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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the financial state of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

DCMS is regularly gathering intelligence from departments across the government and partners in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to understand risks and issues relating to critical services provided and how these are being addressed.

A number of established surveys are providing a picture of the nuanced impact of the pandemic on financial outlook, workforce and levels of service delivery. These include the Covid-19 Voluntary Sector Impact Barometer from Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam Universities, and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

The government will continue to monitor the health and resilience of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, and will explore ways to strengthen the evidence available to support our assessment.