Community and Voluntary Sector

Lord Dubs Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome this debate and I am grateful to my noble friend for having initiated it. I declare my interests having been the chief executive and chair of a number of voluntary organisations and having served on various boards. I will talk about three things: the relations between the voluntary sector and government; the influence on debate and legislation by the voluntary sector; and some important voluntary initiatives.

The voluntary sector is a crucial part of a democracy, and I welcome very much the recent speech made by the DCMS Secretary of State, when she said that it should be up to charities to tell government when it has got it wrong and to co-operate with government to get things right. That is in contrast to the disparaging comments made by some people from the previous Conservative Government, who told the voluntary sector to stick to their knitting and the RSPB that it should not stray from nesting boxes and bird feeders. Clearly, what we want, and what we have now, is a much better relationship, which was initiated at the meeting in No. 10 and the consultation on the civil society covenant. It is fundamental to the voluntary sector that it should be able to criticise government and to state its views on government policy—provided that these are within the general terms and scope of what that voluntary organisation is about. In the past, attempts have been made to stifle the voluntary sector from making comments on policy.

I think we all welcome the fact that voluntary organisations contribute by briefing us on debates and amendments to legislation. Some of us depend very much on this help and support. It ensures that our debates are better informed and based on the experience that the voluntary sector itself has, as opposed to just theoretical concepts. I have worked very closely with both the Refugee Council and Safe Passage on supporting the cause of asylum seekers and refugees, and I very much welcome the help that they have given us. Of course, there are so many other organisations—I cannot mention them all—including the Holocaust Educational Trust, the MS Society and Humanists UK. In Northern Ireland, the Integrated Education Fund has played a key role in ensuring that integrated schools play a larger part in educational provision there. We depend on the voluntary sector. When we come to debate on assisted dying, which will be quite an issue—first in the Commons and then possibly here—we should get briefings on opposite sides of the argument. That is not unhealthy; it is a good thing.

I must mention one or two important initiatives from the voluntary sector. I particularly welcome the part played by volunteers in refugee camps abroad—for example, in Calais—where individuals from this country have gone and given a lot of their time, sometimes years, to support the most vulnerable of their fellow human beings. The Refugee Council has done enormously good work on this. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is also important. I will give one example. Some years just before the pandemic, the Chelsea and Fulham football foundations—I say this as a Manchester United supporter, alas—joined together to provide an evening of football training for refugee boys on Fulham football ground, inspired by Gary Lineker. It was a great evening and a very important contribution to the understanding by refugees of sport in this country. All over the country, there have been initiatives such as Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees and so on, and refugees have come. It is a privilege to have been involved with the voluntary sector, which has helped me with some of the contributions I have made to debates in this Chamber.