Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of collective approaches by the Government, charities and community organisations to solving the complex challenges faced by vulnerable people as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Charities, community organisations and volunteers are playing a vital role to support the coronavirus effort. Government continues to work closely with the civil society sector to assess both the needs of vulnerable people and the sector itself, and how government can best support the continuation of critical work.

DCMS has provided a £4.8million grant to the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership, to support its work to improve coordination in the voluntary sector, and deploy volunteers and resources where they are most needed. Examples include distributing 30 tonnes of food, the equivalent of 67,000 meals in the South West and arranging 1,000 health assessments of those experiencing homelessness. The Partnership has also supported recent initiatives such as the Department for Transport’s Journey Makers. Learning is being captured on the Partnership’s response and an evaluation is to be carried out.