House of Commons Amendments

Session 2012 - 13
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

41

House of Commons

Thursday 25 October 2012

Public Bill Committee

New Amendments handed in are marked thus

Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance

Small Charitable Donations Bill

Note

The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the

Committee [16 October 2012].

Clause No.5

Amendment (No. 2) proposed, in page 3, line 30, leave out subsection (4) and insert—

‘(4)
In the application of section 993 for the purposes of subsection (3)—

(a)
a charity that is a trust is to be treated as if it were a company (and

accordingly a person), including in this subsection;
5
(b)
a charity that is a trust has “control” of another person if the trustees (in

their capacity as trustees of the trust) have, or any of them has, control of

the person;

(c)
a person (other than a charity regulator) has “control” of a charity that is

a trust if—
10
(i)
the person is a trustee of the charity and some or all of the powers

of the trustees of the charity could be exercised by the person

acting alone or by the person acting together with any other

persons who are trustees of the charity and who are connected

with the person,
15
(ii)
the person, alone or together with other persons, has power to

appoint or remove a trustee of the charity, or

(iii)
the person, alone or together with other persons, has any power

of approval or direction in relation to the carrying out by the

trustees of any of their functions.
20
(4A)
A charity that is a trust is also to be regarded as connected with another charity

that is a trust at a time for the purposes of this section if, at that time, at least half

of the trustees of one of the charities are—

(a)
trustees of the other charity,

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
42

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

25
(b)
persons who are connected with persons who are trustees of the other

charity, or

(c)
a combination of both.

(4B)
In determining whether a person is connected with another person for the

purposes of subsection (4)(c)(i) or (4A)(b), apply section 993 of the Income Tax

Act 2007, with the omission of subsection (3) of that section (and without the

modifications in subsection (4) above).’.(Sajid Javid).

Question proposed, That the Amendment be made.

As an Amendment to Sajid Javid’s proposed Amendment (No. 2):—

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

(a)

Line  24,  leave out subparagraphs (b) and (c).

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment has the effect of broadening the number of organisations eligible for the GASDS

by removing the stated parts of section 993 of the Income Tax Act 2007 from the definition of

‘connected for the purposes of the Bill.

Sajid Javid

3

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  38,  at end insert—

‘( )
The Treasury may by order amend this Act so as to change the circumstances in

which a charity is connected with another charity in a tax year for the purposes of

the Act.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment gives the Treasury power by order to amend the meaning of ‘connected charities’

for the purposes of the Bill. Such an order would be made by statutory instrument subject to the

draft affirmative procedure in this House (see Clause 16).

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

27

Clause  6,  page  4,  line  10,  leave out paragraph (a) and insert—

‘(a)
the sum of the small donations that are made to the charity in the tax year

for the purposes of running the charity’s charitable activities from a

community building, or’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment seeks to remove the requirement that donations can only be made in the

community building while it is running its charitable activities.

Sajid Javid

4

Clause  6,  page  4,  line  11,  after ‘year’ insert ‘by group members’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 6.

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
43

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

28

Clause  6,  page  4,  line  14,  leave out subsections (4) and (5).

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 27.

Sajid Javid

5

Clause  6,  page  4,  line  20,  after ‘year’ insert ‘by group members’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 6.

Sajid Javid

6

Clause  6,  page  4,  line  21,  at end insert—

‘( )
“Group member”, in relation to a charitable activity run by a charity in a

community building, means a member of the group of people with whom the

charity is carrying out the activity.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment, and amendments 4 and 5, have the effect that small donations collected in

community buildings do not count towards the “community building amount” for the purposes of

clause 6 unless they are collected from persons with whom the charity is carrying out the

charitable activity.

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

29

Clause  7,  page  4,  leave out lines 24 to 42 and insert—

‘7
Meaning of “running charitable activities from a community building” etc

(1)
For the purposes of this Act a charity “runs” charitable activities from a

community building in a tax year if the activity is of a kind that the charity makes

available to the public or a section of the public.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 27 and also seeks to amend the meaning of

‘running charitable activities from a community building’ by removing from it the requirement that

10 or more people must be present in a community building on six or more occasions.

Sajid Javid

7

Clause  7,  page  4,  line  26,  leave out from ‘if’ to ‘(and’ in line 28 and insert ‘, on 6 or

more occasions in the tax year—

(a)
it carries out a charitable activity with a group of people in the

community building, at least 10 of whom are in the class of people for

whose benefit the charitable activity is being carried out,

(b)
the activity is of a kind that the charity makes available to the public or a

section of the public, and

(c)
none of the group is required to pay to access the building, or the part of

the building, in which the activity is carried out;’.

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
44

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment alters the definition of “running” charitable activities in a community building

so that, in particular, the activity must be of a kind made available to the public and none of the

group may be required to pay for access to the building or the part of the building.

Sajid Javid

8

Clause  7,  page  4,  line  31,  leave out paragraph (a).

