1. What was the Russell Commission?
The Russell Commission was established in May 2004 by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, to develop a new national framework for youth action and engagement. The Commission was headed by Ian Russell, then Chief Executive of Scottish Power, and aimed to deliver a step change in the diversity, quality and quantity of volunteering opportunities available to young people aged 16 to 25 in the UK.
Following extensive research into the volunteering landscape the Commission launched a nationwide consultation in October 2004. The Commission engaged a wide range of stakeholders including young people, the voluntary sector, business and the media, receiving over 700 responses from voluntary and community sector organisations, and a further 6,000 responses from young people. Ian Russell presented his final recommendations to the Chancellor and Home Secretary in March 2005.

2. What did the Commission recommend?
The Commission’s headline recommendation was the creation of a dedicated implementation body, which would take the lead in delivering the new framework. The implementation body would bring together young people, business, the voluntary and community sector and government in a shared purpose, to make volunteering a valued part of young people’s lives. Within the first five years of the national framework, subject to piloting and evaluation to determine the appropriate mix, there should be a significant expansion in the number of short-term, part-time and full-time volunteering opportunities.
The Commission also recommended that young people were to continue to be central to the development of the new youth volunteering framework.

3. How are the Commission’s recommendations being implemented?
The Home Office Active Communities Directorate created a small implementation team to take forward the Commission’s recommendations. This team worked closely with other government departments, the private sector and voluntary sector on a number of activities including:

• Creating a new charity, v, to implement the Russell Commission’s recommendations;
• launching a private sector-led campaign to attract match funding; and
• working with other government departments to implement key recommendations

The implementation team now sits in the Office of The Third Sector in the Cabinet Office and has responsibility for the recommendations relating to other government departments.

4. What is the role of the new charity, v?
v launched on May 8th 2006, and is tasked with taking forward the recommendations in the Russell commission report, in this it will:

• bring together young people, business, the voluntary sector and government in a shared purpose, to make volunteering a valued part of young people’s lives; and
• be responsible for co-ordinating the delivery of the recommendations, entering into contractual relationships with key providers, either on an individual basis or through partnerships.

5. What status does the charity have?
In line with the recommendation that the body be set up by government working with other partners including the private sector and to operate at arm’s length of government, it was decided that v should be an independent, incorporated body, limited by guarantee, and registered with the Charity Commission.

6. How are the Russell Commission’s recommendations different to previous volunteering campaigns? E.g The Experience Corps?
The Commission was keen to learn from the challenges and successes of other volunteering programmes. Significantly the Commission identified the importance of building on existing good practice in the voluntary and community sector and harnessing the considerable knowledge and expertise of volunteer involving organisations in the delivery of the new framework. This support for what works in volunteering will underpin much of the work of v as it will be delivering many of the recommendations working in partnership with the sector.

Funding

7. How much money has been allocated by the government to develop the new framework for youth action and engagement?
The Government has allocated £50 million over three years to support the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. v also has a target of raising £50 million from the private sector. All funding raised from the private sector will be matched on a pound for pound basis by the Exchequer, unlocking potentially an additional £50 million. These figures apply to England only; a further £19.5 million has been made available to the devolved administrations through the Barnett formula.

8. How much matched funding is available?
The total amount of match funding offered by the Treasury is £50 million. The Budget Report (22nd March 2006) announced that over £10 million has been raised from seven Founding Partner companies and 19 new organisations. This leaves £40 million still available to be matched by 07-08.
Now v’s Board is in place, it will oversee its fundraising strategy, building on the momentum established with the group of Founding Partners. Clearly raising an additional £40 million is a significant challenge, so v will have to commit a substantial amount of time and resource to fundraising. Central to this will be working with the Voluntary and Community Sector to help them maximise the level of support they receive from the private sector. We have been very encouraged by the support of our Founding Partners and the organisations that have now joined them and we believe there are many other like-minded companies out there, who understand the benefits of volunteering and are keen to harness the talents and energy of young people to make a real difference to communities across England.

9. How was the £10 million raised?
Ian Russell led the strategy to get the support of a group of high profile Founding Partners during the first stage of the Russell Commission implementation body’s work who pledged £3.5 million.
Working together with a fundraiser, Ian Russell then approached some of his peers in the business community to seek their support for this work and raised over £10 million.

10. Who are the Founding Partners and the other 19 organisations?
The seven Founding Partners are - T-Mobile, ITV, KPMG, MTV, Tesco, Sky and The Hunter Foundation. (Russell Commission Press notice RC 002/2005).
The 19 who join them are GCap Media plc, Edge, The FA Premier League, BT, Emap plc, The Vodafone UK Foundation, HSBC Bank plc, BAA Communities Trust, Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), RWE npower, Channel 4, Diageo, HBOS Foundation, Sainsbury’s, Barclays Bank, Flextech Television, JPMorgan, Jack Petchey Foundation, Norwich Union General Insurance. (Russell Commission Press notice)

Role of the Private Sector

11. What role will private sector firms play in v?
Private sector partners are very keen to get involved with v, and are excited by its vision of engaging many more young people in their communities. In recognition of their early commitment to v, the seven Founding Partners have formed an Advisory Group to v’s Board. This will provide v with a wide range of experience and expertise, as well as the cash and in-kind donations the companies are providing.

