Regulation of the Charitable Sector and the Charities Act 2006
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House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee Regulation of the Charitable Sector and the Charities Act 2006 Written Evidence List of written evidence CH 01 [Rachel Wellman] CH 02 [Simon Cramp] CH 03 [Action on Smoking and Health] CH 04 [Sheila McKechnie Foundation] CH 05 [CIFAS] CH 06 [Sussex Village Halls Advisory Group] CH 07 [Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA)]] CH 08 [Local Government Association] CH 09 [War on Want] CH 10 [Baptist Union of Great Britain] CH 11 [New West End Company (NWEC)] CH 12 [HCA International] CH 13 [Sport plus Recreation Alliance] CH 14 [British Heart Foundation] CH 15 [Help the Hospices] CH 16 [Wellcome Trust] CH 17 [Self Help Group (SHG)] CH 18 [Independent Schools Council] CH 19 [Institute of Fundraising (IOF), Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA)] CH 20 [Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA)] CH 21 [Plymouth Brethren Christian Church] CH 22 [Charity Retail Association] CH 23 [UNISON] CH 24 [Charity Law Association (CLA)] CH 25 [Farrer & Co.] CH 26 [The Christian Institute] CH 27 [Scottish Council of Independent Schools] CH 28 [Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service] CH 29 [National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)] CH 30 [Institute of Fundraising (IOF)] CH 31 [Charity Finance Group (CFG)] CH 32 [Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)] CH 33 [Association for Charities (AfC)] CH 34 [Bates, Wells and Braithwaite] CH 35 [Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB)] CH 36 [British Red Cross] CH 37 [Nikki Brooker] CH 38 [Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector] CH 39 [Charity Commission] CH 40 [NAVCA] CH 41 [Call to Action Progress Group] CH 42 [Caroline Aldiss] CH 43 [IoF Additional evidence] CH 44 [Lewis Smith] CH 45 [Louisa Hutchinson] CH 46 [Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Taskforce] CH 47 [D R Orbison] CH 48 [Addition written evidence submitted by the Charity Commission] CH 49 [Marcus Anderson] CH 50 [Lord Hodgson] CH 51 [Plymouth Brethren Christian Church] CH 52 [Clothes Aid (Services) Ltd] CH 53 [Supplementary evidence from NCVO] CH 54 [Peter Luxton, Professor of Law, Cardiff University] CH 55 [Supplementary evidence from NAVCA] CH 56 [John Weightman] CH 57 [Kevin Curley] CH 58 [Hilary Wells] CH 59 [David Jennings] CH 60 [Garth Christie] CH 61 [Supplementary written evidence from Louisa Hutchinson] CH 62 [Supplementary written evidence from Charity Commission] CH 63 [Further supplementary written evidence from Charity Commission] CH 64 [Christine Parsons] CH 65 [James Farrant] CH 66 [Peter Hamilton] CH 67 [Ian Evershed] CH 68 [Evan and Evelyn Reynolds] CH 69 [Richard Browning] CH 70 [Jim Fidler] CH 71 [Mike Brown] CH 72 [Ken Hazell] CH 73 [Ken McLean] CH 74 [Charles and Monica Arnett] CH 75 [Chris Bourne] CH 76 [David Meatyard] CH 77 [Rosanna Gomez] CH 78 [Priscilla Calder] CH 79 [James Remmington] CH 80 [Jim Turner] CH 81 [Stephen Juby] CH 82 [Ross Markham] CH 83 [Gerard Clayson] CH 84 [J M Wells] CH 85 [Malcolm Poole] CH 86 [Ben Eagle] CH 87 [Chris Stutterheim] CH 88 [Dudley Clayson] CH 89 [Gordon Wallach] CH 90 [Andrew Smith] CH 91 [James Walker] CH 92 [A B Guest] CH 93 [Richard Marks] CH 94 [Malcolm Holmes] CH 95 [Andrew White] CH 96 [Richard Devine] CH 97 [Anthony Scott] CH 98 [John R Edwards] CH 99 [Samuel White] CH100 [Mark Whiteside] CH 101 [David Howarth] CH 102 [JMP Architects] CH 103 [Duncan Small] CH 104 [K Deryck South] CH 105 [James Sheddon] CH 106 [Samantha Spencer] CH 107 [Rob Furse] CH 108 [Stephen Furse] CH 109 [Stephen Hill] CH 110 [John Lowe] CH 111 [Gavin Sellars] CH 112 [Donovan Payne] CH 113 [Murray Walker] CH 114 [Jenni Thewlis] CH 115 [Roger Napthine] CH 116 [Hugh Liesching] CH 117 [Roy Greeno] CH 118 [Alan Nunn] CH 119 [Iain Munn] CH 120 [Mike Fox] CH 121 [Alastair Munn] CH 122 [Gordon McCreadie] CH 123 [Garth Davey] CH 124 [Andrew Wheeler] CH 125 [Bill Noakes] CH 126 [Ronnie and Zoe Devine] CH 127 [Andrew and Liz Furse] CH 128 [Adrian Fowler] CH 129 [Russell Fleck] CH 130 [Andrew Burtenshaw] CH 131 [One Stop Bookkeeping and Payroll] CH 132 [Russell Pillar] CH 133 [Adrian Warne] CH 134 [Ken Price] CH 135 [Keith Price] CH 136 [Gordon Cooper] CH 137 [Andrew Francis] CH 138 [John Carlyon] CH 139 [Scott Matthews] CH 140 [Mark Bidmead] CH 141 Daniel Rosenfelder] CH 142 [Joe Rennicks] CH 143 [Neil Payne] CH 144 [Tim Douglas] CH 145 [Sue Dallow] CH 146 [Carl Munn] CH 147 [Fiona Smerdon] CH 148 [Dick Dallow] CH 149 [Andrew Melvin] CH 150 [Andrew Devine] CH 151 [Russell van As] CH 152 [Ben Sewell] CH 153 [Richard Fentiman] CH 154 [Cedric Fairweather] CH 155 [Gordon and Laura Fleck] CH 156 [Arthur and Rachel Pallister] CH 157 [David