§ Lord VAIZEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied that four inquiries under Section 6 of the Charities Act 1960 represent an adequate degree of supervision of over 130,000 registered charities, in the last year for which records are available.
§ Lord BELSTEADI understand from the Charity Commissioners that it is only in the most serious and difficult cases that a person is formally appointed to hold an inquiry, and that four such appointments were made in 1979. The commissioners carry out some hundreds of other inquiries into the affairs of charities each year, but the number of these inquiries is not known. The number of formal appointments made in no way reflects the degree of supervision of registered charities exercised by the Charity Commissioners.