DCH 104 The Girls' Day School Trust
From the Chief Exexutive
Ms. F. Graham BH/AT
Committee Assistant to the Joint Committee
on the Draft Charities Bill
Scrutiny Unit
Room G10
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA 18th
June 2004
Dear Ms. Graham,
Further to my e.mail today, I enclose
a hard copy of the evidence that the Girls' Day School Trust wishes
to submit to the Joint Committee.
Yours sincerely,
EVIDENCE FOR THE JOINT COMMITTEE
ON THE DRAFT CHARITIES BILL - SUBMITTED BY THE GIRLS' DAY SCHOOL
TRUST
1.1 The Council of The Girls' Day School
Trust ('GDST') (Registered Charity Number 306988) welcomes publication
of the draft Charities Bill.
1.2 The GDST is a member of the Independent
Schools' Council ('ISC') and fully endorses the views of ISC submitted
in its evidence dated 2nd and 15th June
2004.
1.3 As the largest group of Independent
Schools in the United Kingdom, the GDST would also like to offer
the following observations to assist the Joint Committee in its
deliberations on the issue of public benefit.
2.1 The GDST was founded in 1872, with
the object of establishing and operating good and affordable day
schools for girls. It does not benefit from substantial endowments,
and its income is derived from fees, which are set at a level
to cover the costs of providing education to its pupils; any surplus
is invested back into the schools. There are currently around
19,500 pupils aged 3-18 and 3,500 staff in its 24 schools in England
and 1 in Wales. This represents about 9% of all girls in U.K.
independent schools. All our schools are non-denominational.
2.2 The core aim of the GDST is to
provide a broad-based, high-quality education to girls of intellectual
promise. The GDST is committed to delivering a well-rounded education,
and educating its pupils to be confident, caring people in whom
individuality of thought is teamed with social responsibility.
We believe that this in itself contributes to the broader public
benefit.
3.1 In 1944, the GDST joined the Government's
Direct Grant Scheme. When this was discontinued in 1976, GDST
schools reverted to full independence. From 1981, the GDST was
the largest participant in the Government's Assisted Places Scheme.
When this was phased out (from 1998), the GDST set up its own
bursary scheme to ensure that GDST schools remain accessible to
talented girls, so far as possible irrespective of the family's
financial circumstances.
3.2 The GDST continues to make a substantial
investment in its bursary scheme to ensure access is as broad
as possible. Currently some 16% of our senior school pupils receive
some level of financial assistance, although the scale of this
will, inevitably, vary from school to school. We do not offer
staff or sibling discounts on fees. Entry to our schools is based
solely on academic ability and potential.
3.3 We also operate an Open Access
Scheme at the Belvedere School in Liverpool, which is jointly
funded with the Sutton Trust. Entry to the Belvedere School through
the benefit of the Scheme is entirely on the basis of performance
in the selection procedure, regardless of ability to pay. The
success of the Scheme in pupil terms has really opened up life
chances for the cohorts of young people already in place
3.4 In addition, we work closely with
national and international sponsors, for example HSBC, which offers
means-tested scholarships to some of our most able students.
4 The GDST welcomes opportunities for
partnership with all sectors of the community, and is also keen
to disseminate and share best practice. Every GDST school is
engaged in a range of activities which provide tangible benefit
to the school's local community. In some cases, schools are inhibited
from offering greater access to their facilities because of conditions
attached to relevant planning permissions (such as restrictions
on hours of use and numbers of users). Nevertheless, the GDST
and its schools continue to develop existing arrangements and
explore further opportunities for sharing their facilities and
experience, for example by way of master classes, summer schools
and mentoring arrangements.
5. The GDST agrees with ISC's submission
that a statutory definition of public benefit would be potentially
too restrictive, preventing charities from developing and responding
to changing needs and circumstances. The continuing development
of existing case law would provide a more flexible means by which
the Charity Commission could fulfil its role of monitoring the
public benefit afforded by all charities.
Barbara Harrison
18/6/04
|
