Opinion: Do we need a Witchfinder-General?

By John Knight, Third Sector, 2 July 2008

The Conservatives recently launched their green paper on voluntary action in the 21st century - something that has provoked much debate in Third Sector. There were, I believe, 20 suggested policies to encourage the voluntary sector to be "a force for social progress", but the one that particularly caught my attention was their intention to give the Compact teeth.

But how is Sir Bert Massie, the new Commissioner for the Compact, going to tackle this issue? It appears that the NCVO, Acevo, Navca and, indeed, Bert himself, believe that the Compact needs to go through some changes. He was not specific, however, about what those changes should be, and...