New powers for Compact Commission mooted by MP

Finance | Tania Mason | 2 Mar 2009

The prospect of the Commission for the Compact being granted statutory powers is to get a profile boost in May with the tabling of a 10-minute rule bill to that effect.

Labour MP Tom Levitt (pictured) is planning to present the bill on 19 May. It will propose giving the Commission certain new powers and dutries, including powers to investigate alleged breaches of Compact agreements, access to relevant information and the ability to impose a duty on others to co-operate with its investigators.

Levitt said: “Following last year’s consultation, there is widespread agreement that the Commission should have the appropriate powers to secure better implementation of the Compact. This would strengthen the relationship between the government and the third sector and give the Compact more clout.”

In a House of Lords debate in January, Baroness Andrews indicated that the government felt that making the Commission a statutory body would require more work than simply inserting a new clause into an existing bill.

Ten-minute rule bills are a particular type of private members’ bill that is introduced to the House of Commons at the end of proceedings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
If the bill is approved by the House at this first reading stage, it joins the queue of private members' bills waiting to receive a second reading.

However, very few ten minute rule bills progress far enough to become law so MPs tend to use this procedure simply as a way of gaining publicity for a particular issue.

Commission to look at European funding

Elsewhere, the Commission has comissioned a study into the lack of clarity on how Compact principles apply to European funding programmes.

It has chosen Auriga Consultants, whose project team consists of Jo Durning, Simon Hebditch, Carol Coventry and Alison Bye, to investigate 15 case studies of third sector organisations that have applied for European structural funds. They will produce a report publishing their findings before this summer.

Each case study will consider whether Compact principles have been applied and, if not, whether they have been over-ridden by EU rules.

Who's Who: Tania Mason

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