DCH 68 The Thalidomide Trust
The Thalidomide
Trust
11th June 2004
Francene Graham
Committee Assistant to the Joint Committee
On the Draft Charities Bill Scrutiny
Unit
Room G10
7 Milibank
London
SW1P 3JA
Evidence submitted by the Thalidomide
Trust
We have considered the provisions of
the Draft Charities Act and it has been reviewed by Trustees with
expertise in this field. We would like to comment in particular
on the regulatory objects laid out in Section 5 and the
provisions of Sections 16 and 17.
Section 5 (1) (c)
- The
objective of encouraging and enabling social and economic impact
The creation of a social and economic
objective for the Charity Commission would appear both to extend
the possible field of charity work well beyond the traditional
accepted scope and role of charities and also be argued to exclude
the work of charities such as our own. The terms "social"
and economic are capable of very wide interpretation and without
clearer definition have the potential to cause considerable confusion
in their application.
Sections 16 and 17 -
The power to direct the appropriation
of property
It is difficult to understand in what
way the existing powers of the Commission are insufficient in
dealing with breach of trust issues or charities that have ceased
to fulfil their original objectives. It is unclear what situations
are envisaged that would justify giving such draconian powers
to the Commission and especially what their effects may be when
taken in conjunction with the Commission objectives such as discussed
above. It would be helpful if there could be more clarity as to
situations in which the use of these powers would have been helpful
in the past, and some indications of possible situations where
they may be applied in the future.
It would appear that these provisions
could result in the award of unconfined, undefined and apparently
arbitrary power to the Commission and we consider they should
be reviewed.
Yours sincerely
Dr M W Johffson
BD PhD FCMI FRSA
Director
martin.j ohnson@thalidomidetrust.org
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