Next stage in Hodgson review is for sector to tell government what it thinks1

Governance | Tania Mason | 17 Jul 2012

The government will devise its own traffic-light system to rate Lord Hodgson’s 113 Charities Act review recommendations, to try and identify the “sweet spots” that will impact positively on the sector and are easy to do.

Minister for civil society Nick Hurd made the comment at yesterday’s launch of the review, where he was presented with a copy of the 158-page report by Lord Hodgson.

Hurd said the next stage of the review will be for the government to hear from the sector about what it thinks of the report, “to give us greater sensitivity about the areas where we should just get on with it and the areas where we should hit the pause button, and make sure we fully understand the implications of taking it forward”.

Some 28 of the recommendations would require primary legislation in order to be implemented.

Hurd said: “There are a lot of recommendations and I expect a pretty full and frank debate on them. I can already see the troops filling the trenches on some of the issues, not least trustee pay, but I expect a good debate that we will listen to very carefully.”

He added that in light of the current pressures on the sector and on the public finances, the government would have to be quite practical and work up a traffic light system to rate the recommendations.

“We need to identify the sweet spots, where you see the perfect storm of positive impact on the sector and doability. That’s where the lights will flash green as far as I’m concerned and that’s where we will focus our resources.”

The two questions he will have of any recommendation will be: ‘how will this make it easier to run a charity?’ and ‘what will this do to help the public have even more trust and confidence in charity?’

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John Weth
Chairman
Association for Charities
18 Jul 2012

Where Lord Hodgson sees the good ship 'Charity' needing to go faster towards the port of de-regulation, the Minister apparently sees 'charity' more as a land vehicle (a bus?) affected by traffic lights. The vehicle's progress, he feels, will be hastened by progressing through the green lights of 'doability'. Its progress will depend on how easy it will be to run the vehicle, and the degree to which the passengers (the public?) will have trust and confidence in it. Perhaps some passengers (potential trustees) may await the progress of the vehicle and the installation of the 28 recommendations of the Hodgson Report (the bus stops?), before deciding whether to board - or how long any passengers wish to remain on the vehicle!

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