Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 14 November (HL11166) relating to continued financial support of the quality improvement programme delivered by the Twins and Multiple Births Association which currently ends in March 2019, when they expect to confirm their business plans for future grant funding.

The Department’s Business Planning process takes place annually between December and March each year. Expenditure, including any awards made through grant funding, cannot be confirmed until the Business Planning process has been concluded and budgets for the relevant financial year approved. Opportunities to apply for grant funding from the Department are posted on GOV.UK as they arise.

Since the Twins and Multiple Births Association’s (TAMBA) award in 2015/16, funding to the voluntary sector has been reshaped and the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund, under which TAMBA received their award, no longer accepts applications.

The successor scheme is the Health and Wellbeing Fund, the second round of which was recently launched for applications. The theme of this round relates to children and young people’s mental health. However, the Department’s Business Planning for 2019/20 has not yet concluded, and therefore the scheme remains subject to the approval of departmental budgets and its launch does not commit the Department to the funding of any grant awards.