Clause 70
Charities Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Edward Miliband (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office; Doncaster North, Labour)
I sympathise with the intentions behind the amendments, but I hope that I can satisfy the hon. Gentleman that they are unnecessary.
On amendments Nos. 47 and 49, the compact of good practice, which was agreed between the Government and the voluntary sector and with which the hon. Gentleman will be familiar, is important because it covers precisely the issues that he discussed, including proportionality in monitoring requirements. He was right to raise the matter, because the interaction between the Government and the voluntary sector is important and we must get our practice right in that area. I do not think that the hon. Gentleman’s amendments would add all that much to what already exists, but I am sympathetic to the intentions behind them.
I shall deal briefly with amendments Nos. 48 and 50. Again, I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s view, but the distinction that I would draw is that the Government are often not best placed to disburse funds. It should not necessarily be the job of the new Office of the Third Sector to spend lots of time filtering grant applications. For example, V, a new charity for young people, will distribute resources on an arm’s length and independent basis to organisations that encourage volunteering opportunities for young people. It is better to use the voluntary sector’s expertise to do that sort of thing than to do it within Government.
However, that does not detract from the hon. Gentleman’s point. When the Government consider setting up new vehicles and institutions, we must be careful not to duplicate existing bodies that could do the job better. The compact is designed to cover that, too. I take his point in both cases, but hope that on the basis of reassuring words and firm intentions on my part, he will withdraw his amendments.