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Indicator 23. Volunteering
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
|---|
Percentage volunteering | 26 | 25 | 26 | 24 |
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Source: Scottish Executive
The relevance of the indicator
Sustainable communities are ones in which every person both contributes to, and benefits from, the community in which they live. A high level of volunteering is a useful indicator of sustainable communities.
Detailed definition and source details
The indicator is defined as a proportion of adult respondents who, over the past 12 months, have given up any time to help any clubs, charities, campaigns or organisations in an unpaid capacity. The term 'adult' refers to persons aged 16 or over. The data is taken from annual results of the Scottish Household Survey ( SHS), which is commissioned by the Scottish Executive and has been running since 1999. This survey covers private households and adults in private residence. It is thought that the typical respondent's own definition of "volunteering" is actually more restrictive than that used in policy circles. Accordingly, revised volunteering questions will be used in the Scottish Household Survey from 2005 onwards. These will be designed to ascertain the level of formal participation by asking respondents about a wide range of specific activities. The total from these activities indicate overall levels of volunteering. It is anticipated that this will indicate a higher level of volunteering than 24%.
Trends
The question on volunteering has only been asked since 2000. In 2000, 25 percent of those interviewed were giving up time for volunteering activities. In 2003 the level of volunteering has fallen back to 24%.
Further disaggregation
It is possible to disaggregate the SHS data in a number of ways including by age, gender, economic status and "urban / "rural" category. In 2003, 37% of those living in remote rural areas took part in voluntary activities, compared with 30% of those living in accessible rural areas. Volunteering undertaken by those living in remote small towns was 24% and accessible small towns - 25%. In large urban areas 23% of people volunteered, while other urban areas recorded a 20% level of volunteering. (See the Annex for details of the SHS "urban / "rural" categories used below)
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities in urban and rural areas, 2000 & 2003.
Urban/Rural area | 2000 | 2003 |
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Urban, pop > 125,000 | 22 | 23 |
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Other urban, pop > 10,000 - 125,000 | 24 | 20 |
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Small "accessible" towns, pop > 3,000 - 10,000 | 29 | 25 |
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Small "remote" towns, pop > 3,000 - 10,000 | 35 | 24 |
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"Accessible" rural, pop < 3,000 | 34 | 30 |
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"Remote" rural, pop < 3,000 | 40 | 37 |
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All | 26 | 24 |
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Source: Scottish Executive
Target
No target but commitment to increase the number of people, from across all communities, taking part in voluntary activities.
Action
As set out in the Volunteering Strategy, launched in May 2004, the Scottish Executive is working to embed a robust culture of volunteering in Scotland.
A key strand of the Volunteering Strategy is Project Scotland, a new programme launched in May 2004, to enable young Scots aged 16 -25 years, from all backgrounds, to take part in full-time volunteering. Alongside Project Scotland, the UK-wide Millennium Volunteers programme offers opportunities for part-time volunteering, and has been re-focused to make it accessible to young people from a wider range of backgrounds.
Strand two of the Volunteering Strategy will help dismantle barriers to volunteering such as lack of awareness of volunteering and how to get involved, and misconceptions about the relationship between volunteering and social security benefit. Work includes promoting volunteering more effectively around key life stages, both within and outwith the workplace. Central to work to make volunteering accessible to all will be actions designed to overcome the financial barriers to volunteering. This will be complemented by work with those responsible for managing volunteers to 'improve the volunteering experience', strand three of the Strategy. This aims to ensure that volunteers are welcomed and valued by organisations which engage volunteers, and that they are given guidance, training and support to develop through volunteering, according to their individual needs and aspirations. A final strand of work is to improve monitoring and evaluation of volunteering in Scotland and through this, improve policy making to support quality, inclusive volunteering.
The main elements of this work are being taken forward by Project Scotland, the national network of Volunteer Centres, Volunteer Development Scotland and, within the Scottish Executive, the Voluntary Issues Unit, although all Departments have a role to play in implementation.
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