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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for what reasons the Department rejected the grant application from the Woodcraft Folk. [224528] Margaret Hodge: The criteria by which all decisions about funding under the National Voluntary Youth Organisation (NVYO) grant scheme were made were explicit in both the application forms and guidance notes, to assist organisations through the application process. The guidance notes clearly stated that applications should make a strong contribution to the achievement of the outcomes for young people set out in "Every Child Matters". Paragraph 13.2 of the application guidance states clearly that the Department would look for bids that: were clearly focused on the outcomes identified in the guidance were for activities in line with those identified in the grant criteria identified clear and robust outcome indicators that were relevant to the outcomes the bid proposes to deliver clearly explained the national significance of the activity being proposed were realistic and deliverable The Woodcraft Folk's bid for funding was unsuccessful because, when compared with other applications, it did not provide the level of detail to enable the Department to determine how the proposed activities would deliver the outcomes that were specified in the criteria. It was also not sufficiently clear, in comparison with other bids, how Woodcraft Folk's outcomes specifically linked with the "Every Child Matters" agenda. It is important to emphasise that even though the Woodcraft Folk's bid for funding under the National Voluntary Youth Organisation grant scheme was unsuccessful, this is no reflection on the work it does to promote the well-being of children and young people and their participation in society. The scheme was open to all national voluntary sector organisations engaged in youth work and who met specific criteria and not just those on the existing scheme. We received 160 bids from a variety of national voluntary organisations which totalled over £44 million for the length of the scheme. As the grant scheme had been allocated £21 million for the three years we were unable to fund everyone who applied. We assessed all of the bids and awarded grants to those organisations which clearly demonstrated the outcomes and quality the scheme required to an agreed standard. I met the Woodcraft Folk on the 4 April to discuss their work. As a result of that meeting we agreed to second a member of DfES staff to the Woodcraft Folk for 12 months. We hope that that member of staff will be able to support the central organisation by helping it to look for new ways of diversifying the funding streams that it receives so that it secures long-term funding.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1599W; 224528

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Applications Grants Woodcraft Folk

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk