WRITTEN STATEMENT
BY
THE WELSH GOVERNMENT
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TITLE
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Coronavirus
(COVID-19) : Support for the Third Sector and Volunteering
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|
DATE
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06
April 2020
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BY
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Jane
Hutt AM, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip
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Our
communities are facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the coronavirus
outbreak. There are many charities,
community groups and other third sector organisations dealing with the impact of
this virus. Volunteers across Wales are playing a vital role in
enabling people to stay at home helping us protect the NHS and social care and
save lives. We know more people want to play their
part and we are
working across sectors with Third Sector Support Wales, Local Authorities and
NHS Wales to make this happen.
In
response to the pressures on the third sector and the increasing numbers of
people who want to volunteer I have announced a Welsh Government Third Sector Covid-19 Response Fund worth £24
million. This will support three distinct areas of activity:
·
Helping charities and third sector
organisations financially through the crisis – by providing
direct financial support for third sector organisations which need help to get
through this crisis – by paying their bills and easing cash-flow (Third Sector
Resilience Fund);
·
Helping more people volunteer and
volunteering services –
By supporting third sector organisations in the community who are co-ordinating
the massive volunteer response we have seen across Wales; helping them to pay
the out of pocket expenses of their volunteers (Voluntary Services Emergency
Fund); and
·
Strengthening the essential Third
Sector infrastructure
– by enabling our funding of Third Sector Support Wales to temporarily increase
its own capacity to support the sector, including the development of the
Volunteering Wales platform (Third Sector Infrastructure Enabling Fund).
I
have also agreed to allow temporarily the purchase or replacement of equipment
to support the COVID-19 response through the Community Facilities Programme. This is a capital grant scheme to
improve the local facilities which play a very important role in supporting
people.
We
know that the third sector is moving quickly to respond to this emergency
situation and that a number of trusts and foundations are coming forward
offering funding to support this enormous effort. Through Third Sector Support Wales we established the Funding
Wales
platform to provide a funding search portal to help charities, community groups
or social enterprises find grants and local finance opportunities from local,
national and international sources.
This
now includes a new coronavirus funding category to bring together
funds that are directly supporting the sector in this time of need. We are in a
fast moving situation and new funding sources and more detail on existing
sources are being released daily. The Funding Wales platform is being
updated regularly so that organisations can see in one place as many funding
opportunities as possible. As of 3 April, there are 10 different funds focused
on COVID-19 listed on Funding Wales, including the Wales
Coronavirus Resilience Fund from the Community Foundation Wales, Charities Aid
Foundation and Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund. We would encourage
trusts and foundations to use Funding Wales to promote their
funds to third sector organisations across Wales.
In Wales, unlike other parts of the UK,
we have a unified platform to recruit volunteers through Volunteering Wales. This
platform provides opportunities for volunteers and a shop window for those seeking
to recruit volunteers. Volunteering Wales allows
people to register as a volunteer and search for volunteering opportunities in
their local area, including COVID-19 specific opportunities. As of
1 April there are over 50 volunteering opportunities listed on Volunteering
Wales specifically dedicated to COVID-19 support. We are working across sectors to develop a co-ordinated
approach to volunteering that is right for Wales and Welsh communities.
There
are over 21,000 people registered on Volunteering Wales, with around 10,000
registrations in March. All of these volunteers have been emailed the specific
COVID-19 opportunities. We
are encouraging those who wish to volunteer to join a local volunteer
organisation and register their interest at Volunteering Wales.
For
updates on any or all of the support outlined in this statement please refer to
the Welsh Government website Covid-19 pages.
Key
references
Webpage
Press Release
Video Message
Press Release
Webpage
Webpage
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