Charity sector bodies have welcomed today’s pre-election budget, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced several new ways to promote giving and volunteering.

Among the list of commitments was the announcement that the Home Office is to invest up to £100m over the next three years in a new national youth volunteering framework as proposed by the Russell Commission, funding which will rise to £40m by 2007-08. The Government is making this fund available to match contributions from business, and will include £5m in 2005-2006 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £1 million a year from Sport England.

Ian Russell, who headed up the commission said he was delighted with the Budget’s response. “I encourage the voluntary and community sector, business and young people to play their essential part in taking forward the shared ambition to make volunteering commonplace for young people in all our communities”, he said.

Also announced were proposals to modernise tax administration, including the setting up of a single unit for all charitable activity, which sector representatives will be invited to contribute to, as well as the creation of a one-stop shop for charities which will offer a dedicated tax helpline and website.

A new reduced rate of VAT is to be introduced for certain supplies of advice or information connected with the welfare of elderly, disabled or children.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has welcomed the Government’s commitment to the voluntary sector, particularly regarding the issue of tax and administration modernisation. However, it has expressed concern that the issue of unclaimed assets has not taken more of a priority. As it stands, the Chancellor has delayed agreement of a “common definition” of what constitutes an unclaimed asset until the time of the 2005 Pre-Budget Report.

Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, says: “NCVO’s, Manifesto, Independence, Diversity, Voice: A manifesto for voluntary action, calls for unclaimed assets to be fairly distributed across the whole sector to support a broad range of activities and causes. We shall continue to lobby the three main parties to ensure the next government promotes the transfer of unclaimed assets from financial institutions to the sector.”