Grants awarded under section 70 of the Charities Act 2006 (HTML version)
Published 7 February 2022
Applies to England
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Report by the Minister of State for Universities on the use of powers under section 70 of the Charities Act 2006, for the year 2020 to 2021.
Main points
Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006 (the Act) sets out the powers for Ministers to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions and requires that payments made under this power are reported.
The activities undertaken by the US-UK Fulbright Commission which the Department for Education (DfE) has funded are in line with the Department’s objectives. Scholarships help to increase the UK’s soft power and create enduring positive relations with future leaders and decision-makers around the world.
This spending does not represent the total amount of grant funding provided to the voluntary and community sector, as many other grants have been paid to this sector under the powers conferred by alternative legislation. During 2020 to 2021, the Department made grant payments totalling £676,600 under the provisions of the Act.
About the charity awarded funding
US-UK Fulbright Commission
The US-UK Fulbright Commission was founded by treaty in 1948. It was one of the first bilateral programmes to put into practice the vision of Senator Fulbright, who believed that mutual cultural and education exchange was at the heart of promoting a peaceful and prosperous world.
Today the global programme, the largest merit-based scholarship in the world, operates in 144 countries with bilateral programmes in 49 of them. The US-UK Fulbright Commission fulfils its remit by awarding traditional Fulbright grants to students to pursue postgraduate degrees, or academics and professionals to pursue research on both sides of the Atlantic. Since 1948, over 12,000 Brits and 8,000 Americans have had an award from the Commission.
For academic year 2020 to 2021, the US-UK Fulbright Commission supported 23 outward bound British students and academics studying and researching in the US and a total of 53 inward bound American students and academics studying and researching in the UK.
The US-UK Fulbright Commission is responsible for administering the Fulbright Programme in the UK. The Commission is co-funded by the US and UK governments. It also receives significant financial and in-kind support from UK and US universities as well as foundations.
Funding overview
The Department for Education award for the Fulbright Commission totals £1,000,000 for the financial year April 2020 to March 2021.
As of 30 September 2021, a small amount of funding has yet to be deployed by the US-UK Fulbright Commission, as some grants are funded throughout the year.
The table shows how the UK government grant is forecast to be deployed over the full year.
| Already dispersed | Full year forecast | |
|---|---|---|
| Fulbright scholarships | £358,022 | £394,000 |
| Promotion and outreach | £630 | £630 |
| Opportunity fund | £50,000 | £50,000 |
| Contribution to overheads | £180,000 | £180,000 |
| £588,652 | £624,630 | |
| Quarantine payments | £27,267 | £27,267 |
| Unibuddy and Togetherall | £7,560 | £7,560 |
| Total | £623,479 | £659,457 |
Fulbright scholarships
For academic year 2020 to 2021, the US-UK Fulbright Commission had committed British government funding to scholarships for 23 outward bound British students and academics studying and researching in the US. The US-UK Fulbright Commission also committed funding towards one scholarship for a US student to study at Queen Mary University of London.
The UK government grant has been used to either fully or partly fund these grants. Where the funding is part only, the balance has been made up with funds from elsewhere, including the Scottish government, donations, legacies and funds given to the Fulbright Foundation as well as support from partner universities.
Due to COVID-19, 6 outward bound British grantees with total awards of $160,500 have deferred to next year.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US-UK Fulbright Commission has used a lesser amount of £394,000 British government funding to support a smaller cohort of 13 Fulbright scholarships for the academic year 2020 to 2021 - 12 outward bound British students and academics studying and researching in the US and one US student.
It is expected that £394,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
The Fulbright Opportunity Fund
An amount of £50,000 from the UK government grant, together with the initial $200,000 from the US government, has been allocated to our new Fulbright Opportunity Fund. The new fund has as its purpose the provision of additional resources to British Fulbright grantees from disadvantaged backgrounds who would otherwise find it difficult to finance their studies in the US. The fund made its first 3 grants totalling $60,000 in 2020.
It is expected that £50,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
Contribution to overheads
The Commission endeavours to keep its overheads as low as possible commensurate with executing the various elements of its programme. In this year when our costs have shifted through the COVID-19 crisis from events and outreach to internal support of awardees, we propose that £180,000 goes towards meeting these necessary overhead costs.
It is expected that £180,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
Quarantine payments, Unibuddy and Togetherall
Pre-COVID, the British government supported both the US-UK Fulbright Commission’s outreach activities and its enrichment events. The pandemic brought all travel and in-person events to a halt, with outreach or enrichment moving these efforts online.
In parallel, the Commission has incurred significant unexpected COVID-related costs for Fulbrighters, with it being necessary for the Commission to provided a one-time extra payment to awardees to deal with quarantine or mandatory testing.
At a time of stress and social isolation, the Commission sought to provide more mental health support to Fulbright grantees. On the recommendation of a number of UK universities and the Canadian Fulbright Commission, the Commission made the 24/7 mental health platform Togetherall available to awardees at a cost of £1,200 per annum.
As part of the Commission’s outreach work and in order to increase the diversity of the applicant pool, the Commission has identified the need for more support of applicants from under-represented communities and institutions across the process - from filling in the application form to preparing for the interview. To support this, the Commission has partnered with Unibuddy.
It is expected that £34,827 of the grant will be deployed in this way.