Philip Hollobone – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much financial support his Department provided to Hope not Hate in each of the last three years; and what steps he takes to prevent the use of such monies for party political campaigning.

Stephen Williams

‘Hope Not Hate’ has not received any financial support from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

This Department provided Searchlight Educational Trust, a registered charity, with a grant of £66,000 in the financial year 2012-13 to establish community partnerships to foster integration in four neighbourhoods.

Following completion of the project, Searchlight Educational Trust changed their name to Hope Not Hate Educational Ltd. We monitored progress with the project closely and are satisfied that the funding for Searchlight Educational Trust was used for purposes outlined in the funding agreement and that no funding was used for party political campaigning. Conditions in the funding agreement prevent funds being spent on political campaigning. Furthermore, an organisation that exists for political purposes would not meet the criteria for charitable status – so we would be unable to award them grant under the Charities Act 2006.

I am aware that it has been claimed that the Department has funded campaigning by Hope not Hate against a certain political party. This is completely untrue.