Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support local initiatives that build resilience to homelessness, including through volunteering, community donations, and partnership working.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Plan to End Homelessness recognises the important role of voluntary, community and faith groups in delivering homelessness prevention work and forming partnerships with other local services and encourages councils and Mayors to develop their partnership working to strengthen services in their areas.
Through the £37 million Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, we will invest in these services to help people rebuild their lives and stay off the streets for good. This will support over 100 voluntary sector organisations and reach over 60,000 people a year.
Local authorities can also use government funding for homelessness and rough sleeping to commission services delivered by charities and voluntary groups in their area. The government has invested more than £1 billion in homelessness services this year.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of covering the insurance costs of employers taking on volunteer workers; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on the number of people not in employment, education or training.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP recognises that there are many benefits to volunteering for individuals, including for those not in employment, education or training. These include gaining new skills, knowledge and experience, improving physical and mental wellbeing, growing confidence and improving a person's CV. We have worked with the Royal Voluntary Service and with a group of charities who make up Shaping the Future with Volunteering to develop a ‘Volunteering Toolkit’ to support DWP operational staff, including work coaches, to connect customers to volunteering opportunities. We also ran a two-week internal communications campaign in Autumn 2024 to raise the profile of volunteering as a step towards work.
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) protects employees and others who may be affected by work activities. This includes those volunteering for, or on behalf of an organisation. Employers must include volunteers, as well as employees, in risk assessments to identify significant risks and implement effective control measures. Any further insurance beyond statutory requirements is a commercial decision for an employer.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of supporting the (a) training and (b) deployment of UK health staff to Ukraine.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are options for National Health Service staff to voluntarily provide healthcare support on a humanitarian basis and separately to their NHS duties. For example, humanitarian medical charities such as UK Med are active in Ukraine with NHS clinicians volunteering to provide life-saving medical aid to people affected by the conflict.
Additionally, four NHS trusts have established partnerships with Ukrainian healthcare institutions under the International Medical Partnership initiative. These partnerships provide mutual learning and development opportunities for clinicians that will improve public health and patient experience in both the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of parents who are unable to take up or remain in employment because they have children with special educational needs and disabilities that do not have access adequate educational provision and require full-time care at home.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing and can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by an initial £240 million investment in 25/26, will deliver the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation to help more people into work and to progress.
Children living in households where no adults work are around 4 times more likely to be in relative poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work. We are therefore considering how we can improve our support to help parents into work as part of our upcoming Child Poverty Strategy. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) and their families. We have also engaged with charities and organisations like Contact, ALLFIE, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation to discuss the experience of disabled children living in poverty.
Carers on low incomes can claim Universal Credit at a higher rate through the carer element. An unpaid carer receiving UC who meets the eligibility threshold for receiving Carers Element is not required to undertake work-related activity but can access employment support on a voluntary basis. Support offered can include access to skills provision, referral to an employment support programme, for example the Restart programme, careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry.
Support is also available through Carer’s Allowance (CA) which provides a measure of financial support and recognition for unpaid carers who are unable to work full time as a result of their caring responsibilities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide opportunities for NHS staff to work in (a) Gaza and (b) other conflict zones.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are options for National Health Service staff to voluntarily provide healthcare support on a humanitarian basis and separately to their NHS duties. For example, humanitarian medical charities such as UK Med are active in Gaza, with NHS clinicians volunteering to provide life-saving medical aid to people affected by the conflict.
Asked by: Baroness Porter of Fulwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they keep a record of all charities (1) working with prisoners, and (2) working with former prisoners helping them to readjust after release.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice maintains a contract register to record and report against all suppliers, including charities, who provide goods or services to the Department on a contracted basis. Details of awarded contracts with a minimum value of £10,000 or more are published on Government Contracts Finder.
All HMPPS contracts and grants, in which providers work with prisoners and former prisoners, including those awarded to charities are recorded on the Department’s contract management system and the Government Grants Information System (GGIS).
Volunteering arrangements do not operate under contract as there is no financial consideration. For unpaid work placements, these are formalised through Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) which are signed by both the placement provider and the Ministry of Justice. These arrangements are not held on the contract register; however a list of MoUs is maintained.
The provision of services to prison leavers through charities or other Government Department/Local Authority contracts was previously a blind spot in which no formal agreement was in place as these services are delivered at no costs to the Ministry of Justice. This has been rectified through the development of a collaboration agreement, which is a relatively new initiative and we are working with regions to develop these and collate the information centrally to enable the tracking of these arrangements through Commissioning and Contract Management teams.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce proposals to ease regulatory pressures on charity trustees and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for charities.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Charities Act 2022, which gained Royal Assent in February 2022, implemented Law Commission recommendations to reform a number of processes in charity law. These include how charities can change their governing documents, sell land, make better use of permanent endowment funds, and merge with other charities.
The Act should reduce unnecessary or burdensome regulation that increases the sector’s costs and discourages people from volunteering to become trustees, whilst preserving important safeguards. The Law Commission’s recommendations are estimated to deliver savings for charities of £28m over a ten year period.
DCMS officials continue to review the charities’ legislative framework to ensure that regulation is balanced and proportionate.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he plans to take to support the voluntary sector in Scotland.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Volunteering is a devolved policy area. However, the UK Government funded and supported the launch of the 2024 Big Help Out, which was a UK-wide campaign and took place on 7-9 June. It aimed to raise awareness of volunteering and provided opportunities for people to support their communities. This event followed the success of the inaugural day of community volunteering to mark the Coronation of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty The Queen, held on 8 May 2023.
Millions of people took part in last year’s Big Help Out with a huge range of charities and voluntary organisations providing people with the opportunity to try out and experience volunteering.
UK Government officials will continue to engage with the devolved administrations on matters relating to volunteering policy and shared insights.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what events will be held in Northern Ireland to launch the Big Help Out in 2024.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
My department is funding and supporting the launch of the 2024 Big Help Out, taking place 7 - 9 June this year, aiming to raise awareness of volunteering and to provide opportunities for people to support their communities.
The Government does not organise events itself, but we understand that plans are in development for the Big Help Out in Northern Ireland with Volunteer Now supporting Shaping the Future member organisations to host two events in Belfast and Enniskillen on 7 June 2024.
Millions of people took part in last year’s Big Help Out with a huge range of charities and voluntary organisations providing people with the opportunity to try out and experience volunteering. All 11 local government districts in Northern Ireland participated last year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what encouragement they are providing to businesses to promote and encourage volunteering amongst employees.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government recognises how vital volunteering is for society, reaping benefits for those who volunteer as well as the organisations they assist. The Government aims to remove barriers which prevent people from getting involved.
HM Government wants to see employers develop their own strong corporate responsibility programmes and to encourage businesses, the public sector and charities to consider the role that employer-supported volunteering can play as part of their impact on society.
HM Government strongly encourages employers to consider offering volunteering leave as part of their employee benefits package. Employees have the right to reasonable time off work to carry out specified public duties, as established in Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Time off for other voluntary duties is a matter for individual employers as they balance their business needs.