turns tide'' on compensation culture
Fees lawyers make from processing basic claims for minor injuries from road accidents will be halved

Web inventor welcomes openness pledges from eight more countries
Eight new countries have been welcomed to the Open Government Partnership by Tim Berners-Lee and UK minister Francis Maude

Sex education must improve and teach children about porn, warns Ofsted
Sex education must be improved in a third of schools examined by Ofsted in a new report which said issues including pornography needed a strong focus

Charity comms news

NCVO commissions report into media coverage of the voluntary sector
Martyn Lewis, chair of the umbrella body and former newsreader, announces that a journalist will talk to newspapers editors about how they report sector initiatives

Tate director made a companion of honour in Queen's birthday honours list
Sir Nicholas Serota given honour held by only 41 other people, while Charity Bank founder Malcolm Hayday and Big Society Capital's Caroline Mason are among those receiving CBEs

More transparency needed in charity campaigning, panel is told
Government and public are becoming more hostile to charity campaigning, says Debbie Pippard, head of programmes at the Barrow Cadbury Trust

Most inspiring presentation at Sofii event was about the Aching Arms charity
Lauren Semple's story about how the charity helped her is voted the best of the 22 talks on inspirational fundraising ideas

Campaigning news

NCVO commissions report into media coverage of the voluntary sector
Martyn Lewis, chair of the umbrella body and former newsreader, announces that a journalist will talk to newspapers editors about how they report sector initiatives

Tate director made a companion of honour in Queen's birthday honours list
Sir Nicholas Serota given honour held by only 41 other people, while Charity Bank founder Malcolm Hayday and Big Society Capital's Caroline Mason are among those receiving CBEs

More transparency needed in charity campaigning, panel is told
Government and public are becoming more hostile to charity campaigning, says Debbie Pippard, head of programmes at the Barrow Cadbury Trust

Most inspiring presentation at Sofii event was about the Aching Arms charity
Lauren Semple's story about how the charity helped her is voted the best of the 22 talks on inspirational fundraising ideas

More charity communications and campaigning news, jobs and blogs

Volunteering news

Eleven charities join coalition to improve volunteering services for youths
Generation Change will create common standards and themes for youth social action programmes, says Tom McLaren Webb of BeatBullying

Ministry of Justice launches website to connect offenders with mentoring charities
Jeremy Wright, the justice minister, says the hub will help to tackle high reoffending rates

Half of people don't know where to find out about local volunteering opportunities, survey shows
Research by the Olympic legacy charity Join In finds that nearly a third of respondents said the Games Makers had positively changed the way they viewed volunteering

New website will match accountants with charities that want volunteers
Service will support thousands who want to volunteer their skills, says Nick Brooks, chair of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

John Lewis pledges huge increase in staff volunteering time
The staff-owned retailer, which has 29 stores across the country, says its employees will volunteer more than 30,000 hours each year

More charity volunteering news, jobs and blogs