Edinburgh's volunteering surge 'due to recession, not Big Society'

Two words are on many lips here at Gather Scotland, the country's biggest volunteer sector fair. Big society. More than 3,000 people have attended the debates, workshops and stalls in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Speaking after the event's key debate on whether Big Society is a good thing or a fad, Harriet Eadie, director of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh , predicted there will be a surge in volunteering in April, when some public sector cuts kick in. Eadie said her organisation had seen a 30% increase in demand. But, she said, that rise "bears no relation whatsoever to big society." Hear her views in this Audioboo . She said: "As organisations become victims of public sector funding cuts, the places for volunteers to go become fewer. That's the rock on which Big Society will founder, if it founders on anything. "People do actually believe in it. They don't care about the name and they don't particularly like the association with government. But if it's actually about empowering communities and people and volunteers to do stuff, it's a good thing - so the chat is great. "I think there a lot of things happening that are counter to the expressed intention to build up volunteering. The wolf in sheep's clothing that might be the benefit cuts, the contracting out of state services, the things that actually are the other policy things going on in the Westminster government that are very likely to scupper the good stuff about big society. We have to wait and see how that unfolds." Tweets from the Gather Scotland debate can be followed via the #gatherscotland hashtag and the Volunteer Edinburgh Facebook page.