Committee delivers damning report into high profile charity

A committee of MPs has hit out at the £40 million in public cash given to failed charity Kids Company - and questioned the returns it brought.

Westminster’s Public Audit Committee (PAC) believe vulnerable children are likely to have lost out because the charity was given preferential treatment by government ministers.

Money was given to Kids Company to the detriment of "other, deserving" charities, the MPs said.

London-based Kids Company collapsed in August after claims of financial mismanagement.

In funding Kids Company for so long they have not served taxpayers across the country well

It has been claimed it recieved preferential treatment after being feted by prime minister David Cameron and senior government ministers.

Over £43m government cash was given to the charity since 1996 a sum far in excess of what other charities would be given, the committe concluded in a scathing report.

Many decision to fund the charity "were not based on evidence" and failed to follow due process.

And despite "all the warning signs" about the charity's financial situation and the impact of its work, funding "continued and was never seriously questioned, let alone stopped".

The report said government ministers relied on the charity’s own performance assessments and didn’t seek independent evidence of its performance.

Civil servants were also accused of failing to stand up to ministers who, the MPs say, favoured the charity.

The report stated: "In funding Kids Company for so long they have not served taxpayers across the country well.”

The National Audit Office is investigating the grants given to Kids Company, and the charity is also the subject of a statutory investigation by the Charity Commission and an inquiry by the Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Batmanghelidjh has strongly denied accusations of financial mismanagement at the charity.