Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable the UK social enterprise sector to share its expertise with social enterprises in Ethiopia.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The British Council’s Social Enterprise Leadership programme in Ethiopia, delivered in partnership with UK experts, has trained 40 social enterprises to develop 38 master-trainers capable of cascading training to other social enterprises. For example, one intermediary organisation has in turn provided training to over 300 community leaders, has established a forum and is conducting research to support the craft industry.
The establishment of the new trade association for social enterprises in Ethiopia is directly attributed to UK inspiration, taking lessons from Social Enterprise UK. UK sector expertise has been deployed to support policy training for policy makers, sharing best practice including UK Government initiatives such as the Social Value Act. The implementation of the British Council’s Business Investment Readiness (BIR) programme aims to strengthen 60 social enterprises in Ethiopia, providing support to enhance and scale the impact of their work. BIR facilitates collaboration between a social enterprise and social investment intermediary organisations in the UK.
The 2019 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) will provide multiple opportunities to showcase to global policy-makers, academic, international development actors and corporates how the UK has supported Ethiopia’s growing social enterprise movement. Officials from the British Council and DCMS attended the SEWF in Edinburgh last year and will review attendance with ministers in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which minister will represent them at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Ethiopia in October 2019.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The British Council’s Social Enterprise Leadership programme in Ethiopia, delivered in partnership with UK experts, has trained 40 social enterprises to develop 38 master-trainers capable of cascading training to other social enterprises. For example, one intermediary organisation has in turn provided training to over 300 community leaders, has established a forum and is conducting research to support the craft industry.
The establishment of the new trade association for social enterprises in Ethiopia is directly attributed to UK inspiration, taking lessons from Social Enterprise UK. UK sector expertise has been deployed to support policy training for policy makers, sharing best practice including UK Government initiatives such as the Social Value Act. The implementation of the British Council’s Business Investment Readiness (BIR) programme aims to strengthen 60 social enterprises in Ethiopia, providing support to enhance and scale the impact of their work. BIR facilitates collaboration between a social enterprise and social investment intermediary organisations in the UK.
The 2019 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) will provide multiple opportunities to showcase to global policy-makers, academic, international development actors and corporates how the UK has supported Ethiopia’s growing social enterprise movement. Officials from the British Council and DCMS attended the SEWF in Edinburgh last year and will review attendance with ministers in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many grants from the Tampon Tax Fund are yet to be agreed; and what is the timetable for completion of those agreements.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is managing 53 of the 70 grants awarded from the 2017/18 Tampon Tax Fund. Grant agreements have been finalised for 38 of those grants.
The remaining grants are managed by the devolved administrations.
Grant agreements are finalised and signed when the department and the recipient both agree to the terms and conditions so the end date for that process is not entirely within government's control.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the aims of the Tampon Tax Fund; and whether those aims have been published or made available to applicants for grants.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The aim of the Tampon Tax Fund is to improve the lives of disadvantaged women and girls.
An application form and guidance, which included detail about the aims of the Fund and selection criteria, was sent to any organisation which expressed an interest in bidding.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what timetable for (1) monitoring, and (2) evaluation, has been agreed for the grant from the Tampon Tax Fund awarded to Life 2009; and to whom the results of the evaluation will be made available.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
All grants awarded from the Tampon Tax Fund are monitored by the Office for Civil Society throughout the lifetime of the grant to ensure that the projects deliver the agreed outputs and outcomes. The timing of monitoring reports is set out in individual grant agreements and varies depending on the nature of the project. Funded organisations are responsible for evaluating their own projects.
The Life Charity grant agreement has yet to be agreed.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who made the decision to award the charity Life £250,000 from the Tampon Tax Fund.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We will shortly finalise the specifics of the grant agreements for each of the 70 projects that successfully applied to the Tampon Tax Fund this year, to ensure that taxpayers' money is put to the best use. We will only make grants where we are 100% certain that they align fully with the aims of the fund. The Minister for Civil Society will make the final decision on the grant award.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what outcomes the charity Life is required to deliver through its use of the £250,000 grant from the Tampon Tax Fund.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We will shortly finalise the specifics of the grant agreements for each of the 70 projects that successfully applied to the Tampon Tax Fund this year, to ensure that taxpayers' money is put to the best use. We will only make grants where we are 100% certain that they fully align with the aims of the fund.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the counselling service run by the charity Life will be funded by the £250,000 grant from the Tampon Tax Fund.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We will shortly finalise the specifics of the grant agreements for each of the 70 projects that successfully applied to the Tampon Tax Fund this year, to ensure that taxpayers' money is put to the best use. We will only make grants where we are 100% certain that they fully align with the aims of the fund. The Minister for Civil Society will make the final decision on the grant award.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are in place to evaluate the Tampon Tax Fund’s achievement of its objectives.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Tampon Tax Fund provides grants to a wide range of organisations. Every grant recipient will have specific agreed outcomes against which its project will be monitored.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the £250,000 grant from the Tampon Tax Fund to the charity Life can be used to lobby HM Government.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
No. In line with Government’s Standards for Grants, none of the grants made under the Tampon Tax Fund can be used to lobby HM Government. We will shortly finalise the specifics of the grant agreements for each of the 70 projects that successfully applied to the Tampon Tax Fund this year, to ensure that taxpayers’ money is put to best use. We will only make grants where we are 100% certain that they align with the aims of the fund.