Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed reduction in the foreign aid budget on (a) the Voluntary Service Overseas and (b) other charities and schemes that help people volunteer on projects around the world.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce our aid budget. We are now working through the implications of these changes for all individual programmes and partners, including Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).
Volunteers and volunteering organisations like VSO make an important contribution. We have offered VSO a short-term funding extension for the Volunteering for Development programme, while the review process continues.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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 enhance local networks through which people are signposted to positive social action and volunteering opportunities.
Answered by Matt Warman
Volunteers have been critical to the ability of local communities to respond to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Local networks between councils, community groups, the voluntary sector and individual citizens have enabled an army of volunteers to step up and help during a time of national crisis.
Through the Covid-19 response, the government has funded the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership to help charities - large and small - to work together to identify and reach communities most in need, signposting volunteering needs and opportunities across a network of more than 200 organisations. Over £6million of funding for the Partnership has so far been committed up to 30th June 2021 with an option to extend should the need continue.
The government will continue to draw upon the lessons of volunteering, both from the Covid-19 period and more broadly, to develop current and future policy.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to extend the range of roles that are eligible for the right to reasonable time off work to carry out public duties.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is keen to see greater corporate responsibility on the part of employers and encourages the public sector, charities and businesses to consider their impact on society. Employer-supported volunteering can help to build stronger communities and a stronger economy, by helping charities and community groups to do more and by creating a more motivated and productive workforce.
Employees have the right to reasonable time off work to carry out specified public duties such as those of a magistrate or a local councillor. There are currently no plans to extend the range of roles.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the statutory provision for time off to fulfill public duties to (a) charity trustees and (b) other roles.
Answered by Paul Scully
Employer-supported volunteering can help to build stronger communities and a stronger economy, by helping charities and community groups to do more and by creating a more motivated and productive workforce. Employees have the right to reasonable time off work to carry out specified public duties such as those of a magistrate or a local councillor. Whilst there are currently no plans to assess the current provisions, the Government is keen to see greater corporate responsibility on the part of employers and to encourage the public sector, charities and businesses to consider their impact on society.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding is available for Rotary Great Britain and Ireland and other UK-based voluntary groups to support their work in eradicating polio.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland is supported by contributions from the public. These contributions are transformed into service projects and grants that support polio eradication. The UK Government does not fund Rotary directly, though we work closely together as joint donors and partners in ridding the world of the polio virus through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office provides support to UK charities making a difference through grants, and our flagship volunteer scheme. The Small Charities Challenge Fund provides grants to UK charities addressing Global Goals. The Volunteering for Development programme, delivered in partnership with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), supports volunteers to make an impact in the world's poorest communities.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Charity Finance Group’s proposal to allow charities to furlough staff and enable them to volunteer at their own organisation, to help charities to mobilise during the winter period.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government remains committed to supporting charitable organisations and enterprises across the country. In March, the Government announced the unprecedented Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), designed to help employers to keep millions of people in employment. The CJRS was set to close on 31 October 2020 but, in light of the path of the virus, the CJRS has now been extended until the end of March 2021.
A furloughed employee can volunteer for another employer or organisation subject to public health guidance and agreement from their employer. However, employees are not permitted to volunteer for their own employer or an organisation linked or associated to their employer where the volunteering either makes money for, or provides services to, their employer or such an organisation. This is to prevent fraudulent claims and to protect individuals. If the Government allowed workers to volunteer for their employer or a linked organisation, the employer could ask them to effectively work full-time whilst only paying them 80% of their wages.
As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to supporting charitable organisations and social enterprises, the Spending Review confirmed a £750m support package for charities supporting vulnerable people during the COVID-19 crisis. The Government also matched public donations to the BBC’s “Big Night In” charity appeal, with over £37 million being distributed by Comic Relief, Children In Need and the National Emergencies Trust to charities on the frontline.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to ensure that voluntary and community sector organisations have access to adequate resources to adapt to distanced delivery as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The £750 million package offered unprecedented support to allow charities and social enterprises to continue their vital work and adapt service delivery to support our national effort to fight coronavirus. This funding will continue to support this work over the winter.
We have recently published new guidance on GOV.UK for organisations and groups, to help them to understand how to involve volunteers safely and effectively in their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Under the current national restrictions in England, people can leave home to provide voluntary or charitable services, where they cannot do this from home. We regularly update our guidance on volunteering on GOV.UK.
Information on the wider measures the government has made available and details on how to access the support measures can be found on GOV.UK. The Charity Commission has also published guidance on GOV.UK, which sets out how charities can get support for their staff, advice on use of reserves, and other potential issues.
Furthermore, ensuring charities can safely begin fundraising activities will be a crucial part of the sector’s recovery. DCMS has worked closely with its sectors to publish guidance relating to COVID-19. This includes practical guidance and resources from the Fundraising Regulator and Chartered Institute of Fundraising supporting charities to safeguard the public, staff and volunteers as they plan to return to fundraising activities in a safe and responsible way. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/guidance-for-dcms-sectors-in-relation-to-coronavirus-covid-19. Over the coming months we will continue to work with the charity, voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors to assess emerging needs and how we can best support them during the COVID-19 pandemic and through recovery.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether people who work for the charity, voluntary and community sector organisations who have been furloughed may return to their places of work in a volunteering capacity whilst still receiving the support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The purpose of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to support people who would otherwise have been made redundant. To prevent fraudulent claims, the Government made clear that individuals cannot work or volunteer for their organisation. This also serves to protect employees. If the Government allowed workers to volunteer for their employer, the employer could ask them to effectively work full time whilst only paying them 80% of the wages. These wages would also be paid at the Government’s expense, and therefore an abuse of the system. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport are working with other Government departments and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector to identify areas where volunteers can contribute to the Covid-19 response.
On 8 April, the Chancellor announced a £750m support package for charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the Covid-19 crisis. £360m will be allocated by central Government to charities in England based on evidence of service need. £370m will support smaller, local charities working with vulnerable people.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of enabling furloughed staff from charities to participate in fundraising activities for their organisations.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, furloughed employees can take part in voluntary work, provided that volunteering tasks do not supply services or generate revenue for their employer or a company linked or associated to their employer. This would therefore prevent charity employees who are furloughed from volunteering for the organisation they are employed by. The core focus of the scheme is to help those who otherwise would have been made unemployed and provide support to businesses as quickly as possible.
The system has been carefully designed to encourage employees who have been furloughed to take up opportunities to support the delivery of essential services through volunteering, while avoiding the possibility of individual employees being put in a situation where they are doing their contracted work for little or no payment.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to New Philanthropy Capital's report entitled Where are England’s charities?, published 16 January 2020, what steps he is taking to support an increase in (a) charities and (b) formal volunteering in the least affluent areas of England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Civil Society is a vital part of our nation and continues to grow in importance - there are 6,000 more registered charities today than there were in 2010 and annual sector income has grown from £54 billion to £77 billion.
Government recognises the importance and value of civil society, which is why the Civil Society Strategy was published in 2018, setting out a long term vision of how the Government can work with and for civil society to benefit our communities.
The Department has noted New Philanthropy Capital’s report and the Minister for Civil Society, who sits in the House of Lords, will meet the report’s author and will discuss its findings.