Office for Civil Society Advisory Body
The Office for Civil Society Advisory Body was a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation set up by the Government of the United Kingdom in July 2008, which advised the government on the needs of charities and voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom, and to implement the July 2007 review by HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. The body was formed as a result of the merger of four previous advisory structures: the Voluntary and Community Sector Advisory Group, Futurebuilders Advisory Panel, Infrastructure National Partnership and the Third Sector Review Advisory Group, was chaired by Baroness Jill Pitkeathley OBE, and was part of the Cabinet Office's Office of Civil Society.
In April 2009, the body published a 'health check' of the Office of the Third Sector resulting in a set of twelve confirmed recommendations to ensure the effectiveness of the Office of the Third Sector. Following the rename of the Office of the Third Sector to the Office for Civil Society, the advisory body also changed its name to the Office for Civil Society Advisory Body. The body was listed as one of the quangos to be abolished during the 2010 quango reforms, the advisory body being abolished once the members' terms of offices had expired on 31 March 2011, resulting in public savings of £0.04 million. Lamenting the closure, chair of the board Baroness Pitkeathley said:
