Clause 5
Education and Skills Bill
9:00 am
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister, Children, Schools and Families; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
I ask the Minister to confirm that the clause will allow volunteering and that under clause 5(2)(b), which refers to working
“otherwise than for reward”,
will ensure that those engaged in full-time volunteering will be regarded as fully employed for purposes of the Bill. V, the charity that was set up in 2006 following the Russell commission report into volunteering, has raised the issue. V believes that the provision enables volunteering to take place, but will the Minister confirm that for the avoidance of doubt? The charity states:
“It goes without saying that volunteering must be a freely chosen activity and the system must therefore be flexible so that young people can move between options as appropriate (for example, leave a volunteering placement and enter into full-time employment without penalty).”
Will he also confirm that young people who are engaged in volunteering will have to fulfil the training obligations under the Bill at the same time? Is it correct, as was said in a previous debate that, as a volunteer overseas would be a non-resident, he or she would not be covered by the duties in the Bill?