Member

Turn that structure into a single national quango directed by central government diktat and staffed by salaried employees, and the incentive to volunteer and its enjoyment wither. Volunteers give their time to an institution that they recognise, trust and is rooted in their own county. They absolutely do not give it in the same way to a branch office of the national quango. The Minister may say that the new body will retain the strength of the membership. I gently observe that such stated intentions are not guarantees written into statute and that, once the Bill abolishes the associations as they are presently constituted, the retention of any voluntary ethos becomes increasingly and progressively less likely.