Clause 15
Charities Bill [Lords]
11:30 am
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland, Labour)
May I say how nice it is to see you in the Chair this morning, Mr. Gale? I shall speak to amendment Nos. 134 to 136, which are in my name.
Clauses 15 to 18—the cy-près clauses—refer to the practice in the charitable sector of having restricted and unrestricted funds. The distinction between restricted and unrestricted funds has a significant advantage, in that it often makes it easier for charities to raise money for particular pieces of work or causes. However, it can also be difficult to manage the restricted funds. They can be rather inflexible and, because of how the Bill is set out, they will continue to be too bureaucratic.
I shall give two examples of problems that I have seen arising from the treatment of such funds. The first is one that I referred to the other day—what I call the Leicestershire cobblers’ sons problem—in which money was given for a charitable purpose many years ago, but the need is no longer there. That is what is referred to in proposed new section 13(1A)(b) of the 1993 Act, which deals with cases in which
“the social and economic circumstances prevailing at the time of the proposed alteration of the original purposes”
have changed. In that instance, we need flexibility to spend the money on other work.