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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of rising energy costs on charities; and if will she take steps to generate additional funding for them through charity lottery reform.

As households and communities face rising energy prices, charities are seeing increased demand for their services while contending with the same price increases themselves.

With government support, charities have shown significant resilience over the past two years, and will again be crucial in supporting communities and households over the winter.

That is why the government will support all charities, public sector organisations and businesses with their energy costs this winter, offering an energy price guarantee for six months, equivalent to the protection offered to British households. Further details will be announced in due course.

Following the increases in July 2020 and the review of their impact published in March 2022, there are no plans to make further policy changes to society lottery sales and prize limits. Funding raised by the large society lottery sector is continuing to grow, as data published by the Gambling Commission since the review shows.

My department will keep engaging constructively with their counterparts across the sector and government to continuously monitor the impact of rising energy costs on the charity and broader civil society sector.