§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local initiatives have benefited from the Home Office Challenge Fund; and how much each local initiative has received. [150191]
§ Fiona MactaggartIn 2003–04 almost £2 million will have been allocated to 43 projects, both new recipients and existing ones, throughout the United Kingdom. These projects cover a range of innovative local schemes to help refugees play a full and active role in their new communities, for example through assisting access to the job market, acquisition of employable skills, English language tuition, and supporting families through education and training.
More information on all the selected projects is available on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate Home Office website.
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List of organisations awarded grants from the 2003–04 challenge fund £ East of England Employability Forum 28,650 East of England Consortium 47,300 London East London Somali Association 43,585 Evelyn Oldfield Unit 31,500 Refugees Into Jobs 93,297 Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund 40,000 Common Purpose 32,000 Ethiopian Community Centre in the UK 27,917 South London Tamil Welfare Group 25,750 Praxis 71,496
List of organisations awarded grants from the 2003–challenge fund £ Hackney Playbus 13,390 RETAS 73,812 The Presswise Trust 90,640 FOREF (Friends of Refugees Forum) 12,950 Sierra Leone Refugee Welfare Association 21,750 Holy Cross Centre Trust 31,500 Council for Assisting Refugee Academics 30,000 North East Newcastle City Council 31,800 Mental Health Matters 62,000 Stockton District Advice and Information Service 12,588 North West North West Consortium 63,189 Toxteth Community College 44,954 Liverpool Family Service Unit 64,714 North West Consortium 14,041 British Red Cross (running two projects) 88,000 Scotland Scottish Refugee Council 19,489 Prince's Trust 44,800 Glasgow ESOL Forum 35,506 South East Care co-operatives 19,570 Thanet Early Years Project 14,404 Kent Refugee Action Network 39,140 Community Self Build Agency 33,000 South West Women's Business Development Agency 50,000 Wales Cardiff City Council 51,272 SOVA 78,093 West Midlands Roselodge—CIP 116,000 Wolverhampton Refugee Settlement and Integration 67,364 Midland Refugee Council 56,650 Yorkshire and Humberside Refugee Lifeline 40,000 Yemeni Economic and Training 50,000 CALTEC 41,541 Yorkshire and Humberside Consortium 46,014
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Home Office Challenge Fund will continue indefinitely; what funding will be made available in each of the next five years; and what criteria are used in allocating funding from the Challenge Fund. [150192]
§ Fiona MactaggartThe Challenge Fund was introduced in 2001 to support local projects helping those who have fled persecution and been granted asylum in the UK to integrate into their new communities. Initially a three-year scheme, the Home Office announced in December 2003 that it planned to continue the Challenge Fund for the foreseeable future.
The availability and amount of funding over the next five years is dependent on future Spending Reviews and on evidence of how beneficial the funding stream has 794W been to support the integration of refugees. It is currently expected that £3 million will be made available for both 2004–05 and 2005–06.
When allocating funding, consideration is given to the relevance of the project to the Home Office integration strategy, outlined in "Full and Equal Citizens", to its cost-effectiveness, and to the expertise and reliability of the applicant and any partner, organisations; applications must, of course, be focused on refugees and those granted Humanitarian or Discretionary Leave. Projects are subjected to a programme of monitoring and evaluation in order to identify those projects that are most effective in helping to integrate refugees.