Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with charities to discuss the impact of state aid rules on their work.

Neither my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State, nor I have had discussions with charities about the impact of these rules on their work.

The State aid rules apply to funding given to charities, as they would for any other body, where they are involved in economic activities. The rules are blind as to legal form; rather they are concerned with whether an entity is undertaking economic activities. And equally State aid may be granted legally to charities on the same terms as anyone else if it complies with the rules.