Introduction
Many charities and third sector organisations are reliant on public bodies for at least a portion of their revenue. Receiving taxpayers' money puts these organisations in a privileged position.
Stonewall – the LGBTQ+ charity – is one such group. However, it has also received significant scrutiny in recent years, particularly of its Diversity Champions scheme. Organisations pay a subscription to Stonewall in return for guidance on issues such as gender-neutral spaces, pronouns and transgender inclusion as part of this scheme.[1]
Taxpayer-funded lobbying must come to an end so that public money is not being used to distort political decision making by unduly advancing policy positions which taxpayers may seriously disagree with.
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Key findings
- Taxpayer support of Stonewall in 2021-22 was at least £1,221,222. That includes £709,225 from Diversity Champions, alongside £108,602 from conferences, events and training programmes and supplemented with £403,395 from grant income.
- 234 public sector organisations gave money to Stonewall via the Diversity Champions scheme, conferences, events and training programmes. In the preceding three years, at least 327 public sector organisations gave to the same scheme and programmes.[2]
- At least 175 public bodies are still members of the Diversity Champions.
- Separately, public bodies also gave grants to Stonewall. In 2021-22, this totalled £426,390. The Welsh and Scottish governments gave the highest amount of any public bodies, at £168,870 and £99,917, respectively.[3]
- The public sector body that generated the most non-grant revenue for Stonewall was King’s College London, at £15,930. This included a £6,000 membership fee for Diversity Champions, with the rest spent on training and conferences.
- Quanqos including Companies House, the Competition and Markets Authority and the Museum of London were previously members but no longer are.
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[1] Somerville, E., Major public sector bodies quit Stonewall diversity training as trans rights row intensifies, The Daily Telegraph, 29 May 2021.
[2] Simpson, D., Stonewall subsidy: Diversity Champions scheme, TaxPayers’ Alliance, August 2021
[3] Stonewall, Stonewall Equality Limited: Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2022, p. 28.