PASC chair hints at statutory regulation of fundraising

Fundraising | Vibeka Mair | 17 Oct 2012

Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, has said if the charitable sector "cannot get its act together" on self-regulation of fundraising, it will recommend that government bring in legislation to allow the Charity Commission to take action.

Jenkin made the comment at a PASC hearing where Lord Hodgson gave evidence on his review of the Charities Act 2006.

MPs addressed the issue of self-regulation of fundraising, with Charlie Elphicke especially criticising the practice of chugging as "aggressive and systematic harassment of the public".

“Two-thirds of people want action,” Elphicke said. “But there has been the complete failure of the Charity Commission to use powers under the 2006 Act."

Lord Hodgson told MPs that he had given the FRSB a six-month window to address the “confused self-regulatory landscape for fundraising”, with other sector bodies, and asked them to agree a united front to deliver one body to cover all aspects of fundraising.

Lord Hodgson said that as guardian of the sector the Charity Commission should take an interest, and said he believed the fundraising sector was starting to "get it".

He did concede there was an issue with street fundraising affecting the business community: “If a chugger is outside my shop people will cross over. There is an impact on business and community.”

Ending the discussion on the regulation of fundraising, Jenkin suggested that government should set a deadline and if the charity sector did not get its act together on a voluntary basis it would be reasonable to recommend that government bring into force provisions to allow the Charity Commission to take action.

Directory: Charity Commission | Fundraising Standards Board | Fundraising Standards Board
Who's Who: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.