The Lib Dems approved a motion at Spring Conference (11th – 13th March) about encouraging and helping the voluntary sector and volunteering. You can read the full text of the motion here:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx?title=Motion_carried:_Community_Futures_(Voluntary_Sector_and_Volunteering_Policy_Paper)&pPK=b9d8bd84-7989-4a30-917d-b4740763ffe8

I spoke in the debate.  What I said was directed at the lines in the motion that say  Encourage volunteering as a welcome addition to, rather than a substitute for, statutory service provision and the gist of what I said was this:

“Volunteers do things because they want to, not because they have to.  Councils in particular have been annexing voluntary bodies as just another arm of the council, subject to the same rules and controls – but cheaper.

But volunteers are just that, volunteers.  They need to be treated with respect as partners.  If they are pushed too hard into roles that suit councils and not themselves, they have the option of walking away.  What a waste that would be.  And what a hole councils would find themselves in if that happened.”

 

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