Press release: Volunteering England responds to debate on the integration of migrants

28 February 2007

Re - Remarks by the Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, at a seminar on Britishness at the Commonwealth club, London

Justin Davis-Smith, deputy chief executive of Volunteering England, said:

“Volunteering England welcomes the recognition by Gordon Brown that community work can play a part in assisting migrants to better integrate in the United Kingdom and Europe. However, through our work with the INVOLVE project (led by Volunteering England and co-ordinated by the European Volunteer Centre), we know that, while volunteering is generally perceived to contribute to better integration, there are still major barriers to more involvement of migrants in such activities – at personal and societal level.

Removing these barriers must be a common effort of all stakeholders:

• Volunteer organisations and migrant organisations need to improve their knowledge of the possibilities which volunteering offers migrants;
• Mainstream organisations need to become accessible to migrants, to commit to diversity and to offer quality and empowering volunteer placements;
• Government needs to tear down legal barriers related to the status of migrants and address fears about compulsion;
• Migrant organisations need to foster both bonding and bridging social capital in migrant communities."

“We would also like to underline our strongly-held belief that there should be no compulsion to volunteer – volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual. Freedom to volunteer therefore also implies freedom not to become involved.”

- end -

Notes to Editors

• For more information on Volunteering England, call Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 oremail cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org.For out of hours press enquiries, contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128057.