David Burrowes MP

Conservative Party | Enfield Southgate

David Burrowes MP supports National Volunteers Week 2008

As part of National Volunteers Week, local Member of Parliament, David Burrowes is lending his time to some local volunteering events.
Volunteers' Week (1-7 June) is the UK's annual celebration of the work volunteers do. During the Week events are held across the country to recognise, reward and recruit volunteers. David has always highlighted the importance of volunteering at both a local and national level and has strong links with several charitable organisations in the constituency who rely on the work carried out by volunteers.
Speaking this week David Burrowes MP said:

“I applaud the many local volunteers who give so much of their time and energy to a wide range of local activities. By volunteering they are playing a significant role in the strengthening of their local community. I am pleased to have been able to support Volunteers Week by volunteering for both the Nightingale Community Hospice Trust and NCH at the Rotary Fayre.”

This week, David Burrowes has also welcomed important new proposals from Conservative leader, David Cameron, to help boost the work of charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups across Enfield Southgate. A series of practical policies seek to strengthen the voluntary sector, cut unnecessary red tape and get more people involved in local charities and local community groups.

The Conservative policy proposals include:
• Simplifying the Gift Aid system to reduce the bureaucratic burden on charities and promote more charitable giving
• Replacing the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) and with a Voluntary Action Lottery Fund; the BLF has attracted criticism for giving grants to controversial causes and spending money on government services rather than funding voluntary good causes.
• Creating a network of Social Enterprise Zones to boost social investment in deprived communities.
• Cutting unnecessary red tape and form-filling.
• Establishing a one-stop funding portal for significant government grants, to help voluntary groups through the confusing ‘jungle’ of different state grants.
• Enabling the voluntary sector to compete on an equal footing with the private sector to provide services.
• Promoting co-operatives, to allow local communities to run, and own, community assets and set up new government-funded schools.

David Burrowes said:
“I welcome these new proposals to help boost local charities and community groups across Enfield Southgate, by cutting red tape, encouraging more charitable giving and helping social enterprise to provide local services.

“The social challenges we face today are every bit as serious as the economic challenges Britain faced in 1979. The big dividing line in British politics today is about the role of the state. Gordon Brown believes in top-down state control; Conservatives believe in bottom-up social responsibility.”