DCH 8 Volunteering England
Submission to the Joint Committee on the Draft
Charities Bill
1. Volunteering England
1.1. Volunteering England is the new national
volunteer development agency for England. It was formed on 1st
April 2004 through the merger of the Consortium on Opportunities
for Volunteering, the National Centre for Volunteering and Volunteer
Development England.
1.2. Volunteering England promotes volunteering
as a powerful force for change, both for those who volunteer and
for the wider community.
1.3. We understand the term volunteering to include
formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary
organisations as well as informal community participation.
1.4. Our purpose is to increase the quality,
quantity, contribution and accessibility of volunteering throughout
England.
1.5. We recognise volunteering's value to society
and celebrate the contribution of volunteers in all their diversity.
1.6. We are committed to building a dynamic,
strategic, co-ordinated and sustainable infrastructure for volunteering
at national, regional and local level.
1.7. We speak with a single voice for volunteering
in all its diversity.
1.8. Our work links research, policy, innovation,
good practice and grant making in the involvement of volunteers.
2. Scope of Volunteering England's submission
2.1. We welcome the draft Bill, which addresses
the need to modernise Charity law, creating a legal and regulatory
framework which we believe will increase public understanding
of, and confidence in, charity.
2.2. We welcome the introduction of a universal
public benefit test and the creation of an independent appeals
tribunal for organisations wishing to challenge Charity Commission
decisions.
2.3. We have focussed our submission on areas
of the Draft Charities Bill which specifically refer to volunteers
or volunteering, or which through their enactment would have an
impact on volunteers and volunteering.
2.4. We have also commented on specific areas
of the Draft Charities Bill which through their enactment would
have an impact on charities providing the volunteering infrastructure
in England.
2.4.1. In addressing these issues we have also
considered the relationship between the Draft Charities Bill and
Volunteering: a code of good practice (the Compact Code
on volunteering)
2.5. We endorse NCVO's wider commentary and submission
on the Draft Charities Bill, particularly in relation to strengthening
the regulatory, rather than advisory, function of the Charity
Commission.
3. Comments on the Draft Charities Bill
3.1. We welcome the proposed specific inclusion
of the promotion of volunteering within the range of charitable
purpose (sections 2(2)(e) and 2(3)(b)(ii)).
3.2. We welcome the proposed changes to the registration
of smaller charities. These are, by definition and almost without
exception, organisations run entirely by volunteers without any
permanent paid staff. In these charities the trustees are normally
the people delivering the activity of the organisation and the
recognition that they need not be subject to the process of registration,
unless they so choose, is appropriate.
3.3. We welcome the proposed changes relating
to the annual audit or examination of unincorporated charities
in section 22.
3.3.1. We are, however, concerned that such changes
will have limited impact on smaller charities in receipt of grants
from some statutory bodies and trusts.
3.3.1.1. Our concern is based on our experience
of small organisations providing volunteering infrastructure at
a local level and falling below the current levels requiring an
audit as opposed to an independent examination.
3.3.1.2. Some of these organisations are currently
required by their funders to undergo a full audit, a process which
increases both costs and administrative burdens, even where there
is no legislative requirement for this to occur.
3.3.1.3. We are concerned that the Draft Charities
Bill's proposed changes will not have the intended effect unless
there is also strong guidance to funding bodies, especially local
authorities, regarding this issue.
3.4. We welcome the proposed changes relating
to the annual audit or examination of incorporated charities in
section 25.
3.4.1. However, the concerns raised in point
3.3.1 and sub-sections above also apply.
3.5. We welcome the introduction of section 26,
charitable incorporated organisations, and believe that this will
ease the administrative burden of dual registration whilst at
the same time making it easier for Trustees to understand the
legislative framework within which they operate.
3.6. We are pleased to see that the principle
of trustees of a charity being volunteers remains. This is a distinctive
feature of the voluntary and community sector and one we believe
to be fundamental to its continued success and the public regard
and trust enjoyed by charities.
3.6.1. However, there can already be confusion
within boards of trustees about the existing allowances for the
remuneration of one of their members for professional services.
3.6.1.1. We are concerned that the extension
to the existing position could increase confusion.
3.6.2. We are also concerned that there could
be deemed to be an erosion of the principle of trustees not materially
benefiting from their position within the provisions of section
27.
3.6.2.1. It is our opinion that goods and services
required to be purchased by a charity are generally available
from a multiplicity of providers. If such provision is to be
made by a trustee within the provisions of this section, we believe
that there should be more stringent rules that would require the
charity to prove that the goods and/or services were not able
to be provided from an alternative source, and report this within
its annual accounts.
3.6.3. We believe that the Draft Charity Bill
should also be explicit as to whether a trustee of a charity and
a member of staff of the same charity can be allowed within the
relationships described in 73B (6) within section 27.
3.6.3.1. We would recommend that a charity should
not appoint a member of its staff where a relationship exists
as defined in section 73B (6) within section 27; nor should a
charity be able to appoint a trustee where it already employs
a member of staff who has a relationship with the proposed trustee
as defined within this section.
3.7. We welcome the contents of section 34.
3.7.1. Having recently been through a merger
ourselves the provisions of section 34 would have helped to simplify
the process we went through.
3.7.2. We believe that the provisions of section
34 will make it easier for charities that wish to merge to be
able to do so.
Christopher Spence MBE
Chief Executive
7th June 2004
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