Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 8 June 2022.
That's a really valid question, because we know that the age profile of our volunteers is increasing, and the pressures on their lives, as well, in terms of the cost-of-living crisis are considerable, so we are very much looking at the impact of food and fuel poverty on pensioners and older people, many of whom are volunteers.
I actually chaired a third sector partnership council recently where we had the cost-of-living crisis on the agenda, and many of our third sector voluntary organisations, locally and nationally, are concerned about the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on their capacity, on their infrastructures and their costs themselves. But they're factoring in that understanding and recognition of this in terms of recruiting and retaining volunteers and ensuring that we can support them through this difficult time. This is also the active elderly who want to play that part, who have that compassion and willingness and desire to help, and there are many examples, as you will have seen from the volunteers in our foodbanks, of people of this kind.