Charities (Hansard, 21 January 2004)

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal

The Charity Commission is the non-ministerial government department responsible for the registration and regulation of charities in England and Wales. There are currently 185,000 charities on the register. That figure includes charities and their subsidiaries. Not all charities are registered with the commission; some are not allowed to register (exempt charities) and others are excepted from the requirement to register.

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The commission has provided the table below, which details (a) the number of incorporated trading and incorporated non-trading charities; and (b) unincorporated non-trading charities. Those figures account for the charities with an established trading company.

Charities	Trading	Non-trading	Total
Incorporated	2,326	18,724	21,050
Unincorporated	1,973	141,717	143,690
Total	4,299	160,441
Total main charities (not including subsidiary charities)	164,740

In Scotland the Scottish Charities Index is maintained by the Inland Revenue. Around 28,000 charities are currently on the index although many of these are not active. Details of whether charities are trading or non-trading are not held.

There is no register of charities in Northern Ireland. Northern Irish charities wishing to claim charitable tax exemptions apply to the Inland Revenue. Approximately 3,700 Northern Irish charities have made claims over the four years to March 2003. Details of whether charities are trading or non-trading are not held.