Dame Suzi Leather, outgoing chair of the Charity Commission, warned MPs yesterday that there are risks that her successor will not have the relevant experience for the job, if the published person specification is followed.
Dame Suzi made the comment at yesterday’s public administration select committee (PASC) meeting where she gave evidence to MPs on her time at the Charity Commission and her perceived future challenges.
The advertisement for the position of chair of the Charity Commission was posted in early June. The position is listed as being for two days a week with a salary of £50,000 per annum. The salary, and the time expectations, are both less than for the current chair.
Speaking to select committee MPs about the person specification for the job, Dame Suzi raised concerns about its focus on experience in the private and charity sectors, but not in the public sector:
“The person specification asks for an established reputation, experience or knowledge from one or more of the private, charity or not-for-profit sectors. It misses out the public sector,” she said.
“Someone with experience in the private sector could have very little understanding of the charity sector. You’ll need someone who understands the charity sector and gets that it is not just big, household names, but small, local charities.”
At the start of her address to the PASC, Dame Suzi was keen to emphasise that the vast majority of the charity sector was small, run by volunteers and had no paid staff, and that it relied on the Charity Commission to provide clear and helpful guidance to help trustees manage their charity.
Dame Suzi also noted that the job specification for the role had a different emphasis from when she applied for the job six years ago.
“It no longer says that the chair is to lead the board and direct the Charity Commission on strategic development or contribute to legislative reform,” she said.
She also pointed out that the role no longer specified that the chair was to advise the Cabinet Office on Commission board members or their induction or ensure the compliance of the board.
“There is a slightly different emphasis,” she said.
PASC chair Bernard Jenkins MP, who suggested during the hearing that the successor to Labour Party member Dame Suzi may have to be politically neutral, was also keen to note that the new job description for chair of the Charity Commission included new responsibilities to regulate independently and impartially. But Dame Suzi insisted this requirement was already included in the Commission's risk framework and did not need to be spelt out further.
Dame Suzi: self-regulation of charitable collections should be stronger
Elsewhere, Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke attacked the Charity Commission for not regulating charitable collections asking why the Commission did not “protect the public from predators”.
Dame Suzi said that charitable collections was currently self-regulated and if the Charity Commission was to take it on it would need extra resource.
However, after questioning, Dame Suzi did say that her personal opinion was that the self-regulation approach of charitable collections should be strengthened.
Dame Suzi also said that there was a strong case for setting up a charities ombusdman, but said there would be a question of how it would be funded: “If you asked the charity sector it would not go down well,” she said. “And funds should not be taken from the Charity Commission for it.”
She added that it would be useful if the Charity Commission could make representation to the Charity Tribunal without the Attorney General.
Dame Suzi also revealed at the meeting that the Charity Commission was working with 26 umbrella bodies on supporting the sector. The umbrellas collectively represent a quarter of all charities, she said.
