§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charities have been investigated by the Charities Commission in each of the past three years on the issue of whether the charities concerned were incurring expenditure on non-charitable purposes; and what was the outcome of these inquiries.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation in the form requested is not available. However, I understand from the Charity Commission that of 1,000 complaints received by the194W charity commissioners in the 12 months to 31 July 1987 180 arose from allegations of dishonesty or fraud on the part of trustees, their agents or employees, or of trustees benefitting improperly from their trust. A further 80 complaints alleged inadvertant or deliberately improper political activities including the expenditure of charitable monies on such activities. In nine of these latter cases action was taken following investigations. In eight cases advice was given to trustees about campaigning. In the remaining case the commission required the cost of advertisements judged to be political in nature to be repaid to the charity. Similar information is not available for previous years.