12. What do the companies get out of supporting the new charity’s work
As Founding Partners these companies will get a number of benefits to recognise their early commitment to this work. For example, together they will form an Advisory Group to v’s Board and they will also receive publicity and branding linked to v.

13. How can voluntary and community sector organisations get some matched funding?
v will work with voluntary and community sector partners to involve them in drawing down match funding. One of the main contributions to raising the £50 million target will be through new partnerships between voluntary sector organisations and their private sector partners, who are keen to support the Russell Commission recommendations.

14. Will raising private sector funding be a requirement for funding from v?
No. The implementation of the Russell Commission recommendations will be enhanced by private sector funding, but it is not the case that all organisations applying for funding from the implementation body will have to secure match funding.

15. How will the private sector be involved in the implementation of the recommendations?
Private sector support is crucial to the success of the new framework. v will be responsible for identifying and securing private sector support, both financial and in-kind, to enable them to inspire 1 million more young volunteers. Private sector partners will also play a key role in the governance and decision making of v.

Other volunteering programmes:

16. What’s happening to Millennium Volunteers?
The Millennium Volunteers (MV) programme is widely acknowledged as a success in encouraging youth volunteering. The Commission recognised the important role that MV will continue to play in leading the development of part-time volunteering opportunities, and recommended its reform, re-branding and expansion. From April 07 the MV programme will be administered by v, discussions have already begun to ensure a smooth transition.

17. Did the Commission recommend an AmeriCorps style programme?
The Russell Commission was impressed with the success of the AmeriCorps model in involving young people in sustained periods of volunteering and identified significant support for an expansion in the numbers of full-time volunteering opportunities from young people, voluntary and public sector organisations. It therefore recommended creating up to 12,000 new full-time placements for young volunteers, with young people being offered a weekly living allowance of around £60, and free accommodation, in order to remove the financial barriers associated with young people volunteering full time, especially those on benefits. The precise mix of full-time, part-time and taster opportunities will be decided by v.

18. Surely if you pay someone they are no longer a volunteer? Does providing volunteers with financial incentives go against the spirit of volunteering?
The Russell Commission’s research and consultation identified the importance of removing financial barriers which may otherwise prevent young people from participating in volunteering opportunities, particularly within the context of full-time volunteering placements. Nearly three quarters of young people rated a living allowance as the single most important factor in encouraging them to take a ‘gap year’ to volunteer. Moreover it is already common practice to offer full-time volunteers an allowance, with CSV, Rank Foundation and Careforce all providing similar payments. It was on this basis that the Commission proposed a weekly living allowance for full-time volunteers of around £60.
Nevertheless there are obvious sensitivities surrounding the 'payment' of volunteers and the implementation team is taking legal advice to ensure that both volunteers and volunteer involving organisations are adequately protected. Likewise the team are taking advice on employment law issues, but it is not envisaged that full time volunteers would be able to claim employment rights.

19. Will full-time volunteers be liable to tax?
Under current legislation an allowance paid for full-time volunteering could be subject to income tax, however, in most cases the living allowance will be more than covered by a young person’s Personal Allowance. This means that there would be no tax to pay, as long as the person had no other income to take them above the tax threshold. The allowance would be below the threshold for National Insurance deductions.

20. What steps are being made to ensure that full time volunteers are not subject to Minimum Wage Legislation?
The team are working with colleagues in DTI and DWP to ensure the volunteering programmes run within the spirit of Minimum Wage legislation.

Role of the Voluntary Sector:

21. How will the voluntary and community sector be involved in the implementation of the recommendations?
The implementation team started the process of engaging key stakeholders as it developed the delivery strategy.
In 2005 two early spend programmes were run to prepare the way for the new charity, and to inform future funding rounds:

• Small grants programme worth £600,000 funded organisations to develop volunteer involving strategies and best practice examples
• Capacity building programme worth £300,000 funding organisations to train and support others in preparing to deliver the recommendations.

The small grants programme has now been evaluated and lessons learnt from it will feed into v’ future work, with the best practice examples being disseminated through the website: www.weare.com. The full evaluation can been found on the small grants page of this website.  
v will be expected to continue working with the voluntary sector in order to deliver on the recommendations.

22. Will the majority of funding go to the larger organisations within the sector?
No. The v will work in partnership with a diverse range of organisations, and as it will focus on commissioning work it will need to work with many organisations at grass roots level if it is to achieve its aims. It is recognised that grass roots organisations have strong track record in engaging those who are harder to reach and if v is to ensure that all young people, regardless of background, have an equal opportunity to volunteer then those grass roots organisation will have a essential part to play in the new charity.

