Written question WQ97910

Please see response to WQ97906 for details of Welsh Government funding to support volunteering in Wales.

The Welsh Government supports Grass Roots community groups and their development efforts through our funding of Third Sector Support Wales, which provides important and valuable services to the voluntary organisations and local groups of all sizes and degrees of formality working with communities and people across. Welsh Government is aware these crucial organisations are facing an increased demand for services, pressures on income, rising costs and challenges with the recruitment and retention of staff and volunteers.

This is why Welsh Government ensures voluntary organisations and community groups are able to develop and maintain their volunteering programmes through the Volunteering Wales Main, Strategic, and Youth Led Grants administered by WCVA. They are further supported at a local and National by the Third Sector Support Wales infrastructure (made up of WCVA and the 19 CVCs) funded by Welsh Government to provide them with help and advice through their local Volunteer managers and Centres and the Volunteering Wales portal, Knowledge Hub and Networks. Welsh Government also provides core Funding to Tempo to provide a pan Wales Time Credits programme allowing community groups and Voluntary organisations to recognise and reward their volunteers, something that is of increasing importance as they struggle with volunteer recruitment and retention.

Over the past 18 months Welsh Government has been co-designing a new approach to volunteering in Wales with the voluntary, public and private sectors. This new approach, launched at Gofod 3 in July this year, aims to create safe, supported and sustainable volunteering Wales between now and 2050. Welsh Government and WCVA are committed to delivering the first steps of this New Approach, it will be for future Administrations to decide how this work is resourced and progressed.

We are also working closely with our partners in the third sector to improve the environment in which they operate through the co-development of an updated Code of Practice for Funding, this will make it easier for them to play their crucial role, especially in areas of prevention which are so key to tackling the issues of our most deprived communities.

We know that communities with a good community asset base are more resilient than those without. Communities with existing anchor Institutions with strong connections within their community and into public sector bodies are more able to take advantage of funding streams and influence decision makers. They enable the integration of services and the involvement of other partners so that services can be collaboratively designed. Community facilities provide a focus for community action, improve community cohesion and provide local access to services. Our Community Facilities Programme (with a budget of £10 million) is providing support to these crucial community assets crucial to grass roots community development efforts.