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 help protect whistleblowers in small charities.

Charity workers in England and Wales have statutory protections and are able to make disclosures to the Charity Commission for England and Wales about their charity. Charity workers in Northern Ireland and Scotland also have statutory protections and are able to make disclosures to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator respectively.

Volunteers, including charity trustees, do not have the same statutory whistleblowing protections as workers. However, the Charity Commission treats whistleblowing disclosures by volunteers and trustees in the same way as disclosures by workers. DCMS considers the current protections for those who make whistleblowing disclosures, regardless of their status, to be appropriate.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales publishes guidance for charities on a range of subjects, including reporting serious wrongdoing at a charity as a worker or volunteer.