Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place in the Library, copies of all audits and reviews conducted by his Department in respect of the spending of grants to Action on Smoking and Health.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 March to Question 69025.

In financial year 2012/13, the Department grant awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) (under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968) was included in a sample of grants that was reviewed in an internal audit of the grant management arrangements of the Department. The audit included visits to the charities that formed part of the sample to test the information they provided to the Department and to garner their views on how the Department engaged with them. ASH was included in the work because its grant fulfilled the sample criteria.

The internal audit was not a review of the organisation and the way that it operated, its focus was on the Department’s grant management. It found that, at the time, there were satisfactory arrangements in place in the Department. The audit report did not raise any adverse comments about ASH or include any recommendations in relation to them. It is not normal practice to place copies of Internal Audit reports in the Library.

Minutes of annual review meetings with ASH are available on request from the Department. These documents are held for six years in line with Cabinet Office guidance.

There is no requirement in the grant award for funding to be held in a separate account; however, the grant must be identified in annual accounts.