Good morning. It is good to welcome new members to the committee. I welcome the opportunity to join you to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the voluntary sector. As you noted, convener, I am joined by Calum Irving and Laura Turney.
The response from the people of Scotland during these incredibly difficult times has been nothing short of inspirational, and that is the case in the third sector. I have been overwhelmed by the many stories that we have heard of individual and collective acts of kindness and generosity. I thank everyone who has stepped up to deal with the impact of the pandemic on our lives, and I thank the many thousands of people who were already making a difference.
The role of the third and voluntary sectors in the past five months has proved what I and many of you already know: those organisations, networks and people are critical to the health and wellbeing of our people, places and communities. They have helped people to get their medicines and messages; they have ensured that people have had food for their families; and they have befriended and supported their neighbours and the most vulnerable people in our communities, keeping people connected. That must be recognised and commended, so I take the opportunity to thank everyone—individuals, charities, community groups and partners—for their support and hard work over the past few challenging months.
We have supported that action quickly and effectively, particularly in collaboration with partners in the third sector. At the start of the crisis, before we went into lockdown, I announced an initial £350 million community fund, and more than £100 million of that fund has been committed to the third sector. It has been delivered rapidly, ahead of funding in other parts of the United Kingdom and on a much greater scale.
The committee has taken a great interest in the third sector resilience fund, which has so far invested £22 million. It has focused on the immediate cash-flow challenges that organisations face, saving an estimated 15,000 jobs and helping organisations with a combined annual turnover of around £1.5 billion to survive. The wellbeing and supporting communities funds have also played a vital role in supporting the third sector and ensuring that it, in turn, can support people and communities. The wellbeing fund, which has so far invested £21.6 million, has been led by a partnership of the Corra Foundation, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and third sector initiatives. It has provided support to third sector organisations including charities and social enterprises, helping them to work with at-risk people who are most affected by the pandemic.
The supporting communities fund has so far invested £16.7 million through a locally driven response led by community anchor organisations such as development trusts. Working in partnership with officials, they have acted as a conduit for funding and have worked with the relevant local authorities, charities and volunteers in communities of interest. Across all those funds, collaboration with independent funders and partners in the third sector has been swift and effective, and there is much that we can learn from that work and take forward. We have a great opportunity to reflect on what our role as Government, public services, local government and the third sector needs to be in order to create the conditions for our communities to flourish.
There are still incredibly challenging and vexing times ahead. We cannot fund every request from the sector, and we cannot save every job in the sector, but we will work hard to help it to adapt to the challenges that lie ahead. We want to ensure that the spirit of collaboration that we have seen is nurtured and taken further. The crisis has shown us that the third sector and volunteering are essential to the social and economic wellbeing of the country. As a Government, we will continue to support and engage the sector as we recover from the crisis.
I look forward to taking the committee’s questions.