Annex
Dear Mr Kaufman,
I write to you to express our concerns with
one particular section of the Draft Charities Bill, presented
by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in May 2004.
Our concerns are with regards to the proposal
to extend the definition of a public place within which public
charitable collections must be authorised [by a local authority]
to cover areas such as station concourses, supermarket forecourts
and precincts (as stated in Part 3, Clause 37, sections 1 and
5.)
In its current draft, access for face-to-face
fundraising within private sites, which are currently owned, operated
and managed by private site operators (such as shopping centre
managers or retail companies,) would have to be negotiated with
the appropriate local authority.
We do not agree with this and would like to
give you the reasons why:
— As the situation currently stands,
the private site operator enters into a commercial agreement with
the company which wants to market fundraising or commercial products
on its property. This agreement is brokered by 3w Logistics.
— Just as local authorities do not
get involved in other types of commercial agreements, we do not
agree that local authorities should get involved in agreements
of this type.
— It is the private site operator's
responsibility to manage their site as they best see fit. For
example, if a shopper is injured in a shopping centre due to negligence
on the part of the shopping centre manager, the injured party
takes his grievance to the shopping centre manager, not to the
local authority.
— The Draft Bill proposes that fundraising
organisations obtain a certificate of fitness from appropriate
local authorities. It then proposes that for street fundraising,
the fundraising organisations negotiate and agree access with
individual local authorities. With regards to private sites, these
negotiations should be between the fundraising organisation and
the private site operators. Local authorities currently have no
jurisdiction over private sites with regards to optimum fundraising
capacities or access.
It is the private site operators who decide
what capacity they have and what access they can allow for charitable
collections. 3w Logistics believes that these operators should
be allowed to enter into whatever commercial arrangements they
feel most benefit the charity clients.
Daryl Tinworth
Group Account Director
3W Logistics Ltd
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