The Integrated Personal Commissioning Scheme for Veterans does not grant funding to Charities.

Where a charity chooses to offer its goods or services for free and invites voluntary donations, with no minimum payment required and with no expectation of anything in return, no VAT is charged.

Where the charity wishes to sell its goods and services for a set price, and is VAT registered, it must charge VAT unless a VAT relief exists. There is no VAT due on an amount paid voluntarily over and above the set price.

Charities benefit from a range of tax reliefs, including a zero-rate relief for the sale of donated goods. Costed tax reliefs value these at over £5.4 billion in the year ending April 2022.

While all taxes are kept under review, we have no plans to make changes to the VAT treatment of minimum donations.

As part of the Autumn 2018 Budget, £10 million capital funding was allocated for air ambulance services in England. A call for bids for charities to apply for funding was launched by the Department and 14 applications were received. Nine applications were successful, and these air ambulance charities will receive a share of £10 million funding as per the table below:

As part of the Autumn 2018 Budget, £10 million capital funding was allocated for air ambulance services in England. A call for bids for charities to apply for funding was launched by the Department and 14 applications were received. Nine applications were successful, and these air ambulance charities will receive a share of £10 million funding as per the table below:

As part of the Autumn 2018 Budget, £10 million capital funding was allocated for air ambulance services in England. A call for bids for charities to apply for funding was launched by the Department and 14 applications were received. Nine applications were successful, and these air ambulance charities will receive a share of £10 million funding as per the table below:

The Chair of the review was recently granted an extension by one month, and will make recommendations to government by the end of January 2018. Timing and format of publication is to be agreed with the Chair.

The independent review of Full Time Social Action is due to make recommendations to Government by the end of December 2017. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will respond to these recommendations in the New Year.

Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) is a tax on the insurer, and there is no obligation to pass the increase on to the customer.

All tax policy is kept under review, however, it would be challenging to implement an exemption for insurance purchased by any specific group. Any such legislation would be very difficult for insurers to implement since this would require them to differentiate between customers who were buying the same type of insurance products.

Charities are a vital part of our society and the Government continues to support them and their donors, including through tax reliefs worth over £5 billion in 2015-16.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.

Letter from Sam Younger, dated 18 June 2013:

I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many charities there are in Barnsley Central, South Yorkshire and England respectively.

There are 140 charities registered in Barnsley Central and 2,256 in South Yorkshire.

The Charity Commission is the regulator for charities in England and Wales, in total there are 163,083 charities on the register. We estimate that approximately 7,800 of these have correspondence addresses in Wales, the remaining will have correspondence addresses in England.

All charities that wish to benefit from UK charity and donor tax exemptions and reliefs must apply to HM Revenue and Customs.

The Charity Commission and HM Revenue and Customs are considering better ways to share information and work together to tackle abuse of charity—such as a single point of submission for applications to HMRC and the Charity Commission, recommended by Lord Hodgson in his report on his review of the Charities Act 2006.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission, have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.

Letter from Sam Younger, dated 18 June 2013:

I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on how many occasions the Charity Commission has passed information to law enforcement authorities which has led to a prosecution in each year since 2010.

The following refers to the number of times we have passed information to law enforcement agencies such as the police, but also including the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, HMRC and others, in each year since 2010.

2010/11: 832

2011/12: 735

2012/13: 1,164

2013/14: 258 (since April 1)

As a non-prosecuting authority we do not hold figures for prosecutions, the police hold these. A manual search has shown that, over the past three years, we have also made over 30 referrals about suspected serious criminal activity connected to charities to the police and other law enforcement agencies. Our staff have also provided over 100 police witness statements. For example, in July

2012 Tyrone Pooley, a former charity trustee of the charity Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted (now removed from our register) was convicted of charges of theft and supplying false/misleading information to the Commission as a result of our referral to the police.

We have further examples of action we have taken that has led to prosecutions in our annual report that will be laid before Parliament ahead of recess. You will receive a copy of this report, which will also be made available on our website:

www.charitycommission.gov.uk

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.

Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013:

I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of charity trustees removed by the Charity Commission for unacceptable behaviour in each year since 2010.

