Sir Stuart asks Shawcross for lobbying bill statement evidence

16 Oct 2013 News

NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington has written to William Shawcross asking him to provide evidence to back up the assertion he made last week that most charities are happy with the lobbying bill.

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive, NCVO

NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington has written to  William Shawcross asking him to provide evidence to back up the assertion he made last week that most charities are happy with the lobbying bill now that government has proposed changes.

In response to a question from Bates Wells Braithwaite lawyer Rosamund McCarthy at the Charity Law Association annual conference last week about his views on the lobbying bill, the Charity Commission chair told the audience that “most of the sector, many charities, are happy with the changes that have been proposed by the government”.

This comment, reported exclusively on civilsociety.co.uk, generated several incredulous comments from readers. Catherine Clark, head of development at the Royal School of Church Music, wrote: “How DARE William Shawcross say there is 'sector support' in the face of vigorous, vehement, thoughtful and principled opposition to the Bill????”

And Gregory Aitken, chief executive of Hull & East Yorkshire Mind, said: “We all have to make statements that are at best a generalisation but I would hope that our sector’s leaders and pundits would make them on the general evidence.”

Letter from Sir Stuart

Yesterday, NCVO chief Sir Stuart Etherington wrote to Shawcross challenging him to provide the evidence that supports his view that most of the sector is happy with the bill.

He wrote: “NCVO continues to have serious concerns about the potential impact of the bill on charity campaigning and the ability of organisations to engage in policy debates.

“These concerns are shared by our members and many other organisations in the sector.

“We reiterated our concerns a week prior to your comments, when the government’s amendments were published, and our views were covered widely in the sector press and beyond.”

He said there is still too much ambiguity and uncertainty about whether charities will be caught by the new rules, and concluded: “We will be raising these concerns while the bill proceeds through its next Parliamentary stages, so it would be helpful if you could provide any clarification about your statement above, in order to ensure an informed debate in the House.”

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said this morning that Shawcross would be responding to Sir Stuart, but declined to reveal what his letter would say.

Back in May, Sir Stuart gave a speech to the Association of Charitable Organisations’ conference in which he warned that the Commission’s leaders had lost the respect of the sector over the Cup Trust case and their performance before the Public Accounts Committee.

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