Clause 4
Charities Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
Edward Miliband (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office; Doncaster North, Labour)
My understanding is that the hon. Gentleman is right. If his information came from formerly Home Office, now office of the third sector, officials, I am sure that it is right. [Interruption.] The letter did not come from them. Nevertheless, the hon. Gentleman’s description of the process is broadly right.
The clause gives the commission a duty to carry out whatever public and other consultation it thinks appropriate before issuing the guidance. My understanding is that the commission is very keen to provoke widespread public discussion about the nature of public benefit in general and how it will be applied. That is a good idea.
A number of hon. Members, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth, emphasised on Second Reading that they expected the commission to take into account views expressed in Parliament about how it should approach the whole process. I agree with that too.
The commission has published its illustrative guidance; we can expect that only to be illustrative before the Bill becomes law because, as the hon. Gentleman emphasised, the process is new for the commission, and it is important that it undertakes it well and properly. In the guidance, the commission says that it will interpret the public benefit requirement in the light of three criteria: case law, modern conditions and the removal of the presumption of public benefit. It says that after the Bill is enacted, it will issue a new version of the guidance as an exposure draft for public consultation. Having published that overall guidance, it will, as I said, look at specific areas. It is for the commission and the chief commissioner to move forward on that basis. I hope that that is helpful for the hon. Gentleman.