§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many volunteer bureaux are currently in action; what is the usual manpower requirement and annual average cost of them; and how many new volunteers they have activated in the last six months' period for which figures are available.
§ Mr. JohnI understand from information given to the Volunteer Centre that there are at least 64 full-time and 98142W part-time volunteer bureaux and that the number is growing rapidly. The bureaux are local organisations which vary greatly in size and expenditure according to the amount of local funding available. The majority are run by part-time helpers supported by volunteers. Although the Volunteer Centre provides some central services for volunteer bureaux, they are not funded by central Government and no central record is kept of the numbers of volunteers placed. Statistics of this kind would be of doubtful value without detailed information about what prompted people to approach the bureaux and how long they continued their voluntary activities after placement.