That the Parliament welcomes the release of the 2024 Scottish Household Survey results; celebrates the increase of the overall formal volunteering participation rate to 25% of adults in Scotland who responded, up from a record low of 18% in 2023; considers that the crisis in volunteering participation has represented a critical challenge for the more than 46,500 voluntary organisations in Scotland, which are sustained by the efforts of volunteers; further considers that the publication of this new data highlights major ongoing challenges, most notably the participation gap between disabled and non-disabled people, which has risen to 10%, and the participation gap between people living in the least and most deprived areas of Scotland, which has risen to 15%; hopes that these findings can represent the start of a sustained long-term recovery for the voluntary sector, and believes that more must be done to ensure full representation of people from all backgrounds among Scotland’s volunteers.
Supported by:
Karen Adam, Clare Adamson, Foysol Choudhury, Annabelle Ewing, Bill Kidd, Fulton MacGregor, John Mason, Stuart McMillan, Paul Sweeney