Youth Volunteering Innovation Project report: SG response

Ministerial Foreword

I am delighted to publish the Scottish Government's response to the Youth VIP report. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the development of this report and its recommendations. In particular I want to recognise the commitment and talent of the Youth VIP project team who came together to explore and respond to our ambitions for volunteering in Scotland. I commend your dedication and willingness to making a positive difference to others and to play a crucial role in shaping the future of volunteering in Scotland.

Volunteering is key to us achieving our shared ambition of creating a fairer and more prosperous country with equality of opportunity for all. Our 'Volunteering for All' Outcomes Framework was published in April and reinforces the importance of the volunteering agenda. The Framework sets out our shared vision for volunteering and defines the key outcomes for volunteering in Scotland over the next ten years.

We want to give everyone the chance to participate and make a difference. While the framework calls on partners from across different sectors to take action to help us realise our vision, we know that the Scottish Government has a key leadership role to play in driving forward change. That is why we have made a commitment in the 2019/20 Programme for Government to launch a prioritised delivery plan for the Framework within the next year.

The Youth VIP Report will help us to shape our next steps and the wider delivery plan. It is clear from your recommendations that as well as knowing about the many benefits of volunteering you also brought great insight into the challenges and barriers that are preventing more people from getting involved which the delivery plan will need to address.

I reiterate my commitment to increasing participation through volunteering for all in Scotland and thank you for the huge contribution you have made to driving this important work forward.

Themes

The Scottish Government recognises the themes that have been brought to light by this project and is committed to working with partners to address them. These include the volunteer experience for young people, personal and professional development, stigma surrounding volunteering, getting into volunteering and accessibility. Improvement across all of these depend upon the approach of the third sector and partners in the public and private sector. In responding in the table below to the recommendations we have aimed to address these themes more specifically.

Aileen Campbell
Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government