HC Deb 25 March 1965 vol 709 c113W
17. Mr. Thorpe

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the extent of charitable trust funds which are effectively frozen because of uncertainty or because of the extinction of the purposes for which originally created; and what steps he will take to enable such funds to be used for the public benefit.

Sir F. Soskice

No reliable estimate can be made of the total of wholly unused charitable funds; the machinery of registration and local reviews of charities provided by the Charities Act 1960 is intended to bring to light dormant or under-employed charity funds all over the country and ensure they are put to good use. This is the responsibility of the Charity Commissioners, who inform me that registration is now far advanced and that they will shortly be sending a circular to local authorities about the arrangements for local reviews.