'Fit and proper person' certificate mooted in new Volunteering Bill 2

Fundraising | Vibeka Mair | 28 Oct 2010

Conservative MP Christopher Chope proposed the introduction of a 'fit and proper person' certificate as part of a new Volunteering Bill he tabled before parliament last week.

Chope (pictured), who was supported by MPs Peter Bone, Philip Davies, Philip Hollobone, David Nuttall and Priti Patel presented the Bill to make provision to promote volunteering; to enable potential volunteers to obtain a fit and proper person certificate for their activities; and for other connected purposes.

The Bill had a brief reading last week and is due to be read for a second time on Friday 10 June 2011.

Mike Locke, director of public affairs at Volunteering England, said: “We are always pleased to see volunteering raised on the parliamentary agenda, and we will look forward to learning more about Christopher Chope’s proposal that volunteers should obtain a ‘fit and proper person certificate’.”

Place a comment

John Marshall
CEO
Centrepoint Outreach
29 Oct 2010

"A Bill to make provision to promote volunteering; to enable potential volunteers to obtain a fit and proper person certificate for their activities; and for connected purposes".

This seems a really daft idea to me. We don't need legislation to promote volunteers! We employ 35 - including those who perform the following tasks:

Trustees / those who welcome visitors to our drop In centre & make cups of tea / sort donated goods / van drivers mate / shop assistant / food stores sorter etc.

They each have different skills and abilities and are all valued and thanked for their efforts. They don't need a 'fit & proper person certificate'.

This really is a very silly idea - to regulate by legislation and a waste of parliamentary time. What prior consultation has there been with the voluntary sector?

[Reply]

Peter Munro
Treasurer
Borders Family History Society
28 Oct 2010

It would have been more useful to have had a summary of the main test of the bill.

I fear that if we start enabling potential volunteers to obtain a fit and proper person certificate, then how long will it be before charities and central and local government start demanding them ? Do we really need another process to run alongside disclosure ?

Rather than promoting volunteering, won't this deter volunteers even more ?

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.