Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support Citizens Advice Bureaux in their recruitment of volunteers.

The Department provides core funding to Citizens Advice, the umbrella body for the bureaux service in England and Wales. That funding allows for the provision of essential central services to the bureaux network including IT, information, training and the recruitment of volunteers. BIS has maintained its core funding to Citizens Advice over the Spending Review period.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given today to Question UIN 222641 which shows volunteer numbers have increased by 7.6 per cent over the past 7 years, with only a 2 per cent decline in numbers between 2012-13 and 2013-14.