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On behalf of the whole country, I want to offer our deepest gratitude and good wishes to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh following today’s announcement that he will stand down from public duties in the autumn.

From his steadfast support for Her Majesty the Queen to his inspirational Duke of Edinburgh Awards and his patronage of hundreds of charities and good causes, his contribution to our United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the wider world will be of huge benefit to us all for years to come.

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into Islamic Trust (Maidenhead), registered charity number 1034710. The inquiry was opened on 19 April 2017.

The charity, based in Maidenhead, has objects to provide facilities of worship and educational services for individuals practicing the Islamic faith.

In 2016 the charity was included in the Commission’s class inquiry into charities that are in default for submitting their statutory returns for 2 or more financial years. The charity was removed from the inquiry after the overdue accounts were submitted, and the Commission provided regulatory advice and guidance to the trustees in respect to their legal obligation to file accounts on time. Following the charity’s removal from the class inquiry, the trustees wrote to the Commission and provided assurances that the charity’s future statutory returns would be filed on time.

In February 2017, the trustees again failed to meet their legal obligations to file the charity’s statutory returns for the financial year end March 2016 on time. The trustees’ repeated failure to comply with their legal duties, particularly given the assurances previously provided, and the continued evidence of mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity warrants further investigation from the Commission as part of an inquiry.

The inquiry will examine:

• the administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees
• the financial controls and management of the charity
• the conduct of the trustees
• whether or not the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law

In opening the inquiry, the Commission has exercised its legal powers and made an order directing the trustees to file the charity’s outstanding statutory returns.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 36/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. Details of how the Commission reports on its regulatory work can be found on GOV.UK.
4. The purpose of an inquiry to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether there has been misconduct and mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity’s property, beneficiaries or work; decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.
5. The Commission’s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.
6. On 22 December 2016, the Commission published a report online detailing the findings of the class inquiry into the charity.
7. The Commission issued the Order under section 84 of the Charities Act 2011 on 19 April 2017. Section 84 gives the Commission the power to direct any action to be taken that it considers expedient in the interests of the charity.

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Peter Andrew Eagles QHC, BA, MTh, AKC, Deputy Chaplain-General HM Land Forces; Archdeacon for the Army, and Honorary Canon of Salisbury Cathedral, for election as Bishop of Sodor and Man in succession to the Right Reverend Robert Mar Erskine Paterson, MA, on his resignation on 11 November 2016.

The Venerable Peter Eagles, aged 57, studied at the School of Slavonic; East European Studies and at King’s College, London, and at the Universities of Heidelberg and Oxford. He trained for the ordained ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford.

He served his title at St Martin’s, Ruislip in the Diocese of London from 1989 to 1992. Since1992 he has served as a Chaplain in the British Army, ministering to soldiers and families and the wider community in many locations in the United Kingdom and overseas, including military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been Archdeacon for the Army since 2011, Honorary Chaplain to the Queen since 2013, and Honorary Canon of Salisbury Cathedral since 2015. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Peter is married to Gail, whom he met in the parish in Ruislip and with whom he has since lived in 14 different places in 25 years, and they have a son who graduated in 2016 from Balliol College and now works for a publishing firm in Oxford.

His interests include European languages and literature (in which he maintains active academic study and research), cross-cultural learning and discussion, restoring a small ancient house, and playing baroque arias on the oboe.

Fatal man overboard from the fishing vessel Pauline Mary while east of Hartlepool.