Fiona Bruce
Main Page: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)Department Debates - View all Fiona Bruce's debates with the Cabinet Office
(14 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Tony Baldry
The difficulty with the gift aid scheme at the present moment is that churches and parishes have to maintain enormous numbers of paper records, just in case there is any spot check from HMRC. It involves thousands of volunteer hours just to do so, and it would be perfectly possible to do it as effectively online, much more simply. That would be in everyone’s interests, not least those of HMRC. The Church and, I am sure, other charities will continue to pursue that with ministerial colleagues in the Treasury and with the Treasury itself.
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)
3. What account the Church Commissioners take of ethical criteria when making investments.
Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)
7. What account the Church Commissioners take of ethical criteria when making investments.
Tony Baldry
The Church Commissioners are committed to managing our assets in a way that reflects the Church’s teaching and values and take advice on ethical investment policies from the Church’s ethical investment advisory group.
Fiona Bruce
How do the Church Commissioners use their substantial wealth to encourage responsible corporate practice?
Tony Baldry
My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. The Church Commissioners seek positively to encourage responsible corporate practice by the businesses in which we invest. We are signatories to the United Nations principles for responsible investment. We vote our shares in line with the importance we attach to good corporate governance. We continuously discuss environmental, social and governance issues with our investment managers, and if ever we should have a concern about corporate practice in a company in which we invest, we engage with that company to seek to influence its corporate behaviour at board level.