To ask the Minister for Communities what protections are in place to ensure that, where there is a conflict of interest between an organisation being investigated and one or more Charity Commissioners, appropriate Departmental processes are in place to ensure openness and transparency is maintained and that any person with a potential or confirmed conflict of interest is not involved in the process.

Charity Commissioners agree to abide by the seven principles of public life and agree to declare any personal or business interests which may, or may be perceived to, influence their judgement when performing their duties as a member of the Commission. Failure to do so could lead to their appointment being withdrawn.

The Commission’s Code of Conduct and the Standing Orders for Board meetings are publicly available on the Commission’s website. These require that Commissioners must abide by the rules of the Commission in handling conflicts of interest, including that all interests are made publicly available and maintained on the Commission’s website.

Should a specific issue arise through the course of a Commissioner’s work that could give rise to a potential conflict, they are required to disclose their interest and withdraw from any discussion or consideration of the matter.

The Commission has committed to a review of its approach to conflicts of interest flowing from recommendations of a number of recent governance reviews.