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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing support with fuel costs to (a) mountain rescue teams, (b) the RNLI and (c) other voluntary organisations and their volunteers who provide vital public services as charities.

We recognise this is a worrying time for many organisations, including charities, that are facing pressures due to the significant increases in global gas prices.

In the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, the government announced a temporary 12 month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre. This is the biggest cut, in cash terms, that has ever been applied across all fuel duty rates at once.

We will continue to monitor the impact of fuel costs on volunteers and voluntary sector organisations. More information on volunteers’ pay and expenses is available on GOV.UK.