Volunteering

Lord Fink Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Fink (Con)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, for initiating this debate, and I draw attention to my entry in the register of interests as a trustee of several charities. I have listened to the debate carefully and find myself in enormous agreement with virtually everything that has been said. I believe passionately in helping the disadvantaged, and I also believe that while some people can do that through philanthropy and money, others who do not have the means to do that can do it through the gift of time. Most of us should be able to do one or the other and if we are really lucky, both.

In my younger days as a student, I was a volunteer in a youth voluntary group in Manchester. It was probably one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done. It was nothing glamorous. We painted elderly people’s homes, tidied their gardens and helped out in schools for the disabled. In many cases, the main thing we did was alleviate loneliness, particularly that of the elderly, who just needed someone to talk to. It taught me that many things that many of us take for granted are not necessarily the case, such as that good health for all and a well-functioning brain and body are not universal but really are blessings, as is the opportunity to be surrounded by friends and family. It also led me to meet a lovely young lady whom I married a few years later. I guess that after nearly 40 years of blissful life together I can safely say that volunteering probably did more for me than it did for the supposed beneficiaries.

Since then, I have continued to volunteer, as has my wife. I look back now and I see that in those days volunteering was relatively easy. There was no real vetting or CRB checks, and while I entirely understand that some subsequent events have proved the need for safeguarding, will the Minister see if there is anything the Government can do to streamline some of the red tape needed to protect the vulnerable, as some of it possibly reduces the level of volunteering, particularly among the young, who tend to do casual volunteering? I have some ideas, but I will share them with the Minister later as time has run out.

My hope is that in my lifetime volunteering becomes normalised across the UK so that everyone can benefit from it in the ways I did and I know my fellow volunteers and recipients do.