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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Charity Commission communicated concerns to (a) charities and (b) her Department on the political use of (i) email accounts and (ii) social media profiles by employees of charities classified as working in education in the last five years.

For many years, the Charity Commission has published clear guidance on political and campaigning activity by charities. The Charity Commission also recently published a shorter and more accessible version of this guidance (a ‘5-minute guide’), to help communicate its key principles to charity trustees.

If an individual has concerns that a charity’s political or campaigning activity goes beyond what is permitted, they should raise them with the Charity Commission. Such concerns could include the inappropriate use of the charity’s IT or social media.