Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Bridges of Headley on 8 February 2016 (HLWS502), whether the policy announced in relation to the lobbying operations of charities applies to tax monies paid to charities in return for commissioned services.

The policy referred to in the written statement (HLWS502) was subsequently withdrawn and replaced through a wider policy to introduce a set of Minimum Standards for Government Grants, which were published on GOV.UK on 2 December 2016.

The Standard guidance states that departments are required to ensure details of eligible expenditure are included in all their grants agreements. They should also include items of expenditure that are expressly ineligible. The terms of these agreement must be sufficiently clear, to provide assurance that the grant is only used for the purposes for which it was awarded. The expectation is that paid for lobbying - unless a requirement of the grant - and attempting to exert undue influence using taxpayer funding, will always be precluded under those terms.

The Standards policy applies only to all general grants including those made either wholly or partly using Exchequer funding.