Charity And Voluntary Work By The Unemployed

EDM number 1597 in 1992-93, proposed by Peter Mandelson on 15/03/1993.

That this House believes that voluntary and charity activity by the unemployed can improve confidence, employment opportunities and skills and contribute to the development of the local community; notes the Prime Minister's statement on 2nd March that he was willing to consider practical suggestions for improving opportunities for the unemployed to undertake voluntary work; and therefore proposes that the availability for work regulations be changed to allow a volunteer seven days in which to give up a voluntary position, that the regulations on out of pocket expenses be altered to facilitate volunteering, that fourteen day attendance at volunteer camps should be allowed throughout the EC as well as in the United Kingdom as at present, that volunteering through local volunteer bureaux is recognised by claims advisers and that wherever possible discretion is used by local staff to encourage volunteering rather than limit it.

This motion has been signed by a total of 98 MPs.