A draft bill to give more powers to the Charity Commission is among the measures being announced today in the Queen’s Speech.
The Protection of Charities Bill would enforce some or all of the changes to the law proposed in a consultation late last year by Nick Hurd, minister for civil society.
The proposals were broadly supported by sector bodies, but NCVO and Acevo both warned that some of the proposed new powers would be too broad.
Proposals in the consultation included:
- A wide-ranging group of powers for the Commission to disqualify trustees
- A right for the Commission to shut down a charity and transfer its assets to another charity
- A right for the Commission to act in more situations, and use its power outside a statutory inquiry
The government said in a document outlining measures in the speech that the main benefits of the proposals would be protecting charities from abuse by people who present a known risk, making it easier for the Charity Commission to take robust action against individuals and charities in cases of abuse, and supporting public trust and confidence in the effective regulation of charities.
“We are currently analysing responses to the consultation and once we have carefully considered the merits of proposals we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows,” the document says.
The bill will not appear during the current Parliamentary session.
A spokesman for the Commission said: “This legislation would strengthen the Commission’s powers and is crucial in ensuring we are able to become a more agile and effective regulator.
“We are disappointed though that the opportunity to secure such vital legislation in this Parliamentary session has been missed. We will do all we can to support the process over the next year and to press for the earliest possible slot for a Bill in the next Parliament.”
Charity umbrella bodies said any new powers must be accompanied by more resources.
Elizabeth Chamberlain, policy manager at NCVO, said: "It is encouraging to see the government is carrying through its plan to fix some loopholes in charity regulation, and also that it’s taking a careful approach with time for proper pre-legislative scrutiny”.
But she said a bigger concern was not new powers, but “whether the Commission has the capacity to handle all the concerns that come to it”.
Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of the Charity Finance Group, said: "The introduction of measures to increase the Commission’s powers to tackle such abuse will not be sufficient in isolation.
"If charities are to be protected from abuse, the Commission will need resources to complement these new powers."
Volunteer protection bill also announced
A bill which gives volunteers more protection from being sued is also being announced in the speech.
The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill was announced earlier this week by Chris Grayling. The Ministry of Justice has said it will give extra protection against legal action to those acting “in the common good”, and singled out the fact that volunteers were among those intended to be protected.
The MoJ said the law will be changed so that judges will have to give weight to 3 additional factors when deciding negligence cases.
They are:
- If the person was doing something for ‘the benefit of society’ such as volunteering
- If they had been acting in a ‘generally responsible way’
- If they were ‘acting in an emergency’ by helping someone in danger.
