To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has allocated to the Opportunities for Volunteering scheme in each of the last five financial years; and how much funding he plans to allocate to the health and social care volunteering fund in the next five financial years. (314513)

Over the next three years, the existing OFV scheme will be wound-down concurrently as the funding to the new volunteering fund is correspondingly increased. The total budget available for volunteering will remain the same subject to the outcome of the next spending review. Allocations to the OFV scheme will continue through 2010-11 and 2011-12 but there will be a natural tapering of these as there will be no further OFV grants awarded.

Funding allocated to Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) in each of the last five financial years is as follows:

It is not possible to provide definitive information on the next five years' allocation of funding to the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund as budgets for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 will be subject to the outcome of the next spending review. However, the contract for the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund has been awarded for three years starting in 2009-10, with funding estimated in the contract terms as follows: