Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the NHS volunteering scheme in respect of the use of volunteers in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

The NHS Volunteers Responder programme is available to complement local action being taken during COVID-19 to support those self-isolating for any reason.

To date over 270,000 tasks have been delivered by NHS Volunteer Responders. Of these, help has been requested for the majority on a daily, weekly or fortnightly basis. Approximately 70% of referrals are requests for help with collecting shopping, medication and other essential supplies and delivering these to vulnerable individuals and those self-isolating. The programme is also being used to provide regular ‘check in and chat’ calls to patients who are at risk of loneliness and for patient transport and to support the National Health Service deliver equipment and supplies.