David Cameron says everyone should volunteer for charity
David Cameron has urged everyone to volunteer their time for charity and spoken about his own work coaching disadvantaged youngsters.
Companies including Domino's Pizza have been working with Pennies since November Photo: REUTERS
By James Kirkup 5:00PM BST 23 May 2011
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Volunteering is part of the Big Society, the Prime Minister said, making a new attempt to explain his personal vision of how Britain should be.
The idea is hard to explain and is still misunderstood by many people, Mr Cameron admitted, insisting that will not stop him trying to promote the Big Society.
The Big Society is about both charitable activities and taking a more active role in reformed public services, he said.
“It's not simply one thing. It's not simply encouraging more volunteering, or simply encouraging more philanthropic giving, it’s also about trying to give people the ability to do more if they want to,” he told ITV’s Daybreak.
“Some people say ‘Well I don’t quite understand it’ – because, as I say, it’s not just one thing it’s several things that come together and actually recognise that we can all do more to build a bigger, stronger society.”
The Government yesterday published a White Paper on charitable giving, setting out ways to make charitable donations and volunteering a “social norm”.
Its measures include financial support for websites encouraging people to give up some of their time for good causes.
The Prime Minister said that he had recently spent time volunteering.
Mr Cameron last month hosted a Downing Street event for Street League, a charity that helps poor and troubled youngsters into work or education.
He said: “They do a lot of football training, which I’m not very good at, but they also do interview training and so I helped a bit with that and interviewed, gave some interview practice to a couple of young people who are going for a job. It was fascinating."
Labour accused Mr Cameron of “the latest in a long line of desperate attempts to rescue his big idea.”
Tessa Jowell, the shadow Cabinet Office minister said public spending cuts will undermine volunteering.
She said: “It will take more than a fourth re-launch to persuade people that a Big Society is being nurtured - when the people responsible for delivering it are losing their jobs and cutting back on the services that they offer.”
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