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 help ensure that volunteer capacity is available to support councils when needed.

Local authorities work closely with the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector and other organisations, including the public sector and the NHS, to recruit and coordinate volunteers at a local level. The Government aims to empower these local partnerships and ensure national efforts to encourage volunteering complement locally-led responses.

Where there is urgent need for intervention from the Government, we work closely with the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP). The VCSEP is a collection of voluntary and community sector organisations, and is co-chaired by the British Red Cross and National Association for Voluntary and Community Action. The Partnership aims to help communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. They do this by coordinating and directly providing support to those in need, including mobilising volunteers if the need arises.