§ Lord Cocks of Hartcliffeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What criteria the Charity Commission use in deciding whether to prepare formal reports of particular inquiries; how many formal reports have been prepared for each of the years 1987–1997; how many of these formal reports have been published; and where they are available for inspection.
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe Charity Commission has the discretion to report the results of an inquiry as it sees fit. It reports annually inquiries of general interest in the Annual Report it submits to the Secretary of State. In the years 1987–1997, 34 cases were reported in this way. In addition, two inquiry reports have been published separately. In some cases summaries of findings of inquiries are also released to the press. No record has been kept of the number of times this has been done since 1987. The presumption on which the commission proceeds is that the outcome of inquiries is of concern to the trustees of the charity, any complainants and other people directly interested. The findings are given wider publicity where issues of public interest arise or where previous publicity makes it appropriate.