30 January 2008
The voluntary sector has greatly improved its share of the second and final wave of Pathways to Work contracts, taking five of the sixteen on offer.
Shaw trust won three of the regions and Royal British Legion Industries won two.
There was an outcry in September when the Shaw Trust were the only voluntary sector organisation to win any contracts. This time round, Minister for the Third Sector Phil Hope was able to claim that:
"Today's announcement of awarded contracts is an important endorsement of the role that third sector organisations can play in delivering innovative public services such as this."
No explanation was offered by Mr Hope as to why the first round of awards failed so dismally to endorse the third sector. The full list of contracts is as follows:
Carter & Carter Group plc
Cheshire & Warrington;North/East Yorkshire & The Humber
Instant Muscle Enterprise Limited
Surrey & Sussex
Reed in Partnership
Brent, Harrow & Hillingdon West London; Cambridge & Suffolk; North & North East London; South & South East London
Remploy
The Marches
Royal British Legion Industries
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire; Berks, Bucks & Oxfordshire; Hampshire & Isle of Wight
TNG Ltd
Cheshire & Warrington
Working Links
Coventry & Warwickshire; Gloucestershire, Wiltshire & Swindon; Leicester & Northants; North/East Yorkshire & The Humber; West of England
© 2008 Steve Donnison
