Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the incidence of his Department giving grants to organisations which subsequently use the money to try to influence (a) his and (b) other Government departments.

Alistair Burt

Funding applications from voluntary sector organisations are assessed against a number of criteria, but Departmental policy clearly states that grants will not be awarded if there is any indication within the application that some or all of any funding awarded will be used to support political activities, including political lobbying activity.

It remains an important objective of the Department’s partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector that they contribute their voice and expertise to national policy making and implementation, and grant awards can support this objective.

However, analysis of each individual grant awarded by the Department to ascertain the impact of this objective would be at disproportionate cost.