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Indicators of Sustainable Development for Scotland
Indicator 23. Volunteering
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities (Social Justice Milestone 28)
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities
| 2000 | 2001 |
Percentage volunteering | 26 | 25 |
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.
Trends
The question as worded in 2001 has only been asked since 2000. In 2000, 26 percent of those interviewed were giving up time for volunteering activities while in 2001 25 percent were doing so.
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. Forty per cent of those living in remote rural areas took part in voluntary activities in 2000 compared with 34% of those living in accessible rural areas. There was a similar 6 percentage point difference between those living in small remote towns and those living in small accessible towns. Those living in large urban areas were least likely to take part in voluntary activities. (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.
Percentage of people taking part in voluntary activities in urban and rural areas.
Urban/Rural area | 2000 |
Urban, pop > 125,000 | 22 |
Other urban, pop > 10,000 - 125,000 | 24 |
Small "accessible" towns, pop > 3,000 - 10,000 within a 30 minute drive time from a settlement of 10,000 or more | 29 |
Small "remote" towns, pop > 3,000 - 10,000 and more than a 30 minute drive time of a settlement of 10,000 or more | 35 |
"Accessible" rural, pop < 3,000 within a 30 minute drive time of a settlement of 10,000 or more | 34 |
"Remote" rural, pop < 3,000 and more than a 30 minute drive time of a settlement of 10,000 or more | 40 |
All (including a few "urban / rural" NK) | 26 |
Source: Scottish Executive
Target
No target but commitment to increase the number of people, from across all communities, taking part in voluntary activities.
Action
We are taking forward the promotion of volunteering on a number of fronts.
In 2001-02 we introduced the Active Communities Initiative. This is a 5-10 year strategy for supporting volunteering in Scotland. Broadening the range of volunteers and increasing the number of volunteers are two of the main objectives of the initiative. Over 2.2 million has been earmarked for the initiative in 2002-03.
We are also funding the now complete network of Volunteer Centres across Scotland. Volunteer Centres promote and support volunteering at the local level and have a mission to involve more people, more effectively in volunteering. Funding of 2 million has been made available for the network in 2002-03.
A review is also underway of the Millennium Volunteer programme, which promotes volunteering by young people aged between 16 and 25. The review will examine areas such as the age range of programme participants, the badging of the programme, the hours volunteered by participants and recognition of their efforts. Funding for the programme in 2002-03 is 695,000, but this might increase as a result of the review process.
In addition, we are funding Volunteer Development Scotland, the national centre of excellence on volunteering in Scotland, and working with them on a range of initiatives designed to promote best practice in volunteering opportunities.
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