Question

To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, for what reason the Church Commissioners have spent £5 million on Project Spire prior to approval from the Charity Commission.

The Church Commissioners has not spent that sum in connection with its response to historic links to African chattel enslavement (known by the project name Spire). Expenditure on this work to date has been limited to proportionate research into the Church Commissioners’ source of funds and consideration of its response to that history, with a view to maintaining public trust in the charity; and in connection with proper steps to explore regulatory authorisation by the Charity Commission.