Unpaid And Overworked

What Future Lies Ahead For Local Agencies In The Voluntary Sector Asks Stevenson MSP?

Speaking today in Parliament Banff and Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson spoke of his concern about the lack of funding provided to local agencies in the voluntary sector. Although the Scottish Executive has increased its funding to £39 million this year, the local agencies are not seeing the benefit. Commenting on North East examples: Grampian Addiction Problems Service and Buchan Alcohol Service Information Service Stevenson said:

“Local unpaid voluntary organisations aren’t given a lot of recognition for their work and suffer greatly from limited funding. Due to the lack of funds such organisations don’t have the ability to develop the much-needed services that the communities require.

“Local agencies also suffer from participating in unsuccessful bids when the money could be used to deliver a more productive service. It is obvious that to see that the service will, in turn, decline as a result.

“Workers in the unpaid voluntary sector are suffering from low morale, which is at an all time low. This is completely understandable as who wants to give their time and effort to a cause in which you are not only unrecognised but also undervalued and misused.

“The Scottish Executive should eradicate the local communities’ problems by directly funding the local agencies who really want to see the problems disappear”.