HC Deb 28 January 2004 vol 417 cc367-8W
John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of staff in his Department contribute to a charity through the Give as You Earn scheme; how much money is donated to charity per month by staff in his Department through the scheme; and what steps he is taking to encourage greater participation in the scheme by staff in his Department. [143903]

Mr. Caplin

The answer to the question is, 1,315 civilian staff (approximately 1.4per cent.) contribute a total of £14,400 each month. These figures include Ministry of Defence Trading Funds.

Of course this represents only a single element of charitable donations in the Department. For example some £30,000 is paid each month direct from payroll to the Civil Service Benevolent Fund.

In 2004 we intend to remind all staff, by individual leaflet, of the benefits of donating to charity through the "Give as you Earn" scheme.

For the armed forces, the latest available figures are from December 2003. In this month 906 Naval Service personnel (2.2per cent.) contributed around £2,100 to the Charity Payroll Giving Scheme, with a further 1,273 personnel (3 per cent.) contributing around £8,800 through Voluntary Deductions from Pay. The Army figures for December show 21,069 personnel (12.26 per cent.) contributed £99,552 and the RAF £15,274 from 2,561 personnel (4.8 per cent.) through their respective Give as you Earn Schemes.

This represents only a single element of charitable donations in the Department. For example the equivalent of £120,000 per month (paid quarterly) is paid to the RAF Benevolent Fund directly from RAF pay.

In previous years the Department have published Defence Council Instructions (DCIs) and produced articles in the three main Service publications (Navy News, Soldier Magazine and RAF News) on the benefits of donating to charity through the "Give as you Earn" schemes. We intend to continue this effort into 2004.

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