3. What support is the Welsh Government providing to the voluntary sector in North Wales? OQ58829

Diolch yn fawr, Sam. I have agreed funding for Third Sector Support Wales of £6.98 million per year for three years. Just over £1 million of this funding goes to the six county voluntary councils across north Wales to help local voluntary organisations with fundraising, good governance, safeguarding and volunteering.

Thank you, Minister, for your response and for the support that has already been given to the voluntary sector in my region in north Wales.

Last month, I had the pleasure of visiting Freshfields animal rescue centre in Nebo near Caernarfon. I must say, I met a wonderful kitten there called Benji, who I was very tempted to take home with me. They carry out fantastic work in supporting abandoned and neglected animals across north Wales, a great example of the voluntary sector doing their bit in our communities. Three things struck me from the visit whilst I was there. The first is the increasing demand for animal rescue centres and the support for those abandoned animals. The second was that a number of animal rescue centres fell between the cracks when it came to COVID funding over recent years, and they weren't able to access the funding that perhaps other organisations were able to access. A third area is some of the challenges at the moment in terms of recruiting and retaining volunteers.

On that point, Minister, I wonder if there's an opportunity for the Welsh Government to work more closely with the voluntary sector to ensure that recruitment and retention of volunteers is able to happen in a better way. Perhaps that can be done by highlighting some of the great work that volunteers do in our communities, making such a difference to the places where we live.

Thank you very much for that question, a very important question, highlighting again the adverse impact of the cost-of-living crisis. It's very good for us to hear about the work of Freshfields, the animal rescue centre. We can replicate those charities working like that across Wales and concerns now that there's a great deal of demand for these rescue centres. I think your point about recruiting and retaining volunteers is crucial. Of course, this is something that we discuss when I meet with the third sector partnership council, which I chair. At the last meeting in November, we had an item on the cost-of-living summit. We heard directly from the sector. We have done what we can to support them. There is concern in terms of the third sector, and this would affect even these rescue centres, about the fact that they are going to face high energy costs as well. I hope that you will support us in terms of representations to the UK Government that there needs to be support beyond April in terms of the costs faced by the voluntary sector. But we are looking towards supporting the county voluntary councils that co-ordinate and recruit volunteers and support them, because like they were in the pandemic, volunteers are going to be crucial and playing a great part not only in terms of foodbanks, but in the warm spaces that are now opening across Wales to respond to the cost-of-living crisis.