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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of ringfencing funding from the Government's charity support package for charities and organisations working with communities that are disproportionately affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

The government has pledged £750 million to meet the needs of vulnerable groups disproportionately affected by Covid-19 through targeted support for voluntary and community sector organisations.

A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund. DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF - our distribution partners for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund) are working with a number of organisations to improve the reach of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund for organisations disproportionately affected.

The government has 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.