Charities: Coronavirus

(asked on 10th June 2020) - View Source

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 ability of charities working with BAME communities to access the Government's £350 million support for charities.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 16th June 2020

DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF - our distribution partners for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund) have been - and continue to - engage extensively with BAME organisations during the development of the response and are working with a number of organisations to improve the reach of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund.

A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work. The Minister for Civil Society holds a fortnightly roundtable to hear directly from BAME civil society organisations to highlight concerns and responses to Covid-19. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work.

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.

This is a package of emergency response to help groups in need and to provide other essential services. It builds on the significant package of support available across sectors, including the Job Retention Scheme.

Reticulating Splines