Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage volunteering during the recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.

DCMS is focusing its role as a steward of the sector, working collaboratively to improve access to volunteering by removing long-standing barriers, some of which have been exacerbated or exposed by COVID-19.

As part of our work to investigate how and the extent to which COVID-19 has impacted on volunteering in England, we produced a report to investigate what drives demand for volunteers and how this varies over a typical calendar year, as a means of identifying potential issues in the supply of volunteers. This also examined the effect of the pandemic on volunteer supply and demand. *

We are working with the voluntary and community sector to develop a Vision for Volunteering, which will be a clear and actionable 10 year plan to simplify access to and experiences of volunteering in England.

We are also planning to launch a new Volunteering Futures Fund, which will provide new volunteering opportunities for young people and others who experience barriers to volunteering, within DCMS sectors (arts, culture, museums and heritage) as well as in youth, tackling loneliness and place-based community initiatives.

* https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-report-on-the-drivers-in-demand-for-volunteers