Sarah Latto: we need urgent reassurance and clarity from the government
On Wednesday, 4 December, Finance Secretary Shona Robison presented her budget to the Scottish Parliament.
Last week, we sent all Scottish MSPs a briefing to inform their scrutiny of the budget. While there were some glimmers of hope in the budget at first glance, several urgent questions remain to be answered.
Firstly, third sector infrastructure and development funding has decreased by £0.6 million. We have had reassurance from the government that this reflects a reshuffle of portfolio priorities and does not necessarily reflect a decline in funding for third sector infrastructure and development.
However, the lack of an apparent increase in funding to support this theme is disappointing given the lack of inflationary uplifts in previous years. The recent publication of 2023 Scottish Household Survey results revealed a further four percentage point decline in adult formal volunteering to 18% since 2022. This is the time to increase investment in the infrastructure which promotes and supports volunteering in Scotland.
The commitment to ‘continue working closely with key infrastructure partners in the third sector on fairer funding’ is light on detail. Given the recommendations in the Social Justice and Social Security Committee report on Third Sector Funding principles, we had hoped for more detail on government commitments in this regard.
We are also concerned by the decision to reduce Disclosure Scotland expenditure by £3.5m, particularly given the imminent decision regarding PVG fee proposals for volunteers in Qualifying Voluntary Organisations.
While it is not yet clear where Disclosure Scotland expenditure will be cut, the consultation document regarding PVG fee proposals stated that the proposed replacement of a volunteer fee waiver with a fee reduction would provide an estimated saving of £869,988.
In our briefing to MSPs last week, we highlighted that the return on investment of the volunteer PVG fee waiver is likely to be millions of pounds. We urge the government not to make short-term savings which will without doubt have long-term impacts for volunteer-led services supporting Scotland’s most vulnerable people.
Despite these issues, there is a lot in the wider budget that holds promise for volunteer-led activity in Scotland.
Volunteers have a key role in community responses to address child poverty, so the increase in funding here could support new and existing volunteer-led services. Similarly, the commitment to shift the balance of health and care to preventative and community-based support could lead to an increase in investment for volunteer-led community health and care services. Finally, the significant increase in investment for community justice is cause for optimism, particularly given the key role of the third sector and volunteers to this agenda.
There are also some budget decisions which could help to promote volunteer participation among key groups where we have seen limited or declining participation.
We welcome the decision to reintroduce free bus travel for asylum seekers – a Scottish Government evaluation found that many asylum seekers benefit from volunteering but transport costs can be a barrier.
In addition, the increase in funding for lifelong learning and skills is welcome and could support the development of volunteering as an important learning and employability activity for adults. Finally, the considerable investment in education reform could support our calls for volunteering to be better reflected in the school curriculum.
So, at first glance, this budget brings cautious optimism regarding volunteer participation in some key priority areas and with certain demographics.
However, we seek urgent reassurance and clarity from the government that core investment in volunteering – through infrastructure support, Fair Funding and the PVG fee waiver – will be prioritised.
Volunteering in Scotland is in crisis – the time for investment is now.
Sarah Latto is senior policy officer at Volunteer Scotland.
