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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) officials in his Department and (b) representatives of the Charity Commission have had discussions with (i) funding organisations and (ii) institutional donors regarding the use of restricted project funds by (A) charities and (B) civil society organisations to cover core running costs during the covid-19 outbreak.

DCMS and the Charity Commission are proactively engaging across the sector, to maintain a complete picture of the impact of coronavirus, and working to identify the additional support charities require through this time of financial instability. As such, the Commission is publishing regular updates to its COVID-19 guidance for the charity sector on its website.

As the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, the Charity Commission’s approach to regulation during this period is to be as flexible and pragmatic as possible, while helping trustees to be aware of and think about the wider or longer impact of their decisions on their charity.

This guidance provides advice to charities on the use of reserves and restricted funds: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-the-charity-sector#using-reserves-and-restricted-funds.