Clause 7
Charities Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Andrew Turner (Shadow Minister (Charities), Home Affairs; Isle of Wight, Conservative)
Good morning, Mrs. Humble. It is a great pleasure to meet once again under your chairmanship. Outside, the sky is grey, and the sun has ceased to shine on our proceedings, but many of us will be pleased that it is a little less humid than on Tuesday. I understand that the M4 is shrouded in thunder—if one can be shrouded in thunder—from Reading to Somerset, and we may have some of that weather later today. However, none of it will be associated with the proceedings of this Committee. I assure you of that.
One of the Charity Commission’s objectives is defined in the Bill as being
“to promote compliance by charity trustees with their legal obligations in exercising control and management of the administration of their charities.”
However, there is some evidence that, in trying to meet that objective, the commission can—and, indeed, did, before it had that objective—act with a heavy hand rather than a light touch. That is driving some people away from volunteering as trustees or supporters of charities. Accordingly, I propose amendment No. 8, which would insert the following at the end of that compliance objective:
‘in particular by reducing the administrative burden on charities.’
On Tuesday, I mentioned my concern about the burden of registering as a charity and demonstrating public benefit. Let me quote that elusive piece of evidence that I could not find on Tuesday, but which is just as relevant to this debate, I assure you, Mrs. Humble. It was sent to my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition via a Conservative party website. It began, “Dear David Cameron”. In fact, I recall that, on Tuesday, I expressed some scepticism about whether the writer was a lifelong Labour supporter, as he claimed. The fact that he addresses my right hon. Friend as “David Cameron” rather than Mr Cameron or David—