Committee publication · Correspondence · 2 July 2025
Letter from Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Committee Chair, to Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, regarding the recruitment of the Chair of the Charity Commission, dated 26 June 2025
From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Inquiry: The work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Summary
Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, responds to the Secretary of State's consultation on recruiting the next Charity Commission Chair. The letter emphasizes the urgency and scale of regulatory challenges facing charities—including cost pressures, fraud, and foreign interference—and sets expectations for the candidate: demonstrable awareness of the Commission's reputation challenges, relevant experience, and independence to advocate for the sector.
Key findings
- Charities face a 'perfect storm' of increased operating costs (taxes, wages, bills) while the sector is pressured by malevolent operators, foreign regimes, and inadequate trustees.
- Previous Charity Commission Chair recruitment processes have resulted in unsuitable candidates or undermined appointees; this process must be 'fair, impartial and confidential'.
- Seven months have elapsed since the previous Chair announced his intention to step down (November 2024) before recruitment began—the Committee views this delay as concerning.
- The successful candidate must demonstrate awareness of the Commission's reputation crisis, relevant experience, and independence to challenge both rogue trustees and government when necessary.
- The Committee expects the Government to commit to concrete action to strengthen the Commission's work and ensure charities operate legally and responsibly, given financial, reputational, and national security stakes.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Lisa Nandy MP, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Charity Commission, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Notable line
“Having a regulator that's fighting fit, with a Chair that's ready to deal with these challenges and prepared to meet new ones, is vital.”
Key Quotes
“Charities across the country are facing a perfect storm of increased costs to operate, including taxes, wages and bills.”
“… malevolent operators in the sector, whether working on behalf of foreign regimes, taking advantage of the most vulnerable in our society, or simply not being up to the responsibility of running a charity, are putting immense pressure on the Commission.”
“The recruitments for previous Chairs of the Committee have ended with candidates who were unsuitable for the role, or who went through a process that left them deeply undermined from the outset.”
“It is already concerning that, despite the previous Chair's announcement in November 2024 of his intention to step down from the role, it has taken almost seven months for the Government to begin this recruitment process.”
“… they have the independence needed stand up for the sector within government and against those rogue trustees that are undermining all those who donate to, volunteer for and work with our country's fantastic charities.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