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Third Sector Review

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak. I shall add something slightly different from some of the things that we have heard this afternoon. I am a Labour and Co-operative MP, so I am delighted that so many of my colleagues have had the chance to highlight the benefits of mutualism and the co-operatives. I was particularly pleased that my earlier intervention in respect of the training that is required so that other people start to understand social enterprise, mutuals and co-operatives at regional development agency level has been met with a commitment at a meeting with RDAs yesterday. I am proud of that. Before I entered this place, I worked as a project officer for Leicester city council and Leicestershire county council working with the voluntary sector. I suppose that I was slightly on the wrong side, in that I was the person who said whether or not it could have its money, but really it was the other way round, because I found myself as the advocate for the voluntary sector in the local authority. I saw, day by day, the enormous power that the voluntary sector could have in economic development. This is not the traditional role but, in economic development and employment initiatives, the voluntary sector was able to reach target groups that large bureaucratic organisations such as local authorities and some private companies could not, particularly when it had European social fund money. The voluntary sector could relate to individuals. The strength of the voluntary sector is that many organisations probably began because parents could not find provision locally and they got together as a self-help group and things grew from there. This is the source of the innovative approach: people coming together when existing structures do not meet the demands of and changes in society. That is my experience. Like many hon. Members, I sit on a number of trusts and charities in my constituency. My involvement has meant that people have asked to get involved, and I am delighted to give my time just to allow that to happen. Such bodies range from small organisations such as STEPS, where I am a trustee, to the Rainbows hospice in Loughborough, which is an organisation that has to raise nearly £2 million a year. I dread the thought of waking up every 1 April as the fundraiser, knowing that it must raise £2 million a year just to keep going. However, it does so because of the good will of the people of Leicestershire and the rest of the east midlands. I am proud to support that too. As many hon. Members know, my specific area of interest is sport. As far as I am aware, the fact that 26 per cent. of volunteers are people who volunteer in sport has not been mentioned. My background in volunteering and sport means that I recognise that there are differences between the areas. The voluntary sector does not necessarily see sport as part of the traditional voluntary sector and we sportspeople do not necessarily see ourselves as part of it. I now chair my county sports partnership. We have brought on board someone from the voluntary sector—from Voluntary Action Leicester—to ensure that its voice is heard around the sports table, and vice versa. Some research was done recently looking at the volunteer centres around the county and the provision of services. It was highlighted to me that between 16 and 20 per cent. of people who turn up at a Voluntary Action centre looking for an opportunity to volunteer want to do so in sport. However, my own tests show that it is unlikely that those centres have a connection with the local sports clubs that are desperate for volunteers. We need to work to ensure that the voluntary sector in its widest sense understands the needs of volunteers in the sports sector. It is a two-way process. Part of the problem is that volunteers in sport do not necessarily regard themselves as volunteers; they just see themselves as helpers. I do not regard myself as a volunteer, but then I had a quick think about last weekend. On Friday night I helped to take my son's under-8 football team to watch England under-21s at Leicester City's ground. The fact that a Mexican wave started after 21 minutes sums up the quality of the football we saw, but at least they won. On Saturday, I played my normal game of rugby for the side I have belonged to for 25 years. We now have a second team, so I have been relegated to captain of the second team. There I was, putting out the posts and the pads before the game kicked off. Then on Sunday morning, at church, it was my turn, as it is once a month, to do the cornerstones group—as it is now called, although it is still old-fashioned Sunday school to me. I do not regard myself as a volunteer, but without realising it, over one weekend, I had been helping on three occasions. Over the last few months I have been working with the Scout Association, and my plea is on behalf of those people who regard themselves as helpers rather than volunteers. The voluntary sector has, rightly, professionalised itself. We need child protection and all the other apparatus that surrounds the volunteer, but we are almost too keen to professionalise the volunteer. When I helped with the Beavers last year, I found that to become more than a helper I had to attend Wednesday evening training courses and a half-day on a Saturday, and that became too much. I just wanted to help regularly, not to become a trained volunteer. In the discussions that I have had with sports coach UK and the Scout Association, it is obvious that they have started to recognise that people are now only able to give a lower level of commitment. Some 65 per cent. of us now have an atypical working week, so the capacity to volunteer every Friday night, or every Saturday or Sunday morning, is not there for most people. Their work-life balance does not work that way. We need greater flexibility in how people are allowed to volunteer, so that they can become simply helpers. The Olympics will provide fantastic opportunities for sports volunteering. My sense is that we had a good start. As people know, we need about 70,000 volunteers for 2012, and in the first three months more than 120,000 people registered on the site, so we have more than enough people willing to volunteer. I volunteered myself, and I have received an e-mail and one other communication since. It is a golden opportunity to involve those people who want to get involved, and we need to grasp the initial enthusiasm. I know that there have been discussions and some plans have been made, but we need to move forward and use the time that we have. We do not want to over-train people, but we need to take this fantastic opportunity. People should also be encouraged to volunteer locally. Sport relies totally on its volunteers. I have mentioned the danger of over-professionalising in another context, and sport is now going through the same process. The Government's idea of introducing 3,000 community coaches is welcome, but it will professionalise things. We have to get the balance right and ensure that when the professional coaches come in, they do not squeeze out the keen amateurs who keep the clubs going in all our constituencies. I am grateful for this brief opportunity to highlight the sports volunteering agenda. The Minister has attended the meetings I chair for an organisation that is a strategic partnership of all the people involved in sports volunteering. We are a positive group of people who want to make things happen because that is the approach we take in sport. People just want to help—to get their teams and their individual athletes out. That is their sole motivation. I hope that when we talk about the third sector, whether we are talking about mutuals or large charities, we remember that 26 per cent. of volunteers in this country regularly support local sports teams and sports clubs through their efforts. Whenever we think about that, I hope that we ensure that sport is not missing from the agenda.