{"id":76769,"date":"2016-12-02T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=dcbbdd024f320ac0333bc91013be4a76"},"modified":"2016-12-02T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-02T09:30:00","slug":"press-release-new-standards-announced-for-government-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=76769","title":{"rendered":"Press release: New standards announced for government grants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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These standards will be adopted by all departments to make sure that taxpayers\u2019 money, awarded through government grants, is properly agreed and spent.<\/p>\n

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Read the full list of the grants standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Included in the new set of grant standards is the creation of a Grants Advice Panel to consider \u2018high risk, new and contentious\u2019 expenditure as well as any significant increase in funding to existing grant schemes.<\/p>\n

In addition all departments will be required to have robust grants approval process for spend over \u00a3100,000, and all grants need to be reviewed annually at a minimum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government has engaged with a broad range of key partners, including those in the academic and research community, to understand the effect these standards will have on all sectors and to avoid any unintended consequences.\u00a0These standards are a transparent, robust, and proportionate way to manage risks in the government grants process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They will also include a requirement for departments to ensure that grant agreements provide a clear outline of what the funding is to be spent on and how this would be monitored.\u00a0Standards would put an end to grant money being wasted on activities not specified in the grant agreement, such as political lobbying.<\/p>\n

The grants improvement programme is led by the Minister for the Constitution Chris Skidmore and aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of grant making across government. The programme included incorporating recommendations from the Public Accounts Committee and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiries into Kids Company as well as reviewing grant programmes already underway.<\/p>\n

Some of the poor practices highlighted included:\u00a0<\/p>\n