Volunteering England Response
Volunteering England welcomes the publication of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs consultation on their new Rural and Social and Community Programme.
Volunteering and the volunteering infrastructure has a pivotal role to play in building capacity in rural voluntary and community organisations and parish councils. Volunteering can make a significant difference in addressing important social issues and tackling the causes and effects of rural social exclusion. The involvement of volunteers brings many advantages - building a sense of shared responsibility and added value through diversity, increased local accountability, and by building strong and cohesive communities.
In this context Volunteering England is disappointed that there is little specific reference to volunteering in the consultation document and that volunteering is not part of the programmes specific aims. Where volunteering is mentioned it is only in the context of an illustrative example where funding “…could be used to improve volunteering - through creating new opportunities for people to help their communities, better matching of volunteers with local needs and better training and support for volunteers...”.
We are also concerned that little or no recognition is made of the existing contribution of volunteers, volunteer-involving organisations and the volunteering infrastructure. Whilst there is mention of Rural Community Councils and Councils for Voluntary Service there is no mention of Volunteer Centres which serve rural communities.
As there is no blueprint for the types of volunteering activity that might be supported in the consultation document there needs to be further guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about what constitutes volunteering; how these activities might be delivered and how this would compliment existing volunteering infrastructure and the work of ChangeUp through the Volunteering Hub and regional/sub-regional consortia. Reference to the new Compact Code of Good Practice on Volunteering would facilitate this process.
We would also like to raise concerns about the timescale for gathering evidence of need and making the business case for sustainable, realistic and needed funding applications in very new partnerships at a sub regional level. This is particularly important for agencies in rural communities that are small, modestly funded and largely dependent on voluntary effort. These should be recognised as distinct from the larger, professionally staffed agencies which are most visible in voluntary and community sector profiles.
Volunteering England is concerned about the compulsory use of Local Area Agreements (and the Local Strategic Partnerships that underpin these agreements) as a funding structure sub-regionally. Often the voluntary and community sector – and specifically the volunteering infrastructure are not engaged or play no significant role in the Local Area Agreement/Local Strategic Partnership.
We would therefore encourage the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to take a more pragmatic and flexible approach to funding at a sub-regional level and recognise that:
- There would have to be an acceptance that there may be a multiplicity of models
- These would draw from a palette of good practice
- There might not be a single best option.
About Volunteering England
Volunteering England is the integrated national volunteer development organisation for England. We work across the voluntary, public and private sectors to raise the profile of volunteering as a powerful force for change.
Membership is open to organisations and individuals operating in England with an interest in volunteering. Volunteering England was formed in April 2004 following a merger between The Consortium on Opportunities for Volunteering, The National Centre for Volunteering and Volunteer Development England.
Volunteering England is the accountable body for the activity of the Volunteering Hub. The Volunteering Hub will work to achieve the ChangeUp high level objective that by 2014 there will be a leaner, effectively marketed and high quality volunteering infrastructure reaching, recruiting and placing a greater number and diversity of individuals coupled with improved volunteer management.
