Grants awarded under section 70 of the Charities Act 2006 (HTML version)
Published 20 May 2020
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 2019 to 2020.
Executive summary
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 2019 to 2020, the Department made grant payments totalling £1,000,000 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 2019 to 2020 the commission funded 46 US postgraduate students, 31 US academics and 3 distinguished teacher awards to come to the UK for between 4 and 12 months. The commission also supported 26 UK postgraduate students, 20 UK academics and professionals and 2 distinguished teachers to go to the US.
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.
Funding overview
The Department for Education award for the Fulbright Commission totals £1,000,000 for the financial year April 2019 to March 2020.
As of March 31 2020, a small amount of funding has yet to be deployed by the US-UK Fulbright Commission, as some grants are funded throughout the academic year. The table below shows how the UK government grant is forecast to be deployed over the full year.
| Full year forecast | |
|---|---|
| Fulbright scholarships | £737,000 |
| Enrichment | £60,000 |
| Promotion and outreach | £3,000 |
| Opportunity fund | £50,000 |
| Contribution to overheads | £150,000 |
| Total | £1,000,000 |
Fulbright scholarships
UK government funding has been used to support 29 Fulbright scholarships for the academic year 2019 to 2020.
Funding has been granted to 26 outward-bound British students and academics studying and researching in the US, 2 British teachers studying in the US and 1 US student coming to study at King’s College 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.
It is expected that £737,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
Enrichment
The US-UK Fulbright programme undertake 3 key programme-enrichment events for our American cohorts and three key programme-enrichment events for our British cohorts, per year.
It is expected that £60,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
Promotion and outreach
To better promote the Fulbright awards to a broader group of universities and a more diverse group of potential applicants from underrepresented backgrounds, a proportion of funding will be used to promote a wider outreach and recruitment strategy.
It is expected that £3,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.
Opportunity fund
A partial amount of the UK government grant, together with that from the US government, has been allocated to the 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 is expected to make its first grants this year, 2020 to 2021, for up to 4 British students.
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, such as utilities, rental costs and salaries, as low as possible commensurate with executing the various elements of its programme. Around 15% of the UK government grant goes towards meeting these necessary overhead costs.
It is expected that £150,000 of the grant will be deployed in this way.