Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to enable voluntary and community sector partners to recruit volunteers from the NHS Volunteer Responders list.

The NHS Volunteer Responders programme was designed to complement local level volunteering activity by supporting health and social care services to keep vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 and associated measures safe and well in the community.

Due to General Data Protection Regulations, volunteers are not able to be transferred to other organisations without their consent. However, a regular newsletter is sent to all NHS Volunteer Responders promoting opportunities with other voluntary and community sector organisations.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has also been working with the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergency Partnership to identify better ways of matching the country’s strong base of willing volunteers with priority needs. This involves improving coordination between sector organisations, identifying unmet needs and coordinating volunteer demand and supply, including from the NHS Volunteers Responders programme