My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary (Stephen Timms) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am pleased to announce that a total of 24 bids from organisations spanning the public and third sectors have been awarded funding for projects following the ninth bidding round of the Invest to Save Budget. A total of £9 million has been allocated over the three years to 2009-10 for England. The allocated sum rises to £11 million to include consequential funding for the devolved Administrations. Details of the winning projects have been placed in the Library of the House.

The Invest to Save Budget (ISB), set up following the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review, provides initial funding support for projects that increase the extent of joint working between different parts of the public sector, identify innovative ways of delivering public services, and reduce the cost of delivering the services and/or improve the quality and effectiveness of services delivered to the public.

This ninth bidding round was focused on supporting innovative approaches to the delivery of local services by third sector organisations. The intention was to encourage local authorities to work in partnership with local third sector organisations to deliver services in line with local needs and priorities.

Applicants were asked to address the priority areas of:

the third sector's role in delivering public services and building fairer communities—projects that deliver cash releasing efficiencies; and

projects that address the priorities set out in their local area agreement and support their community strategy—projects that are additional to those already funded by statutory bodies and which address recognised gaps in local service provision.

Successful projects are required to agree a detailed implementation plan, setting out how the project will be delivered. Each project must also provide six-monthly progress reports to sponsor departments and the Treasury and carry out an evaluation of the project's success once it has been completed. Wider dissemination of the good practice from completed projects is then fed back into the whole spectrum of public service providers.

This ninth ISB bidding round allocates the remainder of the £90 million awarded to the ISB in SR2004.

More information can be found on the ISB website at www.isb.gov.uk.