Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) the NHS volunteer programme and (b) other national volunteering programmes do not conflict with or undermine programmes run by local organisations.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) aims to empower local volunteering and ensure national efforts to encourage volunteering do not detract from locally-led responses.

DCMS is closely engaged with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England & NHS Improvement on NHS volunteer programmes, including the national NHS Volunteer Responders programme. In the course of those discussions, we consider local volunteering mechanisms, and how best to ensure that national NHS volunteering works with those, and that NHS volunteers and recipients of NHS volunteer services can be referred to local organisations.

In recognition of the vital role that local organisations have played in the volunteer response to COVID-19, DCMS has commissioned research on local models of mobilising volunteers across England during the pandemic. The research aims to improve the evidence base of the various models of coordinating volunteers at a local level, including the ways in which local organisations collaborated with national volunteering programmes to support community volunteering.

DCMS continues to work closely with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector to assess the needs of the sector and how the government can best support it to continue its vital work. The Minister for Civil Society and DCMS officials are engaging regularly with civil society stakeholders to highlight and address key issues for the sector in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.