Schedule
9Repeals
And
Revocation Amendments
made: No. 188, in schedule 9, page 170, line 5, at beginning
insert—
‘Police,
Factories, &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916
(c. 31) | In
section 5(1), in paragraph (b) of the proviso, the words from “,
and no representation”
onwards.’. |
No.
189, in
schedule 9, page 170, line 18, column
2, at end
insert— | ‘In
section 79, in subsection (6) the words “(subject to subsection
(7))”, and subsection
(7).’. |
No.
190, in
schedule 9, page 170, line 20, column
2, at end
insert— | ‘In
Schedule 7, the entry relating to the Police, Factories, &c.
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916
(c. 31).’. |
No.
197, in schedule 9, page 170, leave out
line 29.—[Edward
Miliband.] Question
proposed, That schedule 9, as amended, be the Ninth schedule to the
Bill.
Peter
Bottomley: I shall not go through what was in schedule 9
before it was amended, but the Minister will notice that there are
references to the Charities Acts 1992 and 1993, among others. Does he
have any information to give the Committee about when the Charities Act
will be consolidated? When he read from the Charities Act, he was
reading from a text that had a commentary to go with it because of the
number of amendments.
It would be helpful to know
whether the Government plan to make the Charities Act accessible to
others. Various other provisions, such as the Regulatory Reform
(National Health Service Charitable and Non-Charitable Trust Accounts
and Audit) Order 2005, are involved as well, but the key point is the
Charities Act itself. After the Bill becomes an Act, one of the first
things that the Government ought to do is to consolidate it so that it
is accessible to those who are not necessarily lawyers with
textbooks.
Edward
Miliband: I agree. It is an urgent task for us. After the
Bill completes its passage, we hope to proceed as soon as
possible. Schedule
9, as amended, agreed
to.
Schedule
10Transitional
provisions and
savings Amendments
made: No. 198, in schedule 10, page 174, line 4, at end
insert— ‘Section
(Disclosure of information to and by Northern Ireland regulator):
Disclosure of information to and by Northern Ireland
regulator15A In
relation to an offence committed in England and Wales before the
commencement of section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003
(c. 44) (general limit on magistrates’ courts power to
impose imprisonment), the reference to 12 months in section (Disclosure
of information to and by Northern Ireland regulator)(6) is to be read
as a reference to 6
months.’. No.
199, in
schedule 10, page 174, line 20, at
end insert— ‘18A
In relation to an offence committed in England and Wales before the
commencement of section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003
(c. 44) (general limit on magistrates’ courts
power to impose imprisonment), the reference to 12 months in section
10A(4) of the 1993 Act (as inserted by paragraph 99 of Schedule 8 to
this Act) is to be read as a reference to 6
months.’.— [Edward
Miliband.]Schedule
10, as amended, agreed
to. Clauses 75
and 76 ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
77Commencement Amendment
made: No. 193, in clause 77, page 80, line 17, at end insert
‘and (f) paragraph 99 of Schedule 8
so far as it confers power to make regulations, and section 74(1) so
far as relating to that paragraph.’.—[Edward
Miliband.] Clause
77, as amended, ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
78Short
title and
extent Amendments
made: No. 177, in clause 78, page 80, line 34, after
‘to’
insert— ‘(a)
’. No.
178, in
clause 78, page 80, line 35, after
‘(c. 6),’ insert
‘or (b) those made by Schedule 8 in
the Police, Factories, &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916
(c. 31), or (c) the
repeal made in that Act by Schedule 9,’.—[Edward
Miliband.]
Edward
Miliband: I beg to move amendmentNo. 179, in
clause 78, page 80, line 39, leave
out subsection (8). The
amendment will remove the privilege amendment made in another place,
taking account of the fact that the other place cannot legislate on
public
expenditure. Amendment
agreed
to. Clause 78,
as amended, ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
New
Clause
1Duties
of trustees ‘(1) A charity
trustee must, in exercising functions in that capacity, act in the
interests of the charity and must, in
particular— (a) seek, in
good faith, to ensure that the charity acts in a manner which is
consistent with its
purposes; (b) act with the care
and diligence that it is reasonable to expect of a person who is
managing the affairs of another person;
and (c) in circumstances
capable of giving rise to a conflict of interest between the charity
and any person responsible for the appointment or remuneration of the
charity trustee— (i) put
the interests of the charity before those of the other person,
or (ii) where any other duty
prevents the charity trustee from doing so, disclose the conflicting
interest to the charity and refrain from participating in any
deliberation or decision of the other charity trustees with respect to
the matter in question.
(2) The charity trustees of a charity must ensure
that the charity complies with any direction, requirement, notice or
duty imposed on it by virtue of this
Act. (3) Subsections (1) and
(2) are without prejudice to any other duty imposed by enactment or
otherwise on a charity trustee in relation to the exercise of functions
in that capacity. (4) Any
breach of the duties under subsections (1) or (2) is to be treated as
being misconduct in the administration of the
charity. (5) All charity
trustees must take such steps as are reasonably practicable for the
purposes of
ensuring— (a) that any
breach of a duty under subsections (1) or (2) is corrected by the
trustee concerned and not repeated;
and (b) that any trustee who
has been in serious or persistent breach of either or both of those
duties is removed as a
trustee. (6) For the purposes
of this section “charity trustee” includes an individual
representative of a corporate
trustee.’.—[Mr.
