Charities Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 77:"Page 138, leave out lines 6 to 12 and insert—" ““““(3)   Except in accordance with subsections (3A) and (3B) below, nothing in section 43, 44, 44A or 45 applies to any charity which— (a)   falls within section 3A(2)(d) above (whether or not it also falls within section 3A(2)(b) or (c)), and (b)   is not registered. (3A)   Section 44A above applies in accordance with subsections (2A) and (2B) above to a charity mentioned in subsection (3) above which is also an exempt charity. (3B)   Sections 44 and 44A above apply to a charity mentioned in subsection (3) above which is also an English National Health Service charity or a Welsh National Health Service charity (as defined in sections 43A and 43B above).”””” The noble Lord said: The amendment stands in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland. Section 46 of the Charities Act covers accounting and reporting by exempt and excepted charities. In particular, it specifies what elements of the general accounting framework set out in Sections 41 to 45 of the 1993 Act as augmented by the Bill apply to exempt and excepted charities. We had to make some changes to Section 46 of the Act through paragraph 133 of Schedule 7 to accommodate any small English or Welsh NHS charities that were below the registration threshold. There were some other permutations that we did not deal with the first time around and which the amendments are designed to deal with now, for example, to ensure that the new auditors’ whistle blowing duty applies to very small exempt charities. The amendments are difficult to understand in isolation, and I shall happily write to any noble Lord who has a more detailed question about their effect. They are essentially a benign, tidying-up exercise. On Question, amendment agreed to.