Overseas Voluntary Sector

Mark Lazarowicz Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone—I think it is the first time I have done so. I congratulate the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr MacNeil) on securing the debate and giving us the opportunity to hear from several hon. Members about their experience of volunteering. That has been extremely interesting and helpful in showing some of the advantages and benefits that volunteers and host communities get from volunteering.

Hon. Members painted a series of pictures of their life as a volunteer, each one more gruesome than the last. Perhaps we should be grateful that everyone survived their experiences; but I found the speeches very useful—particularly the suggestions made by the hon. Members for North Thanet (Mr Gale) and for Harlow (Robert Halfon) about positive further action that might be taken. I am sure that the Minister will respond to those points. I was also struck by the work done by the hon. Members for Southend West (Mr Amess) and for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) in relation to volunteering abroad. Both seemed to have spent quite a bit of time working on advocacy, communication and policy, which shows that work done by NGOs in that area, both overseas and in the UK, is very important. Sometimes people criticise the advocacy and communications work of those organisations, and clearly it should be only a small part of their overall work, but it is also an important part of it, and we have seen the benefit of it in what hon. Members have told us today.

The background to any discussion of DFID budgets is of course different from the current discussions in relation to most Government Departments, because DFID is not suffering the large cuts being imposed on most other Departments. That is as a result of the commitment by the coalition, continuing the commitment of the Labour Government, to reach the target of spending 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid. Of course we have questions about how the Government will get to that target, and concerns about the freeze for the next couple of years; but the Government know that we are fully behind the commitment to the overall target. The Minister and his colleagues will find that we support him in his commitment to it, even if sometimes those sitting behind him in his own party may be more lukewarm.

There will of course be a debate about how DFID money will be spent under a new Government. Some programmes will change. The Government are perfectly entitled to have such a review and debate. However, it is important that any review should not threaten the viability of existing, valuable programmes by organisations such as VSO. Nor should there be prolonged uncertainty during the review. I reiterate the concerns expressed by several hon. Members today about future funding for VSO. The point has been made that VSO does not object in principle to the objective of diversifying funding; but it is concerned—as are many other organisations—that the reduction to a share as low as 40% coming from the Government could have a negative effect on its work and, consequently, on already poor communities.

I welcome what the Minister has said about other possible sources of funding being available to organisations that currently get funding through partnership programme arrangements, but some of the other funding sources also have a 40% cap. There would not be any benefit in having to move from one scheme with a 40% cap to another one with a 40% cap. I hope the Minister will listen to today’s comments, and consider the suggestions that have been made by VSO for a transitional arrangement that would allow minimisation of the negative consequences of the 40% cap on PPA for the relevant organisations’ good work.

Volunteering overseas can and should, in good programmes like those run by VSO, maximise beneficial long-term effects on local development efforts by the way in which it builds the skills and capacity of local communities. As hon. Members have said, that is a crucial aspect of volunteering. The benefit is not just the effect of two, three or four weeks, months or years of volunteer work. Host communities gain long-term benefits from volunteers’ work. There is no doubt that the presence of volunteers is welcomed by the host countries. Also, there is little doubt that when volunteers return to the UK they have a greater understanding and appreciation of the issues that developing countries face. Hon. Members’ speeches made that clear.

Volunteering programmes from the UK can also provide an opportunity for members of the diaspora communities in the UK—from south Asia, Africa and elsewhere—to develop or indeed re-forge their links with their countries of birth or heritage. That is another area of work in which VSO has been involved for a number of years. One programme, which, I understand, faces the end of its DFID funding, is VSO work with diaspora communities in the UK to allow them to develop links with their countries of birth or heritage. The current programme, which I understand finishes in May 2011, was funded under a scheme that will not continue after 2011. I understand that VSO has been told it could apply for funding from the global poverty action fund, but it will not be able to do that if it also gets money under the PPA fund, which is its main source of funding. I hope the Minister will comment on that, today or later.

Inevitably there is much agreement on both sides of the House in a debate such as this, which reflects the recognition of the good work done by volunteers and organisations such as VSO. I welcome what the Minister said about considering other sources of funding to assist VSO, in particular, with its concerns and fears, and I hope he can answer today the questions raised in the debate. The hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar told us that the monetary value of the work done in developing countries through volunteering is £80 million a year; but, because of its knock-on effects—the multiplier effects and the funding that can be obtained locally for volunteering work that is also done locally, and the long-term benefits—even that £80 million a year proves its value many times over. The Government should consider that when they make decisions about future funding of VSO and similar organisations that do valuable work overseas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Duncan]

I would wholly agree with the hon. Gentleman if there were to be a sudden cut with no alternative funding stream or transitional source, but that is not the picture. Yes, there will be a cap of 40% on the underlying three-year agreement, but I have just outlined three, four, even five different channels that an organisation, if it can show value for money, can readily use to supplement what he describes as a “shortfall”.

For example, if we take an organisation that might have, through its PPA, 50% of its annual income paid for by DFID, and that figure goes down to 40%, it is not beyond possibility that that 10% difference can once again be made up from the alternative funding sources I have outlined.

[Mark Lazarowicz]

rose—

[Mr Duncan]

I will say something else, if I may, and then see whether the hon. Gentleman still wants to intervene. He himself asked whether other funding schemes have a 40% cap. The 40% figure applies only to PPAs because a PPA provides far more flexible funding than project-based funding does, and that is why the regime is designed to be different.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Lazarowicz]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Can we have some clarity, either in today’s debate or afterwards, regarding the ability of organisations that qualify for PPA funding to get other types of support as well? I have been briefed that one of the schemes that VSO might otherwise have been able to gain support for from the global poverty action fund will not be able to gain such support because VSO holds a PPA with the Department. Is the Minister saying that in fact, organisations can have a PPA and also receive funding from some of the other sources he has outlined?

[Mr Duncan]

I cannot say whether that is true in all cases; I do not want to mislead the hon. Gentleman by saying for certain that it is true in all cases. However, in many if not most cases, I believe it to be true. I undertake to write to him with a clear explanation of how the system works in detail, which is one of the advantages of having a debate such as this in Westminster Hall.