Turner.] Brought
up, and read the First
time.
Mr.
Turner: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second
time. This is an
attempt to set out the responsibilities and duties of trustees in a
single clause. I am sure that the Minister will tell us that they
appear elsewhere in the legislation, or they might appear spread out
over lots of different parts of the legislation. It may be that in the
consolidation to which my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing, West
referred a moment ago, those duties and responsibilities will be
clarified and brought together. The new clause is probing rather than
one that I expect to press to a
vote. 2.30
pm
Edward
Miliband: I sympathise with the sentiments behind the
clause. The Trustee Act 2000 covers unincorporated charities, and the
Companies Act 1985 and the Company Law Reform Bill currently being
debated elsewhere in the House cover incorporated charities, giving
them very similar responsibilities. It is important to clarify the
duties of trustees, so it is worth saying that the Charity Commission
has produced a popular and well respected booklet called “The
Essential Trustee: What you need to know”, which covers the
responsibilities and duties of trustees. The hon. Gentleman raises an
important issue and the main things to say is that it is set out
clearly in documents available to trustees. I hope that he will
withdraw the new
clause.
Peter
Bottomley: May I follow the Minister by saying that his
words about the booklet “The Essential Trustee” will be
warmly endorsed across the House? The Charity Commission, which
produced it, has done a service to trustees, and those who have
presented it have put it in an accessible form. They give a brief
introduction and then expand on what people need to know. It is one of
the examples of the Charity Commission doing its job well and allowing
trustees to do theirs
better.
Mr.
Turner: I am grateful to the Minister for his explanation.
I beg to ask leave to withdraw the
motion. Motion and
clause, by leave, withdrawn.
New Clause
6Disqualification
for acting as a charity
trustee Brought
up, and read the First
time.
James
Duddridge: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second
time. It is a pleasure
as always, Mr. Gale, to serve under your chairmanship. I
wish to be brief but I shall touch on the matter, which I raised on
Second Reading, of people with learning disabilities being unable to
serve as trustees. I have had an awful lot of conflicting advice,
despite the reassurances on Second Reading that such people could
stand. One of my researchers phoned the Charity Commission yesterday
and explained the problem, and the Charity Commission said,
“Yes, absolutely, people with disabilities can stand as
trustees.” My researcher asked, “People with learning
disabilities?” and the reply was, “No, definitely
not.” The commission then said that maybe they could. We need
more clarity. The
matter seems to hang on the
words: “A
trustee shall cease to hold office if he or she becomes incapable by
reason of mental disorder, illness or injury of managing his own
affairs.” That is quite an
old-fashioned, paternalistic and pejorative view of people with
disabilities. Even if he cannot support the new clause, it would be
good if the Minister could find some way to support the underlying
principle.
Martin
Horwood: Briefly, I wish to commend the spirit of the new
clause. I reassure the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East,
that even under current charity law there is latitude for trustees to
be appointed in such circumstances. My own experience of the
Alzheimer’s Society, which deals not only with
Alzheimer’s disease but with other forms of dementia, included
the moment when the first person with dementia was appointed as a
trustee. His business experience, intelligence and different
perspective on the running of the charity was incredibly valuable and
he was a very effective trustee. The nature of his dementia did not
preclude him from involvement in any of the charity’s decision
making. I am not sure that the hon. Gentleman’s fears are well
founded, but I commend to the Minister the spirit of the new
clause.
Edward
Miliband: We all owe a debt to the hon. Member for
Rochford and Southend, East for raising the issue. I have a few things
to say on it. On Second
Reading, the hon. Gentleman said that his worry was prompted by the
situation of the SHIELDS—supporting, helping, informing everyone
with learning disabilities in Southend—parliament, an advocacy
organisation of which he is a trustee. Mandy Smedley, the administrator
of the SHIELDS parliament received advice from the commission that
people with learning difficulties cannot be charity trustees. The
commission looked into that and has confirmed that the advice given
through its telephone help line was incorrect. It will be writing to
her to apologise and to confirm the legal
position. I have
discussed the matter raised by the hon. Gentleman with representatives
of the commission
since Second Reading. The commission needs to be more aware of the issue
in the future and must ensure that proper guidance is given. To that
end, I hope that several things happen, the first of which is that the
commission will write to the hon. Gentleman and set out the position
more clearly. Secondly, it will consider updating the document
“Users on Board”, which is about users of charities
becoming trustees, to make it absolutely clear that people with
learning disabilities are not excluded from being trustees, but,
indeed, encouraged to be trustees as part of its commitment to
diversity. It will also look at updating other documents, including
“Finding New Trustees”, to take account of such issues.
The latter document will not be updated so quickly, but the commission
will be making quick progress to update “Users on
Board”. | 
