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Thursday Mar 30, 2006
Commission On The Future Of Volunteering
It's been a good seven days if you like voluntary sector grand inquisitions.
Hot on the heels of Gordon Brown's Budget announcement that "HM Treasury will undertake a review into the future role and long-term priorities of the third sector in economic and social regeneration" comes the establishment of the Commission On The Future Of Volunteering.
The Commission has been set up by the England Volunteering Development Council "to develop a long term vision for volunteering in England as a legacy of the Year of the Volunteer 2005".
Whether or not you think this work is necessary, surely the point of such a body is to start with an open mind. So why is the Chair, Julia Neuberger, already making statements like: "I do not believe that volunteering should be a way of offering public services on the cheap."?
It's an assertion that is repeated in the organisation's first press release, headed: "Volunteers aren't a way of delivering services on the cheap, says new Commission."
Of course, it sounds like something that no one could disagree with. But it can be phrased another way: Should volunteers help to extend the reach of public services?
It's a difficult and complicated debate. And surely not one to be pre-judged by a Commission with 15 months to go before its final report.
Posted by Tom Green ( 11:00 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]