First, may I start by explaining under the current law that any one can become a trustee of a charity, unless they are disqualified by law from acting under an individual's charity governing document or under the Charities Act 2011. Sections 178 - 180 of the Charities Act 2011 prescribe that the following people will commit a criminal offence if they act and they fall into one of a number categories including:

anyone who has an unspent conviction for an offence involving deception or dishonesty

anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt

anyone who has been removed from trusteeship of a charity by the Court or the Commission for misconduct or mismanagement

anyone under a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986

anyone who has entered into a composition or arrangement with their creditors which includes an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), and is currently on the Insolvency Service Register.

We carry out various checks on individuals to identify where this may be the case.

Aside from this, the Commission has a limited power to remove an individual from their office of trusteeship: this power can only be exercised after a statutory inquiry has been opened and where there is sufficient evidence that a) there has been misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charily b) it is desirable to act to protect the property of the charity or secure its proper application and c) the individual in question has been responsible for, privy to, has contributed to or facilitated the misconduct or mismanagement. In addition, we have to be satisfied, in accordance with our statutory duty to have regard to the principles of best regulatory practice, that it is proportionate and targeted only at a case in which action is needed. Under the legislation, before we can exercise the power, we must issue a notice of intention to remove giving the individual concerned at least one month's prior notice of the removal when they can make representations.

Since 2010, we have not gone past the notice stage to exercise that particular power. We have exercised the power to suspend an individual (which can be a precursor to removal) where there is evidence of misconduct or mismanagement or risk to property the following times:

2009/10—1;

2010/11—1;

2011/12—1;

Sometimes we cannot proceed to use our powers for a number of reasons; including as in one recent case where we issued a notice of intention to remove but before we could remove them the individual was convicted with an offence in connection with the mismanagement in the charity that disqualified them anyway. It may also no longer be necessary because the individual resigns their position during our regulatory engagement with them.

Our website:

http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/about-charities/register-of-removed-trustees/

hosts the Register of Removed Trustees that enables others to search for the name of a person against the Register. The Register of Removed Trustees provides details of anyone who has been removed as a trustee by the High Court or the Commission. There are currently 105 people who were removed by the court or the Commission (England and Wales). For each disqualified person, we hold their name, address at the time of removal, the date when the order was made and the name of the charity concerned.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.

Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013:

I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of enforcement visits that have been carried out by the Charity Commission in each year since 2010.

In the context of our normal casework and investigations the Commission conducts various forms of visits and meetings with charities and trustees, either visiting premises or asking them to attend our offices to deal with various non compliance issues. These can include carrying out financial books and records inspections. In the past year this has taken place on over 90 occasions.

In addition, we conduct more ‘compliance visits’ as part of targeted, proactive monitoring work. Until December 2011 this was carried out by the Monitoring Unit in the Compliance Division. After the Strategic Review, following budget cuts of a third in real terms between 2009/10 and 2014/15, this work has continued in the Investigations and Enforcement Team. The following refers to the number of ‘compliance visits’ the respective teams have carried out in the last 3 years:

2009/10—14 visits

2010/11—20 visits

2011/12—21 visits

2012/13—25 visits

2013/14—11 visits since April 1

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.

Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013:

I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the checks that take place when an organisation applies to register as a charity to ensure that there is a clear public benefit from the activities of that organisation.

It is a matter of law whether an organisation is a charity. An organisation must have exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit in order to be registered.

In assessing an application to become a charity we consider:

Whether the purposes stated in the governing document fall within the descriptions of purposes set out in the Charities Act 2011

Whether the information provided by the applicant demonstrates that those purposes are for the public benefit

It is not to be presumed that a purpose of a particular description is for the public benefit (section 4 (2) of the 2011 Act).

In making our assessment we refer to:

‘Charities and Public Benefit’ and the linked series of public benefit publications

Our published guidance in the RR and CC series

The Decisions of the Commission and relevant case law

Where the expressed purposes of the organisation are not clear or if it is not clear how it will further that purpose for the public benefit we will also consider any relevant actual or proposed activities. In some cases we also liaise with other agencies or Government departments. If we have concerns relating to possible private benefit we request further details.

Determining charitable status of an organisation is in most cases straightforward, but in a minority of cases it may be a complex decision.

If we are unable to determine that the applicant organisation is established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit we may reject the application. Last year, 36 organisations' applications were rejected. An organisation which is refused may appeal to the Charity Tribunal. It may also invoke our internal Decision Review procedures.