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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department is providing to (a) churches and (b) faith-based charities in the context of trends in the level of (i) energy costs and (ii) donations.

We know this is a difficult time for the civil society sector; cost of living pressures are leading to increased demand for many organisations, alongside their higher running costs.

Over the last year, my department has been delivering the VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme, which is a £25.5 million fund to support voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations across England to save money on energy bills. The fund was designed to help groups with rising energy costs and was targeted at those delivering key frontline services. Recipients of the fund have included over 40 churches and faith-based organisations.