Diversity of School Provision - Children, Schools and Families Committee Contents


Letter to the Chairman of the Committee submitted by Rosie Chapman, Executive Director of Policy and Effectiveness, The Charity Commission

  You may remember we had a useful meeting a couple of months ago to discuss the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and the impact on charitable independent schools (and the possible knock-on effect on co-operation between the independent and maintained sectors).

  I was interested to hear the evidence Chris Parry, of the Independent Schools Council, gave to the Committee yesterday. As you can imagine we were disappointed by a lot of what he said, but I'm sure the Committee is used to hearing a range of views and opinions!

  However I did feel I ought to write to correct one factual error. Mr Parry asserted that the Commission has not given any assurances that the public benefit test will be applied proportionately when dealing with independent charitable schools. We have said time and again that we understand that (as with all charities) one size does not fit all, and that we will not have the same expectations of small schools as of larger schools with substantial endowments. This is made clear in the draft guidance itself on page 13, when we say that, "recognising the different circumstances of different fee-charging charities, we do not expect all fee-charging charities to meet the public benefit requirement in the same way. Nor do we expect small charities with few resources to be in a position to offer the same opportunities to benefit that larger charities with more resources at their disposal might be capable of providing". We also emphasised this point at the Independent Schools Council's recent conference on public benefit, when our Chair Dame Suzi Leather said in her speech, "for the majority of smaller independent schools the major hurdle you face is that of stretched, or dwindling, resources. We understand that, and won't expect you to be able to match the achievements of the wealthier schools."

  Proportionality is of course essential for any modern regulator and our approach to public benefit will be consistent with our general approach, which as you know is to work with charities to enable them to meet regulatory requirements and to expect more of those with more resources and capacity.

  I hope this provides useful clarification. As you know we are still consulting on our draft guidance, but if this evidence session has prompted any further questions do let me know how we can help.

May 2008





 
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