§ John Barrett:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money has been donated by his Department as part of the Payroll Giving scheme in each year since 1995. [141376]
§ Ruth Kelly:Currently, 143 staff give a total of £3,400 each month to their chosen charities through payroll giving. This figure represents 12 per cent. of Treasury staff.
Information from the payroll prior to May 2003 is not available.
§ John Barrett:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Payroll Giving scheme. [141377]
§ John Healey:In April 2000, the Government set a target to raise the amount given through Payroll Giving to £60 million by April 2003 and to increase the proportion of employees who have access to Payroll Giving schemes from an estimated 1 in 5 to 1 in 3. The total given in 1998–99 was £29 million and by 2002–03 was £86 million. The number of donors has risen from around 400,000 in 1998–99 to around 520,000 in 62W 2002–03, although survey data from July 2003 indicated that there has been little increase in the proportion of employees with access to schemes.
While the growth in levels of giving has clearly exceeded expectations, and the rise in the number of donors is welcome, the Government remains keen to find ways to encourage greater access to schemes.
In the 2002 Pre-Budget Report we launched the Corporate Challenge. The aim of the Corporate Challenge is to increase business involvement in community activity in three main areas, one of which is corporate support for and promotion of Payroll Giving schemes.
§ John Barrett:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are being taken to promote use of the Payroll Giving to charities scheme. [141378]
§ John Healey:In April 2000, the Government introduced a number of measures to encourage charitable giving through Payroll Giving schemes. The maximum amounts that could be given each year under Payroll Giving was abolished; we announced a three-year publicity campaign to promote the scheme to employers and their employees and introduced a ten per cent supplement on all Payroll Giving donations until April 2003. The cost of the supplement is met from public expenditure. The supplement was extended for a further year until April 2004, to allow charity fundraisers to make the most of the boost to this method of giving.
In the 2002 Pre-Budget we launched the Corporate Challenge. The aim of the. Corporate Challenge is to increase business involvement in community activity in three main areas, one of which is corporate support for and promotion of Payroll Giving schemes.
We also support The Giving Campaign, an independent, three year national campaign established as a partnership between Government and the voluntary sector, to encourage charitable giving and a culture of giving. The Campaign has, as one of its initiatives, been encouraging employers to develop strategies for giving by employees.
The amount given under Payroll Giving has increased from £29 million in 1998–99 to £86 million in 2002–03.