§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what the budget is for the Millennium Volunteer Scheme; how much has been spent to date broken down into(a) volunteer schemes and (b) administration; [65238]
(2) how many volunteers have taken part in the Millennium Volunteer Scheme to date; if he will publish a breakdown of volunteers by (a) gender and (b) ethnic group; and if he will make a statement on the number of people helped by the scheme. [65239]
§ Ms HodgeMillennium Volunteers will have a total of £15 million allocated to it from the windfall levy as start up funding in Great Britain, of which £12.75 million is available in England. £303,935 has been spent on the Programme to date in England, of which £109,870 relates to projects and related expenditure and £194,065 relates to administration. I hope to be making a further announcement about Millennium Volunteers and the longer term funding of the programme in England shortly.
A total of 269 volunteers have taken part in the nine Millennium Volunteers demonstration projects we established last summer. Of these, 168 were female and 101 male; 226 were white and 43 were from black or Asian ethnic groups. We will be evaluating the benefits to the community and to the individual volunteers of Millennium Volunteers but it is too early to provide such an assessment at present.