Ms Yvonne McKenna:

We have highlighted that the amount of funding that goes into volunteering infrastructure is not exorbitant. It is public money, however, which needs to be spent in the right way. Even if the amount was kept as it is, therefore, through a national policy we could ensure that it is being spent correctly. We can go through a process of finding out what objectives we are trying to achieve through this. In some ways, the volunteering structure has been a victim of its own success in the sense that when funding first started to be given to it back in 2005, at that point about six volunteer centres were emerging. However, they operated at different levels and did not have a common understanding of what they should be doing. From that time until now - where we have 21 local volunteer centres plus a national organisation - we have developed a way of working which is consistent. We have developed a quality standard framework which assesses volunteer centres and how they operate.

Volunteer centres all have four core principles by which they work, which is to support volunteers and volunteering organisations. However, that is happening in a vacuum with an absence of a national policy and specific objectives. That is why we feel that a policy might assist, so that the achievements of the volunteer infrastructure can be set against those. In that way, we could see where we are going in a few years and if we are achieving what is necessary.

We would like to come here and say that money is required, but it is not just that. Current investment in volunteering should be maintained, while developing a policy or strategy to ensure it is having the maximum impact. That is the point we are trying to make.