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment, with amendment 7, have the effect that staff of a charity can count towards the

group of 10 or more people required for a charity to be “running” charitable activities in a

community building, as long as the staff are beneficiaries of the activity.

Sajid Javid

9

Clause  7,  page  4,  line  35,  leave out subsection (3).

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 8.

Sajid Javid

10

Clause  7,  page  4,  leave out line 42 and insert ‘subsection (1)’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 8.

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

30

Clause  8,  page  5,  leave out lines 5 to 8 and insert—

‘(1)
In this Act “community building”—

(a)
means a building (such as a village hall, town hall or place of worship),

or those parts of it, to which the public or a section of the public have

access at some or all times, or

(b)
for charities that do not run their charitable activities in a community

building, a building (such as an office), or those parts of it, from which a

charity runs its charitable activities, but’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 29 and clarifies that charities that do not run their

services in a building that the public has access to, but instead run them outside the building, for

example meals on wheels services, are able to benefit from the GASDS.

Sajid Javid

11

Clause  8,  page  5,  line  9,  leave out from ‘include’ to end of line 10 and insert ‘any

parts of a building excluded by subsection (1A) or (1B)’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment, with amendment 12, enables parts of a commercial building to qualify as a

community building in certain circumstances. Broadly-speaking, the part must be available for use

exclusively by a charity at the relevant time, and its commercial use must not be the sale or supply

of goods.

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
45

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

Sajid Javid

12

Clause  8,  page  5,  line  10,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
Any parts of a building that are used wholly or mainly for residential purposes or

the sale or supply of goods are excluded.

(1B)
Any parts of a building that are used wholly or mainly for other commercial
5
purposes are excluded, except at any times when—

(a)
a charity is carrying out a charitable activity in those parts, and

(b)
the parts are available for use exclusively by the charity in carrying out

the activity.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 11.

As an Amendment to Sajid Javid’s proposed Amendment (No. 12):—

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

(a)

Line  2,  leave out ‘residential purposes or’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment has the effect of including residential premises within the definition of

‘community buildings’ for the purposes of the Bill.

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

31

Clause  9,  page  6,  line  19,  at end add—

‘(8)

(a)
The Treasury must, within 24 months of this Act coming into force,

prepare a report assessing the impact of the community buildings

provisions on the ability of charities to benefit from the Gift Aid Small

Donations Scheme and lay it before the House of Commons’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment seeks to require the Treasury to assess and report to the House of Commons on

the impact of the community buildings provisions on the ability of charities to benefit from the

GASDS within two years of the Act coming into force.

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

17

Clause  11,  page  6,  line  28,  leave out subsection (1).

Member’s explanatory statement

To delete the requirement that the scheme can only be run by HMRC.

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
46

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

24

Clause  11,  page  6,  line  29,  after ‘HMRC’, insert ‘, the Charity Commission or any

other government department.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

Similar to purpose of amendment 17—to explore why only HMRC and not alternative bodies

should administer what is a small grants scheme.

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

25

Clause  11,  page  7,  line  5,  at end insert—

‘(f)
make provision in relation to the government department or organisation

with direct oversight of and responsibility for the top-up payments

scheme.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

Similar to purpose of amendment 17—to explore why only HMRC and not alternative bodies

should administer what is a small grants scheme.

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

32

Clause  12,  page  7,  line  37,  at end insert—

‘(b)
or a charity merges with another charity,’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment seeks to clarify that merged charities will also be covered by Clause 12.

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

34

Clause  17,  page  9,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(e)
industrial and provident societies that operate as charities.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

To ensure that charities incorporated as industrial and provident societies are eligible under

GASDS.

Cathy Jamieson

Mr Gareth Thomas

33

Clause  17,  page  9,  line  23,  leave out from ‘2011’ to end of line 26.

Public Bill Committee: 25 October 2012
47

Small Charitable Donations Bill, continued

Member’s explanatory statement

Sections 7 and 356 of the Charities Act 2011 already make the necessary provisions stated here.

Accordingly, the reference to the law of Scotland (and incidentally to the law of Northern Ireland)

in Clause 17 is supererogatory.

New Clauses

Annual report

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Treasury must, within 12 months of this Act coming into force and annually

thereafter, prepare a report on the operation of the Small Charitable Donations

scheme and lay it before the House of Commons.

(2)
Each such report must provide details of—

(a)
the number of charities benefiting from the scheme;

(b)
total expenditure on the scheme;

(c)
the level of fraud in the scheme.’.

Post-legislative review

Mr Gareth Thomas

Cathy Jamieson

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘The Government shall, within two years of this Act coming into force, undertake

a review of its operation and lay a report of the review before the House of

Commons.’.

Complementary Gift Aid for small donations to small charities

Mark Durkan

NC3

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
Smaller charities, community amateur sports clubs or recently established

charities, which do not meet the eligibility criteria in section (1) shall be eligible

to apply to HM Revenue and Customs for complementary Gift Aid for small

donations.



© Parliamentary copyright	Revised 25 October 2012