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Pact aims to promote skills development in voluntary sector

Skills for Business and UK voluntary sector organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding in which the parties have agreed to work more closely together to promote skills development and good employment practices.

According to Skills for Business, the pact will affect the 560,000 paid employees and 11 million unpaid regular adult volunteers that work across the sector in the UK. The new arrangement is especially timely as 2005 has been designated as the Year of the Volunteer.

Christopher Duff, Chief Executive of the Sector Skills Development Agency, said: "The Skills for Business network acknowledges the very significant contribution that volunteers play in our communities and we feel that their personal skills and development should not be overlooked. We are extremely pleased to have reached this agreement with the VCS and look forward to working more closely together."

The Skills for Business network is made up of 21 Sector Skills Councils, with voluntary organisations playing a role in 13 of them. Skills for business say that their network covers approximately 70 per cent of the voluntary and community sector workforce.

For the purposes of the memorandum of understanding, the voluntary bodies involved are: National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

External link

For more information, and to view the memorandum of understanding, visit the Skills for Business website

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