Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that volunteer capacity is available to support the NHS when needed.

NHS England will shortly be launching a programme to further increase volunteering capacity available to National Health Service hospital and ambulance trusts via roles designed to reduce pressure on NHS services, support wellbeing of staff and enhance patient experience.

We also continue to work closely with our partners in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector such as St John Ambulance Re:Act, the British Red Cross, Age UK and the Royal Voluntary Service. We continue to co-deliver the NHS Cadets programme, which aims to develop 10,000 new NHS Cadets within three years, we have a renewed focus on the Volunteer to Career pathway and we have partnered with #iwill and the Pears Foundation to identify new opportunities for young volunteers.