Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton MP will be asking “Is a Big Society a Good Society?” for his speech exclusively for the 20th Edith Khan Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 9 November 2010, for UK volunteering charity, CSV.

The Children’s Minister is speaking at CSV’s annual lecture in the wake of a fact-finding mission about the positive impact volunteering initiatives can have on child welfare.

One such initiative is CSV Volunteers in Child Protection, a ground-breaking scheme for the UK which matches community volunteers to families with one or more children suffering from neglect or at risk of significant harm. Evidence from the scheme shows that all the children supported with volunteers have come off their Child Protection Plans and have stayed off. In some instances where volunteers are not involved, at least 11% return to these plans within 12 months. Children who benefit from the extra support are attending school, ensuring they have better educational chances in life. Hard pressed social workers that the scheme works with, are assured that the families are receiving regular visits from specially trained and vetted members of the community and that these volunteers will let them know if there are any urgent problems that they should know about.

Speaking about the role of active citizens within communities, Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, Executive Director of CSV, said: “Our volunteers raise reading levels, help patients to eat, tackle child abuse by supporting families and reduce levels of crime. All our work is in partnership, involving pupils, employees and prisoners as volunteers.”

Lord Levy, President of CSV invites Tim Loughton to give a speech at the House of Lords on Tuesday 9 November at 6.45pm. Committee Room 4A, House of Lords, SW1A

For more information on CSV Volunteers in Child Protection, please visit our website on www.csv.org.uk

Notes for Editors

For press information or to register to attend the lecture or receive a copy of the speech please contact Francesca Toma or Jason Tanner on 020 7812 0037 / 0038 or 07941 433598 / 079661 68686.

CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Every year CSV helps transform the lives of over 1 million people. Last year 165,666 people gave their time as volunteers through CSV. The charity worked with 13,423 learners of all ages.  www.csv.org.uk
 
Edith Kahn was an innovative and dynamic head teacher of Fleet Primary School in Hampstead for 22 years.  After retirement she organised, amongst other things, the celebrations for the Hampstead Millennium and those for the CSV Silver Jubilee; latterly she became the first organiser of the CSV Retired and Senior Volunteers scheme.  After her untimely death in 1988 a lecture was founded in her memory.  Now in its 20th year, lecturers have included: The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Paul Boateng MP; Rt Hon John Reid MP, formerly Secretary of State for Health; Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, formerly Secretary of State for the Home Department, Dr Christopher Ondaatje CBE OC; Dr Shadd Maruna of Queen’s University Belfast and former Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears MP.