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.

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.