HC Deb 07 February 2001 vol 362 cc573-4W
Mr. Pound

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how he plans to promote volunteering and remove barriers to volunteering from the benefits system. [149508]

Ms Jowell

The Policy Action Team on Community Self-help recommended a relaxation in the current rule in Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), which requires volunteers to be available to take up employment at 48-hours' notice. It also recommended that small advance payments made by voluntary organisations to cover volunteers' costs such as travel expenses be disregarded. I am pleased to announce that, subject to Parliament's approval of the amending regulations, we intend to implement these recommendations.

Firstly, we will extend the 48 hour rule in JSA to one week. This will enable volunteers to give a greater commitment to volunteering by allowing them to give a week's notice before having to start a job. We will, however, retain the requirement that volunteers must be available at 48 hours' notice to attend an interview in connection with employment to ensure that they do not Miss out on job opportunities. The change is intended to encourage more unemployed people to consider volunteering as a way of developing skills to improve employability. It should also enable voluntary organisations to plan the activities of unemployed volunteers with more certainty. The relaxation will initially be for a year so that we can evaluate its impact on both unemployed people and voluntary organisations. We shall work in partnership with the voluntary sector to agree the best approach to this evaluation.

Secondly, I am also pleased that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security has agreed to disregard small advance payments by voluntary organisations made to cover volunteers' costs such as travel expenses. Payments made in arrears to reimburse such expenses are disregarded already. This change will mean that all volunteers receiving income-related benefits, not only those who are unemployed, need not be out of pocket as a result of their volunteering. It will strengthen not only our joint aim of developing employability through volunteering but the Government's aim of encouraging volunteering more widely.