COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A flagship project launched by the Prime Minister is under investigation for allegedly misusing funds from taxpayers' money and charity pots to to pay off its directors and settle debts.



The beleaguered Big Society Network, which David Cameron launched with huge fanfare in 2010, has already been criticised for its dud projects, which were allegedly only approved because officials were pressured to change the rules.

And now the Charity Commission has launched its own probe into payments for 'consultancy' to a Tory donor and allegations huge payouts meant for doing good in the community were siphoned off to pay off creditors.

The payments were allegedly made to two directors of the charity and its chair Martyn Rose, a Conservative Party donor, the Independent reported.

The revelations have prompted Labour to call for a separate probe into allegations that charity officials were pressured to favour the Government's 'pet projects'.

News of the probe came days after a public spending watchdog issued a critical report about how National Lottery and Government funds were handed over to and used by the Big Society Network.

A former trustee of one grants body has claimed it was 'forced' to award sums to the project totalling £480,000 without undertaking the usual checks.

Shadow civil society minister Lisa Nandy said she was now asking the Cabinet Secretary to investigate whether 'political pressure' was exerted to secure money for ministers' 'pet projects'.

The Big Society Network was launched by David Cameron at 10 Downing Street two months after winning power in 2010, with the aim of encouraging the kind of community work and volunteering he had put at the heart of the Conservative manifesto for that year's election.

But the performance of many of the projects it ran has been heavily criticised and the National Audit Office (NAO) exposed problems with how £2million worth of grants were handed over to it.

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