Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to ensure charities do not endorse or promote hate crimes or terrorism linked to Iran's governing regime.

As part of the Government’s action plan for social cohesion we have announced that the Charity Commission’s powers to tackle extremist abuse of charities will be extended. This includes automatically disqualifying individuals with a criminal conviction for hate crimes from serving as charity trustees or senior managers, and helping the Charity 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. The Charity Commission is not a prosecuting authority, so any allegation or evidence of criminal offences, including terrorism, is referred to the police to investigate.

The Charity Commission has published guidance for charities with links to Iran to be clear that charities must ensure any activity furthers their charity’s purposes and complies with the law and its guidance, or else face regulatory consequences.