To ask the Minister of Health (i) to detail the criteria used to allocate the most recent £1.8 million tranche of the Core Grant Funding Scheme 2025-26; and (ii) for his assessment of the value of the work that has been carried out by those groups that were unsuccessful in their applications for funding.

The Core Grant Funding Scheme for 2025-26 was co-designed in 2024 with Community and Voluntary Sector representatives, and included the following scoring criteria:

Evidence of how an organisation supports the department’s strategic objectives;

Evidence that an organisation is involved in carrying out relevant activities;

Evidence that an organisation will deliver clear outcomes, including how those will be measured and the targets that will be met;

Evidence that an organisation has delivered similar outcomes previously;

Evidence that an organisation has suitable monitoring and control systems in place, and suitably qualified and experienced staff; and

Evidence that an organisation will work in partnership across the statutory, community and voluntary sectors.

These scoring criteria are listed and explained in the guidance for applicants, available on the departmental website.

The high standard of applications has reinforced the valuable contribution that voluntary and community sector organisations make towards health and social care outcomes. The selection of the 25 highest scoring applications to progress to stage 2 of the assessment process was based solely on agreed scoring criteria, rather than a departmental determination of the value of the applicants.

My officials will be in contact with applicants in the coming weeks to offer feedback, which I hope will be of assistance in applying for future funding rounds. Indeed, those who have missed out this time will have another opportunity later this year to bid for funding in 2026/27.