There needs to be a debate on the state of charity governance, according to Peter Kyle, acting chief executive of Acevo.

Kyle was speaking at the Charity Law Conference last week, where he said cuts were destroying the ability of organisations to deliver the Big Society.

He added, however, that charity governance was also an issue: “In 2009, our 'Chief executive in crisis' helpline got nine calls. Last week, we got seven calls,” said Kyle. “The root cause of most of these calls was ultimately an issue with governance.

“In some cases if the chair and chief executive relationship is good, some misery can be avoided.

“This is something we need to be talking about.”

Kyle also criticised Lord Nat Wei for urging Labour not to “politicise” the Big Society in a recent House of Lords debate.

Last week, Lord Wei told peers: “There is evidence that the more politicised a topic like this becomes, the less people may want to engage with it. With this, I must urge the Opposition in particular to be more responsible.

“Just as Labour's love of spin-doctoring has eroded, at times, public trust in politics, the danger of bashing the Big Society may be that people end up wanting to get involved less, and focus on themselves and not on helping others around them just at the time when as a country we need to pull together.”

Kyle described Wei’s views as “big crap”:

“It’s ridiculous and absurb to make the agenda non-political,” he said, "when little charities are some of the most politicised organisations.”