Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 19 January 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 January 2016. It was answered by Rob Wilson (Conservative) on Wednesday, 27 January 2016 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Charities: Radicalism

Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will ensure that charity commissions across the UK collaborate to ensure that extremist groups are unable to obtain charitable status.

Answer: There are three bodies that regulate charities in the UK; the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. In all three jurisdictions organisations must be established for exclusively charitable purposes to be recognised and registered as charities. All applications to register an organisation as a charity are determined by whether or not an organisation meets the legal test for registration. All three bodies have robust processes for assessing any application for registration as a charity. The three regulators regularly meet to discuss areas of common concern and have provisions in their respective legislation which facilitates the exchange of information to assist and enable another to discharge their statutory functions.

Secondary information