Role of Young People:

23. How will young people continue to be involved in the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations?
The involvement of young people was vital in the development of the Commission’s recommendations. A Youth Advisory Board (the ‘YABsters’), made up of 20 young people aged between 16 and 25, worked closely with Ian Russell to ensure that young people’s views stayed at the top of the agenda and really drove the final report and recommendations.
A new Youth Advisory Board, again made up of 20 young people aged 16-25, has been appointed to advise v with 4 of the group sitting on the Board of Trustees. This group, known as v20, were able to apply for a place in one of 4 teams each focusing on a discrete area of work and will advise v on communications, networking, youth engagement and facilitation.  
Work undertaken by the implementation team on the public sector recommendations will also be shaped by the views of young people and work is planned to see what the best way of involving young people in this will be.

24. 47% of young people already volunteer, why are you focusing on them?
A sizable proportion of young people already volunteer. The Russell Commission Review was about reaching out to new groups that are not part of the 47%. This means that v will be specifically focusing on encouraging volunteering in groups that volunteer less than others do.

Role of Other Government Departments:

25. What is being done to open up public sector volunteering opportunities?
As a result of public sector volunteering being highlighted in the Russell Commission’s recommendations a cross departmental ministerial group has been established. This will be chaired by Gordon Brown with secretariat support being given by HMT and the Cabinet Office. It is envisaged that the group will ensure continued support and practical help in opening up volunteering opportunities in the public sector.

Role of Devolved Nations:

26. How will the work of the Russell Commission be appled to the devolved nations?
The Russell Commission was asked to develop a framework that could be applicable across the UK, whilst taking account of the fact that volunteering is a devolved issue. The intention is that all aspects of the framework could be applied throughout the UK, but the final decisions regarding implementation will rest with each administration. Each administration was encouraged to consider the report in the context of its own strategies for volunteering and young people and the government’s financial settlement includes £19.5 million to enable the devolved nations to implement the recommendations

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Role of Ian Russell:

27. Will Ian Russell continue to be involved in the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations?
The government is indebted to Ian Russell for his excellent work in developing a new national framework for youth action and engagement. Ian continued to be involved as interim Chair after the publication of the final report overseeing the work of the implementation team. Ian remained until Rod Aldridge took up his post as Chair in Spring 2006.

The Impact and Achievements of the Russell Commission:

28. How will the success of v be evaluated?
v will be responsible for measuring the impact of the framework, and will contract for a research and evaluation programme. The work of v will also be evaluated using other independent measures, including the Citizenship Survey.

29. What has been achieved so far?
The Russell Commission reported in March 2005, in June of that year the Implementation Team was established and since then it has concentrated on;

• Developing fundraising strategies in order to meet the private sector financing targets set by HMT
• Establishing and launching v and the organisational structure it will work to including recruiting the Chief Executive, Chair, Board and v20 group.
• Building capacity among delivery organisations
• Holding regional events to update volunteering practitioners on progress to date, as well as supporting organisations to prepare for the step-change outlined in the report.
• Developing funding rounds for the Youth Volunteer Development Managers Youth Volunteer Advisors as well as full-time, part-time and short term volunteering opportunities
• Working with other government departments to ensure key recommendations linked to the public sector and government action are acted upon.

Recruitment:

30. What was the recruitment process for the Chair of the new charity?
Advertisements for the role of chair were placed in a number of national newspapers, including the Guardian and The Sunday Times. They were also placed in ethnic minority newspapers such as The Voice. Alongside this an executive search was undertaken to identify potentials applicants. 23 applications were received for the role of Chair from across the country. Rod Aldridge was selected by an interview panel independent from Government and a panel of young people.

31. Who is the Chief Executive?
Terry Ryall, former Divisional Director of the Prince’s Trust, was appointed as the New Chief Executive of v. She took up her position in April.

32. What was the recruitment process for the new Youth Advisory Board, v20?
Ian Russell’s original Youth Advisory Board designed and managed an open recruitment campaign, with the support of youth engagement charity, Kikass. Young people designed and placed advertisements in a range of national and youth press including The Guardian, NME, Eastern Eye and ‘Don’t Panic.’ The campaign was supported by a dedicated microsite – www.russellmission.com and received over 160 applications from young people interested in joining the Youth Advisory Board. Interviews were held in Leeds and London, with young people involved in running interview panels and selecting the final 20 successful applicants.

33. Who makes up the Board of Trustees?
Young people will be represented with four Trustees from the organisation's youth advisory panel, v20. Philip Udeh, Sarah Ford, Jay Okwera and Sarah Reynolds were elected by their peers to join v’s Trustee Board, ensuring that young people are at the heart of the new charity's decision-making processes. Joining them will be Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, Fiona Dawe, Trevor Pears, Larissa Joy ,Dr Justin Davis-Smith, Manny Amadi and Oona King. This diverse group embodies the collaborative approach that is inherent in all the Russell Commission's work and offers an exciting blend of skills and experience.

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