Ivana Bacik
Question:254. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Social Protection if the independent review of volunteering in the Citizens Information Service has been completed; and when the report will be published. [10661/23]
View answerThursday, 2 March 2023
Questions (254)
Written answers
The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection (DSP), with responsibility for the Citizens Information Service (CIS). CIB provides funding to eight independent regional CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres. In September 2022, the CIB Board commissioned an independent review of the volunteer strategy of the CIS.
As Minister I absolutely recognise and value the important work carried out by volunteers and I have been very clear to CIB that it is important that the voluntary ethos of the CIS should be protected, and the skills of its volunteers should be utilised to the maximum extent possible.
To this end, an independent review of volunteering in the CIS is currently in train. The purpose of the review is to explore the role of the volunteer in the service, through extensive consultation and engagement with internal and external stakeholders, including current and past volunteers, CIS staff and agencies which receive referrals from the CIS.
Due to an extended level of consultation, the final report will be completed over the coming weeks and will be presented to the CIB Board for approval, followed by wider dissemination. The findings and recommendations of this review will directly inform CIB’s new three-year strategy 2023-2025 which is currently in development.
I trust this clarifies your query on this matter.