DCH 78 Tenovus
From:
Peter Searle [Peter.Searle@tenovus.com]Sent: 16 June 2004
15:16To: scrutiny@parliament.ukSubject: F.A.O Francene
Graham
Dear Francene Graham,
Re: Draft Charities Bill.
We write as part of response
to the draft charities bill in relation to door to door collections.
We are a registered charity
with 55 shops in England and Wales selling donated goods.
Much of these goods are
collected through door to door collections and we welcome the
proposed changes which will remove the current licensing regime
and remove the burden of having to apply for individual permits
from local authorities for smaller charities.
However we are concerned
about the benefits of deregulation being negated by the proposed
requirement to notify local authorities of the precise day or
date of each collection at least 14 days in advance and no more
than 6 months in advance.
This is, in our view,
a disproportionably detailed notification scheme which will not
only cost the charity a great deal of time and resource to administer
but will create a bureaucratic nightmare for the local authority.
The way our collections
for donated goods are organised needs to be kept flexible so that
we can respond to immediate local needs and the availability of
our stock collectors many of whom are volunteers.
Lack of storage space
means that long term planning of collections is not practicable
and to have to give at least 14 days notice will cause stock shortages
and damage to the good causes which the charity supports.
We would support changes
in the legislation that required notification of door to door
collection of donated goods by charities, to local authorities,
on a more periodic basis (eg. Every 6 months or annually) and
with more general information regarding timing and frequency.
There should not be a requirement for notification of every individual
collection.
We believe that these
proposed changes will also be welcomed by the local authorities.
As members of the Association of Charities Shops, we operate to
agreed standards and guidelines issued by the Association in relation
to door to door guidelines of donated stock. The real menace to
the public comes from fraudulent companies who move into an area
and blitz that area with collection sacks, often misleading the
public.
What is proposed in the
new legislation would not stop such collections but what is required
is for the ability of Trading Standards and the Police where applicable,
to be able to act where collections have taken place without prior
notification or where other aspects of the law are believed to
have been broken.
Peter Searle
Tenovus the cancer charity
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