Clause 2 - Statements of Inherent Risk
Promotion of Volunteering Bill
10:45 am
Ms Fiona Mactaggart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Race Equality, Community Policy and Civil Renewal), Home Office; Slough, Labour)
In these amendments, I seek to clarify the scope of the activities covered by the statement of inherent risk, and specifically whether the statement should cover all voluntary activities, only activities prescribed by the Secretary of State or only sports and adventure training.
The hon. Member for Canterbury and I spoke on Second Reading and in later discussions about the activities that were most affected. His continuous contention was that the many voluntary organisations that had expressed profound concerns about the Bill were, in general, not in the sports and adventure sector and would therefore not be most affected by it. Since then, some organisations in that sector have felt, as I have done, as I have looked further into the matter, that this apparent solution might not solve the problem.
We need to see what the scope of the Bill should be and to consider whether it should cover all volunteering activities or focus on activities where there is the highest risk of the kind of accidents and events about which the hon. Gentleman is most moved. It is not just I who have moved away from feeling that the approach set out in the Bill might deal with the problem. Other organisations, such as the Central Council of Physical Recreation, feel that their original support for the Bill—[Interruption.]