Hyland] CH 158 [Phill Chatwin] CH 159 [Nick Randall] CH 160 [Parwinder Singh Rai] CH 161 [Ann Bassinder] CH 162 [Terri Hazard] CH 163 [Dean Williams] CH 164 [Sarah Bayley] CH 165 [Nigel Pinkawa] CH 166 [Kevin Beck] CH 167 [Tim Doouss] CH 168 [Fiona Currie] CH 169 [Alan Cheeseman] CH 170 [Sean Pearce] CH 171 [Martin McDonagh] CH 172 [Tony Dent] CH 173 [William G Hathorn and Peter Trevvett] CH 174 [Paul Grange] CH 175 [Peter Smith] CH 176 [Simon Ellis] CH 177 [Simon Coleman] CH 178 [John Preus] CH 179 [Paul Adams] CH 180 [Shaun Briddon] CH 181 [Clifford Hilton] CH 182 [James Talman] CH 183 [Valerie Evershed] CH 184 [Peter Morton] CH 185 [Lance and Reeva Tunley] CH 186 [Stewart Peeb] CH 187 [The Druid Network] CH 188 [Old Mill Accountancy] CH 189 [Geoffrey Glass] CH 190 [Institute of Economic Affairs (supplementary)] CH 191 [Cabinet Office (supplementary)] CH 192 [Charity Commission (supplementary)] Written evidence submitted by Rachel Wellman (CH 01) 1. To what extent has the Charities Act 2006 achieved its intended effects of: b. improving the regulation of charity fundraising, and reducing regulation on the sector, especially for smaller charities? It would be more useful if it introduced a de minimis threshold into the definition of 'commercial participator'. Currently small businesses that wish to raise a few hundred pounds for charities cannot legally do so as the amount they raise is too small for it to be worth the charity's time in preparing an agreement with them. Alternatively the requirement to have a written signed agreement could be replaced by the requirement to have the charity's written consent (which could be by email). Then charities could choose whether to require a written agreement or just grant consent conditional on complying with terms that are sent or set out on their website. Charities should be permitted to develop a 'Raising Money for X Charity' logo that they can let any supporters use for free so that they do not have to charge their commercial participator VAT on their donations. The rules on charity raffles should be changed so that all lotteries below a certain size where all profits go to charity can be held without a licence, rather than just those raffles that are held at a non-commercial event. c. providing a clear definition of charity, with an emphasis on public benefit? The requirement for trustees to state in their report that a charity acts for the public benefit and they have had regard to the charity commission's guidance should be dropped as it leads to charities whose public benefit is obvious e.g. cancer research adding a pointless section to their report. 2. What should be the key functions of the Charity Commission? Providing guidance on best practice without fettering trustees' discretion. For example, the length of time a trustee can serve should not be limited by law - this proposal would put off people setting up family foundations that are funded entirely from their private income as after less than a decade they could not carry on running them. Such rules assume that all charities are the same and what is right for one is necessarily right for another. No-one has told Richard Branson to stop running Virgin because he has been doing it for more than 9 years - yet Lord Hodgson suggests limiting trustees' terms to nine years. Instead the Commission should continue to offer advice and guidance on succession planning etc. Provided they are using their resources for charitable purposes and are transparent and accountable, trustees should have freedom to run the charity as they think fit. 3. How should the Charity Commission be funded? 4. Is the current threshold for registration with the Charity Commission set at an appropriate level? Small charities should be entitled to register if they wish to - many rely on such registration as a sign they are a legitimate charity. Alternatively, HMRC registration of charities should be made more widely known and publicised so that when a small charity registers with HMRC they can use their HMRC reference number to demonstrate they are a legitimate charity. 5. How valid are concerns that there are too many charities? Not valid - the number of charities is dependent on the number of people and organisations wanting to do something for the greater good - the more people that want to do that the better. The 'free market' of donor support will determine which charities continue. August 2012 Written evidence submitted by Simon Cramp (CH 02) Please see below my submission on this important inquiry. My name is Simon Cramp and I have three disabilities principally a learning disability and I have served on a board and gone to conferences that change the rules between 1998 to 2010 and for Mencap was a key player in changing the rules on involving people with a learning disability in the decision making process.