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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the £750 million Government financial support announced for charities in response to the covid-19 outbreak has been paid out; and to how many charities that funding has been allocated.

Of the £750m of financial support for charities during the Covid-19 crisis, £360m was committed to be distributed by other government departments, which includes £200m to be distributed to hospices via the Department for Health & Social Care. Currently, over £150m has been dispersed for hospices. Of the remaining £160m allocated to other government departments, £59.4m has been distributed.

£310m of the £750m total was committed to support small and medium charities in England during the Covid-19 crisis. Of this, £200m has been allocated to the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) which is being distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund. To date, 934 grants have been awarded to charities and social enterprises in England, totalling approximately £20m. Of this, payments have been made to 463 organisations, totalling £5,163,403.

We are continuing to review the early findings from the distribution of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) to ensure that the remaining £110m is utilised in the most effective way, addressing emerging priorities.

Lastly, the government committed to match-fund the £36.5m raised during the BBC Big Night In. To date, £21.9m has been disbursed to our partners (NET & Comic Relief). Please note that no funds have been distributed to Children in Need yet.

We have published clear and comprehensive guidance on the full £750 million package of support for charities and how organisations can apply for it on Gov.uk. This guidance will be updated frequently: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19