Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of access to community spaces in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As I emphasised during a recent Westminster Hall debate, the Government recognises and celebrates the contribution that community spaces make to local people and we have taken steps to support more communities to have access to shared environments.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published in December 2024, sets out that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of shared spaces, community facilities (such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, open space, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship) and other local services to enhance the sustainability of communities and residential environments.
Libraries form a key example of these community spaces, Surrey County Council has 52 static libraries. The library service previously received £75,000 from the Libraries Improvement Fund to introduce flexible shelving within eight of its libraries (Ashtead, Chertsey, Dittons, Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere, Oxted, and Reigate). This allows libraries to move furniture around to reconfigure spaces and accommodate more events, services, and visitors.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on changes to the NPPF. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, includes proposals relating to community facilities. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of resources available to the Charity Commission for England and Wales to conduct investigations.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government keeps the Charity Commission's powers under regular review and is actively considering what further powers are required to support the Commission in regulating charities. As a non-ministerial department, the Charity Commission receives its funding directly from the Treasury. In the 2025 Spending Review the Charity Commission’s budget increased by over 27% to £37.9m for 2026-27. This will support the Commission to respond to increasing casework demands.
The Charity Commission already has the power to disqualify charity trustees whose conduct is damaging to public trust and confidence in charities under section 181A of the Charities Act 2011. As part of the Government’s action plan for social cohesion we have announced that the Charity Commission’s powers will be extended in order to tackle extremist abuse of charities and strengthen the Commission's oversight of the sector. This includes helping the Commission to disqualify charity trustees who have been excluded from the UK, deprived of British citizenship or are engaged in conduct which promotes violence or hatred.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to introduce powers enabling the Charity Commission for England and Wales to disqualify charity trustees whose conduct is deemed damaging to (a) public trust and (b) confidence in charities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government keeps the Charity Commission's powers under regular review and is actively considering what further powers are required to support the Commission in regulating charities. As a non-ministerial department, the Charity Commission receives its funding directly from the Treasury. In the 2025 Spending Review the Charity Commission’s budget increased by over 27% to £37.9m for 2026-27. This will support the Commission to respond to increasing casework demands.
The Charity Commission already has the power to disqualify charity trustees whose conduct is damaging to public trust and confidence in charities under section 181A of the Charities Act 2011. As part of the Government’s action plan for social cohesion we have announced that the Charity Commission’s powers will be extended in order to tackle extremist abuse of charities and strengthen the Commission's oversight of the sector. This includes helping the Commission to disqualify charity trustees who have been excluded from the UK, deprived of British citizenship or are engaged in conduct which promotes violence or hatred.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Charity Commission for England and Wales to investigate undisclosed contingent liabilities within registered charities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission’s role is to ensure that charity trustees comply with their duties as set out in charity law; that charities further their charitable purposes for the public benefit; and that there is no misconduct or mismanagement. I am confident that it has the ability to do so effectively.
Accounting rules cover when contingent liabilities and contingent assets should be disclosed in a charity's accounts, and charity trustees must ensure that they have complied with the requirements of relevant accounting standards. There is no set threshold over which contingent liabilities become a regulatory concern - it is dependent on an individual charity’s circumstances. However, the Charity Commission expects charity trustees or the charity’s auditor to report matters of material significance to the Charity Commission to assess.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many complaints relating to the governance of charities were received by the Charity Commission for England and Wales in the past year; and how many of those complaints resulted in a formal investigation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission does not publish data about categories of complaints, and therefore cannot provide the number of complaints specifically relating to governance received in the past year or how many resulted in a formal investigation.
The following table details the number of regulatory concern cases opened by the Charity Commission between 2021-2025, and how many of these relate to public complaints received by the Charity Commission. Data for 2020/21 is not comparable.
Year | 2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 |
Regulatory concern cases opened | N/A | 2,917 | 3,414 | 4,215 | 4,477 |
Of which is a complaint about a charity | N/A | 2,029 | 2,076 | 3,120 | 3,659 |
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many regulatory intervention cases were opened by the Charity Commission for England and Wales in each of the past five years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission does not publish data about categories of complaints, and therefore cannot provide the number of complaints specifically relating to governance received in the past year or how many resulted in a formal investigation.
The following table details the number of regulatory concern cases opened by the Charity Commission between 2021-2025, and how many of these relate to public complaints received by the Charity Commission. Data for 2020/21 is not comparable.
Year | 2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 |
Regulatory concern cases opened | N/A | 2,917 | 3,414 | 4,215 | 4,477 |
Of which is a complaint about a charity | N/A | 2,029 | 2,076 | 3,120 | 3,659 |
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of legislating to provide the Charity Commission for England and Wales with additional investigatory powers.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government keeps the Charity Commission's powers under regular review and is actively considering what further powers are required to support the Commission in regulating charities. As a non-ministerial department, the Charity Commission receives its funding directly from the Treasury. In the 2025 Spending Review the Charity Commission’s budget increased by over 27% to £37.9m for 2026-27. This will support the Commission to respond to increasing casework demands.
The Charity Commission already has the power to disqualify charity trustees whose conduct is damaging to public trust and confidence in charities under section 181A of the Charities Act 2011. As part of the Government’s action plan for social cohesion we have announced that the Charity Commission’s powers will be extended in order to tackle extremist abuse of charities and strengthen the Commission's oversight of the sector. This includes helping the Commission to disqualify charity trustees who have been excluded from the UK, deprived of British citizenship or are engaged in conduct which promotes violence or hatred.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what level of contingent liabilities charities can accumulate before regulatory intervention from the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission’s role is to ensure that charity trustees comply with their duties as set out in charity law; that charities further their charitable purposes for the public benefit; and that there is no misconduct or mismanagement. I am confident that it has the ability to do so effectively.
Accounting rules cover when contingent liabilities and contingent assets should be disclosed in a charity's accounts, and charity trustees must ensure that they have complied with the requirements of relevant accounting standards. There is no set threshold over which contingent liabilities become a regulatory concern - it is dependent on an individual charity’s circumstances. However, the Charity Commission expects charity trustees or the charity’s auditor to report matters of material significance to the Charity Commission to assess.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to help ensure that people are adequately supported to maintain an active lifestyle at each stage of life in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring people of all ages should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities to maintain an active lifestyle.
The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including through campaigns and guidance, providing more opportunities for people of all ages to be active.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to youth activities for young people in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government recently published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’, a 10 year plan to ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. This is backed by over £500 million of new money over the next 3 years from DCMS. We will be designing the funding and programmes in more detail over the next few months and will share more information in due course.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.