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Charity Commission sets out scope of Oxfam inquiry

Melanie May | 16 February 2018 | News

The Charity Commission has now set out the scope of its inquiry into Oxfam, which it opened on 12 February following allegations of sexual misconduct by employees of the organisation in Haiti.
The Commission has concerns that Oxfam may not have fully and frankly disclosed material details about the allegations at the time in 2011, its handling of the incidents since, and the impact that these have both had on public trust and confidence.
The statutory inquiry’s purpose is to:

  1. examine the charity’s governance (including leadership and culture), its management and its policies and practices with regard to safeguarding, in the context of the applicable law, good practice and its obligations as a charity, both generally and particularly in relation to
  1. scrutinise and review the charity’s progress with implementing the requirements in the action plan agreed with the Commission in 2017 and ensure such other actions that may be required to address the findings from the inquiry’s work are undertaken

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission said:

“Acting in the public interest as regulator, this inquiry must and will establish the facts about what the charity knew about events in Haiti in 2011, and how it responded at the time and since. The inquiry will also help us, and the public, understand Oxfam’s overall approach to safeguarding those who come into contact with the charity – whether they be beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, or the wider communities in which they work. Resolving this is key to upholding public and donor trust and confidence in charity.
This week Oxfam’s Chair Caroline Thomson has given us an unequivocal commitment to co-operating fully with the inquiry to ensure our work progresses thoroughly and speedily and to resolving the issues faced by the charity to restore public trust and confidence in Oxfam”.

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The inquiry is expected to examine:

The inquiry will assess what additional actions will need to be taken by the charity in order to address the findings from the inquiry’s work and to assist in restoring public trust and confidence in Oxfam. The scope of the inquiry will include the charity’s trading division and may be amended if other issues emerge during the course of the investigation which raise additional regulatory concerns.
Anyone with information that could be relevant to the inquiry is advised to contact OxfamInquiry@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk.

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