4. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's priorities for the voluntary sector? OQ57588

Thank you, Paul Davies. If we are to create a fair, green and just society, the third sector will have a vital role to play. A strong and vibrant third sector can help those disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Thank you for that response, Minister. As you know, the sustainability of the voluntary sector has taken a huge knock in the last few years and there is a need to support the sector quickly as it faces significant challenges going forward. In the coming months and years, there could be a steep increase in demand for charities' services at a time when many charities haven't improved their sustainability from the pandemic. Minister, I know that the third sector partnership council agreed a recovery plan last year, which addresses some issues, but can you tell us what additional work is being done to ensure that the voluntary sector is sustainable for the future and is able to provide those much-needed services to people in their communities?

Thank you very much for that very helpful question, because we did have a third sector COVID recovery plan. I chair the third sector partnership council; it's co-produced, it sets out our joint priorities and it's got three work streams: support, relationships and volunteering. We've also got the third phase of our third sector resilience fund with over £6.5 million available, and again, I'm sure that you will all be ensuring that your third sector organisations can access that, particularly looking at your councils for voluntary service as a route to that.

I'll just finally say that volunteering is key to this, so we've secured an additional £1 million for our Volunteering Wales grant, and that's got a particular strategic element building on the work and momentum seen during the pandemic. Very interestingly, I met with representatives from Carmarthenshire Citizens Advice today, who say that they're now working with volunteers in west Wales to ensure that they can continue to play their part. Indeed, some of the organisations now are developing remote volunteering, which I'm sure responds to those needs.