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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to enable smaller charities to contribute more effectively to public policy development, including through improving access to (a) tenders, (b) grant applications and (c) policy consultations.

This Government is doing much to reset the relationship with civil society and ensure we listen to - and heed - a broad range of voices from across the sector, including those from small charities. The Civil Society Covenant, launched by the Prime Minister in July 2025, sets out the ambition of this government to fully recognise the value of civil society. No.10 has established the Civil Society Council, to work in partnership with government at the highest level to drive and oversee the implementation of the Covenant.

Our recently-launched £11.5 million Local Covenant Partnerships (LCP) Fund puts many of the Covenant’s principles into practice, including testing new approaches to commissioning and procurement. The LCP Fund will invest in 15 places across England to develop innovative partnership models between VCSE organisations and local public sector bodies. This in turn will increase levels of local VCSE delivery of public services, including from small charities, and work towards developing the local sector’s knowledge and confidence of commissioning structures and procurement processes.