Interview: Voice of the third sector - Phil Hope MP, minister for the third sector

Previously skills minister at the then Department for Education and Skills, Hope says his varied background helps him understand the problems facing the voluntary sector.

He admits the relationship between the voluntary and statutory sectors is not as strong as he would like. "Part of my job is to ensure that the partnership government has gets stronger and better. On a local level, we need stronger partnerships between local authorities and the third sector," he says.

He is emphatic that the voluntary sector should not be seen as a cheap way of delivering children's services and has called for these organisations to be given more responsibility. "I'd like to see the third sector be much more important as part of planning at a local level of children's services," he says. "They can go beyond just having a voice and be involved from planning to delivery."

He says the design of a compact, or agreement, between voluntary sector organisations and local authorities should be the pathway to a better understanding of the two service deliverers.

"We want three-year funding of third sector organisations to be the norm, not the exception," says Hope. "We want organisations to claim the full cost of running the service they're running. We're training 2,000 commissioners of public services, to raise awareness of the third sector and its need for stable funding in the commissioning process."

This week is Social Enterprise Week and the Office of the Third Sector is holding a social enterprise day tomorrow (15 November) to encourage young people to connect with social enterprises. Hope says it is the third time the event has taken place and hopes it will become an annual event. "We're trying to get social enterprise onto the curriculum," he says. "Schools should take the opportunity when running an enterprise part of the curriculum, of picking up the social part."

Engaging with young people is something Hope seems especially keen on, in particular raising the number of young volunteers through programmes like youth volunteering charity v.

"We have invested £117m over three years in v on top of the £60m it was given to get going," he says. "We're launching the National Youth Volunteering Programme later this month. There will be local young volunteering teams to identify opportunities and encourage young people to take part."

But concerns about hurdles to volunteering have been voiced by professionals, who claim Criminal Records Bureau checks can create a barrier for disadvantaged young people who may struggle to find the information needed (CYP Now, 7-13 November).

Hope says he is not familiar with the problem but says that other barriers to volunteering, such as cost, have been minimised. "The difficulty is that checks are going to be robust - it has to be a check," he says. "It needs to be relied upon and we need to get it right."

When asked about differences in focus on young people between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, Hope is thoughtful. "We have the 10-year youth strategy that is building on work done before. Unclaimed assets is generating money to fund youth centres and I love raising the age of leaving education to 18.

"Gordon has a vision about young people and a process of raising the responsibility. Young people grow at different rates, things happen in their lives in different ways. We have an opportunity to raise aspirations and confidence."

BACKGROUND - CAREER DEVELOPMENT

- Hope was a teacher at Kettering School for Boys before becoming youth policy adviser at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and head of the young volunteer resources unit at the National Youth Bureau

- In 1997, he was elected Labour MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire

- He was appointed as Cabinet Office minister for the third sector in June 2007 after Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister

- Previous roles include skills minister at the Department for Education and Skills and parliamentary under-secretary in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.