Shadow charities ministers calls on Treasury to help Iceland losers

Finance | 26 Feb 2009

Nick Hurd, shadow minister for charities, has called for a short-term Treasury loan fund to help charities which face financial difficulty as a result of lost bank deposits.

Hurd, who criticised the Treasury for doing nothing for charities which have lost money in the Icelandic bank failure, urged minister for the third sector Kevin Brennan to help him develop cross-party consensus on a short-term loan fund in a House of Commons debate.

However, Brennan who this week said that charities which lost deposits in Iceland would get no direct financial assistance from the government, declined the request, telling Hurd that it was necessary “to separate the budget from the issue of help in the short term.”

'Promise of help withdrawn'

The government was also criticised in the debate for misleading Naomi House children’s hospice, who has lost £5.7m following the collapse of Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander. Maria Miller, shadow minister for children, schools and families, said:

“Only four months ago, the government said publicly to residents in Hampshire that Naomi House children’s hospice in our area would continue to receive support at a difficult time, when it had lost money through the collapse in the Icelandic banking system. Why has that promise of help now been withdrawn?”

Brennan insisted that the government had not promised the hospice financial help, but said he had been trying to broker a local solution for Naomi House with the strategic health authority.

“It is important that we do not get into too much scaremongering and talk about charities losing every penny,” Brennan told MPs, “A process of administration is taking place and, although it takes time, it is not the case at this stage that those charities have lost sums of money that were invested in the bank. I therefore encourage charities to look elsewhere for opportunities to cover any shortfalls while the administration process is under way.”

The Charity Bank was suggested as a potential solution by Brennan.

Directory: Charity Bank Ltd
Who's Who: Vibeka Mair | Nick Hurd

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