The Conservative Party met with various trusts and foundations early last year and asked whether, in light of the Budget deficit, they would be willing to help fund the early years of its prisoner reoffending policy until the savings started to materialise.  

David Emerson (pictured), chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations, confirmed that 18 months ago representatives from the shadow Cabinet met with the ACF and some its members to discuss the funding of the Tories’ prisoner reoffending programme.

“There was a discussion about whether trusts might be willing to support the costs of implementing this proposed policy until the savings from reduced reoffending were felt a few years down the line, but it was no more explicit than that,” said Emerson.

The revelation indicates not only how long in advance the Conservatives were preparing for government, but will add weight to concerns held by some in the sector that charities and the voluntary sector is viewed by the new government as an alternative source of funding for central government programmes.

But the foundations made clear the boundaries in this early meeting with the Conservative representatives, said Emerson.

“Our members present indicated that this wasn’t their role, but more significantly that [the suggestion] misunderstood the scale of funding that that policy would require compared with the much smaller resources available in the group of trusts who work on penal reform issues,” he said.

“We would always have indicated that apart from the policy/principle issue, the funds of our members are tiny compared to the scale of government funding involved or required.”