The Public Administration Select Committee has announced the key areas of its inquiry into fundraising practices and has called on charities to submit written evidence.
The committee, which scrutinises the regulation of charities as part of its remit, has said the inquiry will focus predominantly on "four key areas".
These are the extent and nature of call centre fundraising regarding “vulnerable people”, the proposed legislative changes recently announced by the government, how charities came to adopt "concerning" fundraising practices and the level of leadership in the charity fundraising sector.
The committee have also announced that they will be seeking written evidence and submissions on the issue from charities.
In their submissions charities have been asked to address nine questions, such as: “How extensive is the problem of poor practice in fundraising for charities? What kind of techniques have been employed and how widely?”
The deadline for the submission of written evidence is 26 August. According to the PASC, written evidence submissions should be “no more than 3,000 words long” * and should “state clearly who the submission is from”.
An evidence session based on charities submissions of evidence will be held in “early September”.
Bernard Jenkin, the chair of the PASC (pictured), has previously been outspoken about what he called “vile and disgusting” fundraising practices as uncovered by The Daily Mail. Jenkin also warned that if the sector did not set up a “serious self-regulatory body with teeth” then the government would likely be forced to “bring forward legislation”.
The PASC’s inquiry, will run in tandem with the self-regulation review being conducted by Sir Stuart Etherington of NCVO. Etherington’s review will report back to Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, in mid-September with any recommendations it makes for further, government legislation.
* This article was amended after the committee updated its website. The terms of reference originally said submissions should be no more than 300 words.
