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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding from the charity relief package announced in April 2020 is reaching those that most need it.

The government has pledged £750 million to meet the needs of vulnerable groups through targeted support for voluntary and community sector organisations on the frontline of the Covid response. This includes £360m distributed through government departments and £200m for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, being delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund. A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund.

The government has also unlocked a further £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts, which will be distributed to organisations to support urgent work for groups in need to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

We have published clear and comprehensive guidance on the £750 million, plus other sources of support, at

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

The VCSE Support Package builds on the significant package of support available across sectors, including the Job Retention Scheme.