To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what discussions the Office of the Third Sector has had with (a) HM Treasury and (b) the Department of Health on the applicability to NHS charities of International Accounting Standard 27; and if she will make a statement. (307170)

Officials from the Office of the Third Sector have regular discussions with HM Treasury colleagues on a range of matters relevant to the third sector, including the application of international accounting standards. No discussions have taken place on this subject between the Office of the Third Sector and the Department of Health.

The application of accounting standards and the regulation of charities are distinct matters. Policy in relation to the application of accounting standards is for HM Treasury, which is implementing international financial reporting standards across the central Government sector (including the NHS), advised by the independent Financial Reporting Advisory Board. If there were concerns about the independence of a charity, notwithstanding its accounting treatment, then it would be for the Charity Commission as independent regulator of charities in England and Wales to pursue those concerns.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much money has been allocated to charities from the Hardship Fund in each month since the fund’s establishment; and if she will make a statement. (307185)

To date, the Hardship Fund has offered grants to 181 third sector organisations worth a total of £15.95 million.

Examples of individual grants include £187,569 to a children’s hospice, £185,000 to a homelessness charity, £163,000 to a community organisation that helps disadvantaged families and children and vulnerable adults and £250,000 to a mental health charity.

The monthly breakdown is set out in the following table.