Memorandum from Mr W A Twemlow (DCH 30)
I am a humble solicitor with some experience
of acting for charities.
I find it extraordinary that (unless I have
missed something) the draft Charities Bill is totally silent upon
the issue as to what happens to the assets of a charity which
has previously been presumed to be for the public benefit but
ceases to be a charity by virtue of the change in the law proposed
by Clause 3 of the bill. Under existing charity law the assets
of a charity must stay in the charitable sector and be applied
cy-pres for the benefit of other charities. Is it the Government's
intention that that should be the case in the circumstances I
have described (leading, presumably, to the closure of the institutions
which fall into this category) or is it the Government's hope
that all such charities will strive so hard to satisfy the "public
benefit" test as to stay in the charity "sector"
so that the problem simply will not arise? If the latter, that
appear to be an extremely risky stance for the Government to take.
At the very least, it would seem to me, the Home Secretary has
an obligation to explain what is the Government's policy on this
issue, but I have not been able to find any answer to this point
in the various notes and other information available on the Home
Office website.
June 2004
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