DCH 52 Community Action Hampshire
Comments on Draft Charities Bill
From: Community Action Hampshire,
a countywide Council for Voluntary Service and Rural Community
Council
1.0 Clauses 1-3: definition of charity
and public benefit test
It is imperative that the requirement
to deliver public benefit is more robust than currently envisaged.
Whilst expanding the list of charitable purposes may be laudable,
and encourage active citizenship, there is a danger of the term
'charity' becoming debased and discredited. At the heart of charitable
activity should be the drive to make society a fairer place, ironing
out inequalities and disadvantages. Therefore while certain categories
of charitable purposes, (eg education, health, amateur sport)
could deliver real benefits, they could equally, and indeed are
currently seen to, discriminate against large sections of the
community because of the way those services are delivered. Occasional
use of facilities by the community should not qualify as delivering
public benefit. 'Advancement of religion' is another example of
where the public benefit test must be vigorously applied, as advancement
of religion per se could mitigate against social cohesion.
1.1
The Charity Commission must undertake a rolling programme to check
that public benefit is being delivered.
2.0 Clause 21: Power to enter premises
The draft Bill gives the Charity Commission considerable
additional regulatory powers, eg power of entry into premises,
the right to seize documents, etc and at the same time it is expected
to act as an advisory service to the sector. This could be seen
as a barrier, not so much for the larger charities, but certainly
the smaller ones, who would normally readily seek advice. If
they suspect that the Commission is going to leap on them for
some misdemeanour, are they going to contact them? Consideration
should be given to contracting out the advisory service, possibly
to an organisation such as the NCVO at national level, but preferably
to the lowest level possible (organisations like to source advice
and assistance as close to home as possible), therefore to a subregional
body or consortium/network.
|
