DCH 185 Churches Main Committee
Draft Charities Bill
Evidence submitted by the Churches Main
Committee to the Joint Parliamentary Committee
1. The Churches Main Committee consists
of some 40 Christian denominations and other bodies and also the
United Synagogue, and it is the main vehicle through which the
Government consults these bodies on proposals for changes in legislation
which directly affects them.
2. In general, following discussions
with the Home Office and Charity Commission, we welcome the broad
thrust of the Draft Bill and confine our comments to the following
aspects:
3.
(i) Meaning
of "charity" and "charitable purpose" (Clauses
1-3).
We have expressed concern about the
removal of the presumption of "public benefit" from
charities established for the advancement of religion. Although
we have been assured that this removal will not in practice bring
about any effective change in the present regime, we remain somewhat
uncertain about interpretations which may be placed by the Courts
on the words in Clause 3. We should like to see it made clear
that the "public benefit" test is equally met by organisations
which promote religious worship, which encourage evangelistic
or missionary endeavour and which seek to meet social or moral
needs within a church context. But we see the objections to setting
out such a list in the Bill. The best we can reasonably hope for
is that, in introducing the Bill, Ministers will clarify the purpose
of the legislation, so as to distinguish, in
relation to "religious"
bodies, those which would be seen as satisfying the "public
benefit" test.
(ii) Excepted
and Exempt Charities (Clauses 7-11). We
fully understand the reasoning behind the withdrawal of the concept
of "exception" (from registration) and the decision
to bring currently "excepted" charities within the requirement
to register by a gradual reduction in the threshold set for them.
We accept that a gross income of £100,000 is a reasonable
starting point. We ask that (a) in the interests both of charities
and the Charity Commission, the reduction is indeed gradual, so
that the date by which the threshold set for "excepted"
charities and the general threshold for small charities are merged
is no closer than say 20 years from the appointed day when the
legislation takes effect; and (b) the administration of the threshold
and the definition of "gross income" are reasonably
applied, so that during the period of
"exception" charities do not
from year to year fall within and outside the requirement to register.
The two "exempt" charities
in membership with us —
the Church Commissioners and
the Representative Body of the Church in Wales —
both have some concerns about
the proposals in the Draft Bill, which they are registering in
the appropriate quarter.
(iii) Public
Charitable Collections (Clauses 37- 43)
We approve the clarification and rationalisation
of the legislation governing collections. With regard to the exemption
for "local, short-term collections", we accept that
eg groups of carol singers, while exempted from the need to obtain
a certificate of fitness, should have to notify local authorities
in advance of their activities; but the Home Office have undertaken
to look closely at the wording of Clause 39 so as to ensure that,
whether carol singers are raising money for local or national
(including overseas) needs, the exemption applies.
4. We are grateful for the opportunity
to provide Written Evidence to the Committee and in doing so to
make clear that the churches and other bodies represented by the
Churches Main Committee broadly favour the legislative proposals
contained in the Draft Bill.
June 2004
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