News 2009

With many older people living alone and more than 180,000 saying they have gone for a whole week without speaking to friends, family or neighbours, Care Service Minister Phil Hope is asking the public to make a new year’s resolution to visit older neighbours more often.

Volunteering England is committed to working to help the new Vetting and Barring Scheme work in ways which are supportive and user-friendly for volunteers and volunteering organisations.

On Tuesday 15 December 2009, Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, and Mike Locke, its Director of Public Affairs, met with Angela Smith, Minister for the Third Sector, and her officials at the Cabinet Office.

International banking group Santander has today been announced as official sponsor of Student Volunteering Week, which will take place from 22 - 28 February 2010.

Volunteering England, the volunteer development agency, is calling for evidence in January 2010, following the first meeting of the Volunteer Rights Inquiry Panel.

The TUC and Volunteering England have today (Monday) signed a Volunteers’ Charter to strengthen ties between paid staff and volunteers.

Volunteering England is to hold an Inquiry to examine the issues and potential solutions around the subject of volunteer rights.

Volunteering England is launching a new programme of work in support of volunteer managers to coincide with International Volunteer Managers’ Day on the 5th of November 2009.

Embedding a volunteering provision within a university or college provides a cost-effective way of responding to the needs of business and community, and of the students themselves.

Volunteering England is pleased to see the statistic for the level of formal volunteering in the first quarter of 2009-10 is back up to 43 per cent.

Volunteering England is pleased to see a large number of Volunteer Centres and Councils for Voluntary Service will be involved in the delivery of Strand A of the new Volunteer Management Programme, as announced by the Office of the Third Sector and Capacitybuilders.

Issue of volunteer centre funding raised during Volunteering England fringe meeting held at the Labour Party Conference. The event was run in partnership with the British Red Cross.

Volunteering England and YouthNet are today calling on volunteer involving organisations across England to get involved with the Inspiration and Legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games project.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is currently producing sector-specific guidance on how the new Vetting and Barring Scheme will affect different sectors. Volunteering England is working with the Office of the Third Sector on the guidelines specifically for volunteer-involving organisations, to help such organisations understand the implications of the scheme in relation to the work that they carry out.

Volunteering England is working alongside the Government to ensure the new regulations do not create a barrier to volunteering. We are trying to keep the red tape involved to a minimum and ensure that the new scheme will not incur any cost for the volunteer.

Figures released today by Volunteering England show a further rise in volunteering enquiries in 2009.

Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering, today called on the Government to review the framework for young people classified as “not in education, employment or training” (NEET). The latest figures (released 18 August) are being used to suggest hundreds of thousands of young people are economically inactive. But the statistics include young people who have taken up volunteering opportunities and are contributing positively to their own career development and to thei

We are puzzled and anxious about the reduction in the percentage of people who volunteered in the year to April 2009, but we should all be careful not to jump to conclusions.

Volunteering England is pleased that the Green Paper acknowledges volunteering, both for the role it has in enabling people to be citizens and in providing support that enhances the role of professionals.

Corporate and charity partners joined Volunteering England at Twickenham Stadium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week and Boris Johnson got more than he bargained for during one of more than 150 charity events that took place to mark the 25th anniversary of Volunteers' Week this week.

Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering, has today announced that Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, one of the most influential and respected figures within the voluntary sector, will be the new chair of the organisation. She will take over the position formally in September from Mike Nussbaum, who has carried out the role for five years.

Volunteers’ Week, the UK-wide initiative co-ordinated by Volunteering England, the volunteering development agency, is celebrating its 25th birthday this year from the 1st until the 7th of June.

Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering, has today announced that Baroness Hanham, CBE, will, from today, take on the role of president for the organisation. The role was previously carried out by Baroness Pitkeathley, OBE.

Volunteering England welcomes the pilot schemes for community service in schools. We see it as a great way to open up the experience and satisfaction that helping others and getting involved in their communities can bring to a younger generation. In our experience, this sort of activity has significant potential to transform people’s lives for the better. We look forward to contributing ideas to the design of the programme to ensure that this experience encourages young people to carry on volu

The world of volunteering has today reported a dramatic increase in the number of people looking for opportunities to volunteer. Leaders of national volunteering organisations attribute this to a rise in unemployment across the UK.

Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering, welcomes the publication of the Government’s Real Help for Communities action plan to support volunteers, charities and social enterprises to help people through the recession. The action plan recognises the hugely important role that volunteering and volunteers themselves can play in tackling the current crisis.

Far-reaching changes, along with multimillion pound investment, are helping to make volunteering part of the DNA of our society. Volunteering England, together with 100 key figures from the public, private and voluntary sectors are pleased to mark the first anniversary (28th January) of the ‘Manifesto for Change’ from the Commission on the Future of Volunteering, chaired by Baroness Neuberger, with the news that significant changes are being made to the world of volunteering.

Volunteering England, the leading national development agency for volunteering, has welcomed the government’s ‘New Opportunities’ White Paper, which examines social mobility at a number of stages in people’s lives and highlights volunteering as a way to improve young people’s social mobility. However, we believe the White Paper doesn’t go far enough to address the social mobility of adults.