News

Charities Bill lost but not forgotten

Finance | Ian Allsop | 1 May 2005

As feared, the Charities Bill failed to make it onto the statute book after the Conservative party in the Commons indicated that they would not support its passing before the election. They felt that there needed to be time for discussion in the Commons and that too many government amendments had been brought in too late.

While the Labour Party's manifesto has pledged to reintroduce the bill if it is re-elected there are fears that it will not be an immediate priority, and that now the time pressure is off the provisions in relation to public benefit will be hotly contested by a large faction of labour backbenchers.

Lord Phillips of Sudbury, who has led on the Bill for the Liberal Democrats, said: "There will be great disappointment across the charity sector that the passage to legislation has been frustrated. What with a White Paper, a joint committee scrutinising the draft Charities Bill and 32 hours probing, non partisan consideration in the House of Lords I thought that all parties were anxious to finalise what is an important enactment. The government made it clear that they would clear the way, and to be fair adopted an open minded  pproach to improvements in the Bill. A great many significant changes had already been accepted."

Simon Hebditch, CAF's director of external affairs, said he believed that the Bill would be resurrected by a new government, whatever its political complexion. "The policies and views of the main parties are very close on voluntary sector issues and so I think there will be no problem in principle. The problem will be that the Bill will simply not appear to be a priority to any incoming government, eager to start a new Parliament with major legislation."

Stuart Etherington, NCVO chief executive, called the failure of the three parties to find the time and the agreement to make the Bill law enormously frustrating. "The Charities Bill, the product of five years' hard work, constitutes the most important modernisation of charity law in centuries. It has been subject to extensive consultation, pre-legislative scrutiny and detailed scrutiny in the House of Lords. The Bill and its proposals are backed by a powerful coalition of charities, thousands of other voluntary organisations besides and by the three main political parties. Yet, it has still not become law."

Directory: Charities Aid Foundation | National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Simon Hebditch | Sir Stuart Etherington