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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on support for charity workers in faith organisations through the package of support announced for charities.

We are proactively engaging across the sector, to maintain a complete picture of the impact of coronavirus, and working to identify the additional support charities require through this time of financial instability. The £750 million package of grants announced by the Chancellor on 8 April is a substantial package of targeted support for charities and their staff working on the frontline of responding to Coronavirus. Charity workers can also make use of other measures announced by the Chancellor including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The Government funding will be allocated based on evidence of service need. No allocations of government funds have been made yet but departments are working at pace to identify priority recipients. Once funding has been allocated, eligible Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise organisations will be able to start accessing funds within weeks.

More information will be announced shortly