Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Charity Commission in fulfilling its duties in relation to the Garden Bridge Trust.

The Charity Commission is the independent regulator and registrar for charities in England and Wales. Its duty is to look at the extent trustees are meeting their legal duties and whether charities are complying with charity law

It is not in the regulatory remit of the Commission to examine other issues such as the merits of a project or how it is funded

In 2016-17 the Commission undertook extensive scrutiny of the governance and oversight of the Garden Bridge Trust by its trustees. That case concluded that the trustees were meeting their duties and were acting in compliance with charity law.

The outcomes of that case were published on the Commission’s website in early 2017:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/595064/garden_bridge_trust.pdf

The Commission has continued its regulatory oversight since publishing the report. It has seen no evidence to date that the eventual failure of the project was as a result of failings or omissions on the part of the trustees of the Garden Bridge Trust, but is reviewing the final financial statements now available as part of its ongoing regulatory assessment

The Commission has continued to hold the Trust to account as necessary, such as when it was late in filing its accounts.

The Commission has confirmed that it expects the Trust to publishing a full statement of total project costs. Once the Commission has received those documents and, following analysis, it is comfortable that there are no further regulatory concerns, the charity will move to wind up.