‘I WAS delighted, in the last week before Parliament went into summer recess, to join with Volunteer Scotland at an event in the Parliament to begin the celebrations for the 30th anniversaries of both Volunteer Scotland, the national body for volunteering, and Volunteers’ Week which is an annual event celebrating the difference millions of volunteers make across the UK.

Every year, across Scotland, 30% of adults give over 160 million hours of precious time in a vast range of community settings. This makes a huge difference to people, to the economy, to services, and the environment.

Within the Parliament I am Deputy Convener of the Cross Party Group on Volunteering and the Voluntary Sector and I know that the work done by volunteers is valued by MSPs of all parties.

Of course, sometimes the need for volunteers exists because of a failing in the way in which some other part of society is functioning. I am thinking, for instance, of the explosion in food banks across the country – a direct result of the impact on our communities of the changes to the benefits system brought in as the Westminster Government pursues its punitive austerity programme.

In his appearance before the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee in June, Tory Minister, David Mundell, appeared to accept the link between the increase in food bank use and welfare cuts and called for more research on the link – but has since been overruled by the Department of Work and Pensions.

It seems that Westminster is scared of the truth on welfare with UK Employment Minister Esther McVey’s stating that there are “no immediate plans to produce or commission further research”. This is despite food bank use increasing by 400 per cent in the last year, with 22,000 children in Scotland forced to rely on food banks.

We already knew Iain Duncan Smith didn’t want to come to Scotland to answer for his unfair welfare cuts – now it seems that his department won’t even commission an analysis of the impact of his disastrous policies.

Scotland is an incredibly wealthy nation – richer per head than France, Japan and the UK as a whole – and yet thanks to Westminster’s attack on the welfare state far too many children in Fife are having to rely on food banks.

With a Yes vote in September, we can make Scotland’s wealth work for all the people who live here and create a fairer welfare system based on Scotland’s needs – in stark contrast to Westminster’s punitive cuts which are pushing more and more people into poverty’.