PRESS RELEASE
6th September 2006
Volunteering England welcomes the statement published today by Capacitybuilders following the recent review of the ChangeUp national hubs of expertise.
Christopher Spence CBE (Chief Executive, Volunteering England) said:
‘Volunteering England is committed to securing and supporting an effective and sustainable volunteering infrastructure at local, regional and national level, including a network of quality Volunteer Centres, promoting and enabling volunteering and community involvement. This is reflected in our support for the strategic intent of both ChangeUp and Building on success. We believe that delivery of both of these inter-related strategies needs to be continually reviewed and updated if both volunteering and the voluntary and community sector are to be effectively supported to achieve their potential.
ChangeUp funding has enabled Volunteering England to support about sixty new pieces of work. Setting up the Volunteering Hub has helped us to work in different and more effective ways than before. It has forced us to think more widely about the strategic development of volunteering. We look forward to continuing to work strategically with Capacitybuilders to develop this in the future.’
Volunteering England supports the Capacitybuilders Board in the manner in which it is ensuring that ChangeUp achieves its objectives through a co-ordinated local, sub-regional, regional and national delivery programme. We recognise that this process cannot be rushed and welcome the timetable that Capacitybuilders has set out. We believe that in order for ChangeUp to be successful, Capacitybuilders needs to exercise proactive leadership, and welcome this role being taken up.
The feedback we have received is that, whilst people appreciate the services that the Volunteering Hub is providing, there is a general consensus that the Volunteering Hub brand adds confusion within the sector. We have repeatedly been told that people think that Volunteering England should be seen as leading this work. We welcome the recognition of this within the report and statement.
Baroness Hanham of Kensington CBE (Independent Chair, the Volunteering Hub Scrutiny Committee and the England Volunteering Development Council) said:
‘I believe that this is a timely report, and endorse its findings. I welcome the potential for greater clarity in the delivery of national work to support volunteering, especially as this builds on the substantial activity that Volunteering England has undertaken since it launched 2½ years ago.
In agreeing with the proposed changes to the Volunteering Hub, I would want to ensure that any work commissioned by Capacitybuilders on national support for volunteering will remain accountable to the sector. It will therefore be important that Volunteering England continues to build the capacity of the sector to involve and manage volunteers well both through its own activity and by continuing to build on what is already being delivered in other organisations.’
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Volunteering England’s aims are to increase the quality, quantity, contribution and accessibility of volunteering throughout England; secure and support an England-wide network of quality volunteer development agencies, promoting and enabling volunteering and community involvement; undertake research, policy and development activity; and provide grants, support and advice to sustain and develop volunteering. It understands the term volunteering to include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.
2. Volunteering England is the accountable body for the Volunteering Hub. The Volunteering Hub Scrutiny Committee forms part of the Volunteering England governance structure. Members of the Scrutiny Committee are drawn from the England Volunteering Development Council.
3. The England Volunteering Development Council is a high-level representative and advocacy mechanism for volunteering, engaging both with government and opposition parties in order to capture the collective intelligence of volunteer-involving organisations, volunteering infrastructure providers and of volunteers to provide a powerful, coordinated lobby to steer government policy and community action. The England Volunteering Development Council has responsibility for the monitoring and development of Building on success: strategy for volunteering infrastructure in England 2004-2014; acts as the Volunteering Hub Advisory Group; and has established a Commission on the Future of Volunteering in England, which will report in 2007.
