Third Sector: Coronavirus

(asked on 23rd September 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support volunteers in the third sector during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 1st October 2020

Volunteers have been an incredible force for good during the COVID-19 crisis. The Government is taking steps to ensure that volunteers are supported during these unprecedented times by providing up-to-date public guidance to enable volunteers to safely and effectively respond to the crisis, and working closely with voluntary and community organisations to ensure volunteers are deployed where they are most needed.

DCMS has provided a £4.8million grant to the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership, to support its work to improve coordination in the voluntary sector, and match the country’s strong base of volunteers with demands. It has enabled initiatives such as Journey Makers: so far, over 600 Journey Maker volunteers have been deployed at 64 bus and rail stations nationwide to support people to safely use the public transport network.

The Government has also extended its support for the NHS Volunteer Responders programme, and is recruiting additional volunteers in areas where demand for services is high.

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