Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has produced an impact assessment on the closure of the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service.

Since relaunching the programme in September 2022, the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders (NHSVCR) programme has 48,078 registered volunteers who have completed their identification check, in order to be able to carry out tasks.

The NHS Volunteer recruitment portal is already available, with 70 health and care organisations advertising opportunities. As the service grows, every National Health Service or voluntary organisation in health will be able to post opportunities and recruit volunteers to support their local communities, with a full launch of the service planned later this year.

The NHSVCR programme is just one part of an ecosystem of volunteering that supports people’s health and care needs, and there are many local voluntary sector organisations that provide other forms of support. Most patients were referred into the programme by a health professional for short-term support through the NHSVCR programme. Referrers have been informed of the change in service provided so that they can source alternative support for their patients if needed. In addition, there are over 72,000 volunteers who continue to support NHS trusts directly in over 300 different volunteer roles.

The Government will continue to work with colleagues in NHS England during the closure of the programme to mitigate risks to national health volunteer resilience. The NHSVCR programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response, and was then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the important contribution of our much-valued volunteers. Whilst the NHSVCR programme is ending, volunteers are being redirected to other NHS and voluntary sector organisations to continue their volunteering and to support their local communities in similar ways.