Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend employment legislation to give volunteers in voluntary organisations the same protection rights as those available to paid employees.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
In general, employment law (for example through the Employment Rights Act 1996) provides protection to ‘employees’ or ‘workers’. Many volunteers are not employees or workers, and so do not have the same legal status and protections as paid employees or workers. However, depending on the details of the volunteering arrangement, it is possible for volunteers to be workers in some cases. Some guidance on the definition of a worker is provided on the gov.uk website..
The government has consulted on whether volunteers are adequately protected by the protections within the Equality Act 2010, and responses to that consultation are currently being considered.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is also working with charities and the charity regulator to encourage safe cultures within charities that protect volunteers.
The gov.uk website explains what rights a volunteer may have.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much money his Department has allocated from the public purse to support the 2019 Year of Green Action.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The purpose of the Year of Green Action is to encourage all sectors of society to play their part in taking action to improve the environment. We are supporting and amplifying the efforts of others through a small team co-ordinating promotional events and working with a number of charities, community groups and businesses to drive environmental action across Government and civil society. Key to this is our partnership with Step Up To Serve on the #iwill4nature campaign, which is seeking to encourage greater participation by young people from all backgrounds in environmental social action projects.
We have spent £94,000 on programmes to support the Year of Green Action to date and have allocated an additional £78,000 for the remainder of the financial year. This includes contributions to green action projects and events run by charitable bodies such as the Sensory Trust, Groundwork and the Campaign for National Parks, promotional materials and the development of a website to promote volunteering opportunities for all and amplify activity underway. This expenditure does not include in-kind contributions received from the many organisations promoting the Year of Green Action with Defra’s support. We also fund the staff costs of the team of policy and communications advisers supporting the Year of Green Action initiative.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what amendments have been made to the guidance relating to section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 since its enactment.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 sets out a specific exemption that applies to voluntary workers. People volunteering for charities, voluntary organisations and other relevant organisations contribute a huge value to society, and they do so without an expectation of being paid the National Minimum Wage.
Guidance is available on gov.uk to support charitable and other relevant organisations in determining when voluntary workers are covered by the exemption. This is contained in ‘Calculating the Minimum Wage’, which was first published in April 2013 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage
This guidance on when voluntary workers are exempt from the National Minimum Wage has not been the subject of a formal consultation and there are no immediate plans to amend it. If the Department receives representations that show there is a need for improved guidance we would consider these carefully.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there was a public consultation in support of the development of guidance relating to section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 sets out a specific exemption that applies to voluntary workers. People volunteering for charities, voluntary organisations and other relevant organisations contribute a huge value to society, and they do so without an expectation of being paid the National Minimum Wage.
Guidance is available on gov.uk to support charitable and other relevant organisations in determining when voluntary workers are covered by the exemption. This is contained in ‘Calculating the Minimum Wage’, which was first published in April 2013 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage
This guidance on when voluntary workers are exempt from the National Minimum Wage has not been the subject of a formal consultation and there are no immediate plans to amend it. If the Department receives representations that show there is a need for improved guidance we would consider these carefully.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to amend the guidance relating to section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 sets out a specific exemption that applies to voluntary workers. People volunteering for charities, voluntary organisations and other relevant organisations contribute a huge value to society, and they do so without an expectation of being paid the National Minimum Wage.
Guidance is available on gov.uk to support charitable and other relevant organisations in determining when voluntary workers are covered by the exemption. This is contained in ‘Calculating the Minimum Wage’, which was first published in April 2013 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage
This guidance on when voluntary workers are exempt from the National Minimum Wage has not been the subject of a formal consultation and there are no immediate plans to amend it. If the Department receives representations that show there is a need for improved guidance we would consider these carefully.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to protect youth volunteering charities from financial difficulty; when his Department became aware of the financial difficulties facing vInspired; whether his Department is aware of other regional providers of the National Citizen Service who are in similar financial difficulties; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of young people affected by the closure of vInspired.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DCMS invests in youth organisations in a number of ways including the National Citizen Service and the Youth Investment and #iwill Funds in partnership with Big Lottery Fund.
Independent charities are responsible for managing their own funding through various mechanisms including donations, trading and investment; and are accountable for their own financial solvency.
vInspired informed DCMS officials that they were in financial difficulties and expected to shortly commence insolvency procedures in November 2018.
vInspired Education are responsible for delivering the NCS programme in the North East, however this is a separate legal entity to vInspired. We are not aware of any regional providers of NCS who are in financial difficulties.
The Department has assessed that there is no impact to young people on the NCS programme in the North East, and we do not currently hold an estimate of the number of young people who may be affected by other services vInspired provided.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
DExEU have not issued any clauses of this kind with the type of organisations described. We can confirm that our only known commercial relationship with voluntary sector organisations is for an internal volunteering service for civil servants.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to encourage businesses to offer paid volunteering leave for employees.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Volunteering gives people a unique opportunity to shape society and share their skills, and DCMS is working closely with other Government departments, charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises to promote the ways that people can give back to their communities. As a large employer, Government offers its staff three days of paid volunteering leave per year.
The current Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has to date not had any meetings with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to discuss how to encourage businesses to offer paid volunteering leave to employees.
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: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will use funds recovered from dormant assets to reintroduce the Access to Volunteering fund.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The government announced in January 2018 that £330m from dormant accounts would be distributed to good causes across the UK over the next four years. We have announced that the English portion of this will be allocated to help disadvantaged and disengaged young people transition into work, fund financial inclusion initiatives and, via Big Society Capital, support social investment programmes tackling homelessness and supporting local charities and social enterprises.
Decision making for deploying dormant asset funds in the devolved administrations is fully devolved.
The government encourages volunteering by people from all backgrounds and supports a number of programmes which enable volunteering opportunities. One example of this is the £40m #iwill Fund, which aims to create more opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to volunteer.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking at (a) national and (b) regional level to support effective working relationships between jobcentres and charity retailers in the placement of volunteers in charity shops.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Jobcentre Plus (JCP) employer and partner facing staff tailor their approach according to each location. A key part of their role is to promote volunteering and the Work Together initiative, and to engage on a regular basis with the voluntary sector, including charity retailers/shops to identify opportunities.