Part of Questions to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 17 November 2020.
I thank David Rees for that question and also agree with him about the way in which the voluntary sector, indeed volunteers particularly, have come forward in response to the pandemic and shown the care and compassion that they displayed, particularly at the height of the pandemic during the lockdown, but since then. And if we look now, we've got 34,229 registered volunteers on our Volunteering Wales platform, with over 20,000 of those registered since 1 March. But the third sector is supporting that great swell of enthusiasm and support from volunteers. So, that's why I announced the Welsh Government's £24 million COVID-19 third sector support fund back in April, and we've made supporting the sector during the pandemic a priority of this Government. And, of course, the sector will play a key role if we are to see a fair and just recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. I do also urge charity and third sector organisations who still need support to explore the funding available that we have from the third sector resilience and the voluntary services recovery funds.
And just to finally conclude on the point in terms of your constituency, Neath Port Talbot council voluntary services has received £215,997 in Welsh Government funding this year, and that includes additional support from the infrastructure enabling fund.