Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 28 February 2018.
Thank you for your response. As I'm sure you know, there are some extraordinarily community-minded organisations based in Carmarthenshire that rely very, very heavily on volunteers—organisations from CAVS, to Homestart Carmarthenshire, ward befrienders at Glangwili hospital, animal rescue sites, home visiting volunteers. And they've really stepped up to the plate, especially at times like this when public funds are tighter. What could you as the Welsh Government do to encourage more people into volunteering, not only to help these extraordinary organisations, and to give them the numbers and the arms and legs that they need to go about doing what they do, but also because volunteering is so good for the person who's doing the volunteering? It helps to combat some of the ills we talk about, like isolation and loneliness, it's good for the soul, and it's really good for the organisations. And I just wonder what help you can give to encourage more people to do voluntary work, particularly younger people—and I don't mean necessarily the teenagers, but the 30, 40, 50-year-old bracket, where there's a huge gap.