Alan Milburn to chair draft Charities Bill committee

Howard Lake | 16 May 2004 | News

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Former Health Secretary Alan Milburn MP will be the chairman of the new Joint Committee on the draft Charities Bill which will examine issues include the proposed regulation of fundraising.

The Joint Committee consists of six MPs and six peers. It will take oral and written evidence on the draft Charities Bill, which is expected to be published at the end of May 2004, and make its recommendations in a report by 30 September 2004.

The Committee expects to start taking oral evidence in early June. Alan Milburn said: “We are working to a tight timetable – not of our own choosing – and will have to start taking oral evidence soon after the draft Bill is published. We recognise this leaves little time for people to give us their views, but hope that many of the issues are already well known. A clear and concise paper will carry as much weight with us as the oral evidence we hear. The Joint Committee is especially keen to ensure that the views of small charities are taken into account.”

The Joint Committee will concentrate its inquiry on the following themes:

• Does the draft Bill strike the right balance between flexibility and accountability? How can the danger of over-regulation be avoided?
• Will the Bill improve public confidence in charities? Will it encourage more giving and volunteering?
• Are the 12 new charitable purposes the draft Bill proposes for a charity satisfactory — should there be additions or deletions? Is the phrase ‘public benefit’ best left undefined in the Bill? Do fee-paying schools which are charities demonstrate adequate public benefit arising from their activities?
• Are there aspects of the draft Bill which would permit the charity and voluntary sector to play a greater role in the delivery of public services if they wished to do so?
• What are the likely benefits and costs of the draft Bill? What level of funding will be necessary for the Charity Commission to carry out its additional tasks effectively?
• Is it right that the draft Bill does not include the recommendation in the Strategy Unit consultation paper, Private Action, Public Benefit, that charities should be allowed to trade as part of their normal activities without the need to set up a trading company?
• Are the proposals to regulate fund-raising workable?
• Are the specific proposals in the draft Bill (such as the new corporate legal form, the Charitable Incorporated Organisation) adequate, workable and beneficial?

If you wish to send in written evidence then you should do so sooner rather than later. The Joint Committee has asked larger charities to submit written evidence no later than 21 June and smaller charities by 28 June 2004. That said, written evidence received up to 15 July 2004 will still be taken into account.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.