Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2017 to Question 110843, for what reasons the figure for funding from his Department to Action on Smoking and Health in the financial year 2016-17 is different by £30,000 to that given in the Answer of 5 September 2017 to Question 6854; how that discrepancy came about; and if he will fully investigate the funding and grant-making processes of his Department in respect of that organisation.

In my answer of 5 September 2017 I stated that a grant of £160,000 was awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 in financial year 2016/17. In my answer of 6 November 2017 I referred to a table confirming that grant payments totalling £195,000 were made to ASH during the financial year in 2016/17. Both responses are accurate. The 6 November response which referred to £195,000 highlighted all payments made to ASH during the financial year 2016/17. This is different from the value of the grant for that year because payments are made once ASH has demonstrated successful delivery of grant objectives, after each quarter. The final payment for each year of the ASH grant is made in the subsequent financial year. The attached table is designed to clarify the apparent discrepancy.