Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps her Department takes to assess the effectiveness of grants awarded to There But Not There.

The sum of £1,255,365 was spent on the Armistice and Armed Forces Communities programme awarded by the independent, LIBOR-funded Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. The awards funded the purchase from There But Not There of silhouettes of First World War soldiers. A full list of community groups that received awards is published at:

https://www.covenantfund.org.uk/armistice-and-armed-forces-communities-programme-awards/

The purchased silhouettes of First World War soldiers are the property of the community groups, and they will be able to display them in years to come.

A report has been produced by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, published at:

https://www.covenantfund.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Armistice.pdf

2,773 awards were made across the United Kingdom. An evaluation of the programme showed that 69% of projects had brought communities together more than they were expecting; and that 75% of projects planned to do follow up work as a result of their event. Communities were highly positive about the impact the soldier silhouettes had on their events, reporting that they encouraged engagement between children and veterans.