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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the equity of distribution of funding allocated to voluntary and community organisations in areas of deprivation.

The government has pledged £750 million to ensure the voluntary and community sector continues its vital work supporting the country during the Coronavirus outbreak. This includes £360m distributed through government departments and £200m for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. The government has unlocked a further £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts, which will be distributed to organisations to support urgent work to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

Funding will support organisations working with communities experiencing disproportionate challenges during the crisis and providing services and support for vulnerable people across the country.

It is vital that funding reaches organisations in areas of deprivation. However, as applications are still open for several of the funds and there are announcements yet to be made, it is too early to assess distribution to organisations in areas of deprivation.