Department for Culture, Media and Sport minister Baroness Twycross has given Charity Commission leaders her backing after MPs criticised their role in the regulator's high profile legal row with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Last month the regulator’s chief executive David Holdsworth was criticised by the House of Commons Committee for Privileges following the spat with the ombudsman, which centred on its critical reports into the Commission’s handling of two sexual exploitation cases at charities.

These reports were subject to a failed attempt by the charity regulator to bring a judicial review into the ombudsman’s remit that would have impacted their laying before Parliament.

The Committee for Privileges had said Holdsworth’s evidence to MPs about the matter was “patently untrue” and also criticised the judgement of the Commission’s trustees for instigating the legal action.

Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Scriven had asked Baroness Twycross whether the government retains confidence in Holdsworth and the regulator’s board.

Twycross said: “I have full confidence in the leadership of the Charity Commission, and am confident that the board is taking action to address the concerns raised by the report, and to learn lessons in its handling of similar cases going forward.”

She also noted that the regulator has “apologised unreservedly” to parliament and has accepted the Committee for Privileges report in full.

The Charity Commission’s row with the ombudsman has also been criticised by Lara Hall, the complainant in one of the cases.

She is also concerned that more than £70,000 of public money had been spent on the legal action by the Commission, which had been “fighting tooth and nail to prevent evidence of their failures from receiving appropriate scrutiny”.

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