Charities Bill [HL]

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord is right about Section 14. I shall check that point. The commission’s new objectives in the Bill also have the interests of beneficiaries running through them. Let us take, for example, the charitable resources objective, inserted by Clause 7 with new Section 1B. That objective is that the commission must promote the effective use of charitable resources. We can only judge how effective a charity is in using its resources with reference to whether the needs of the beneficiaries are being met effectively. The commission cannot meet this objective without considering the needs of beneficiaries. The noble Lord’s amendment goes further than the interests of beneficiaries, to include the interests of trustees, charity staff, volunteers, donors and other stakeholders in charities. Again the objectives and duties in the Bill clearly encompass the commission giving consideration to such other interested parties. One example is that the commission’s first objective will be to increase public trust and confidence in charities. Another example is that the commission is proactively seeking the views of those groups through the Customer Network, as my noble friend Lady Scotland mentioned in Committee. This is a formal channel through which those affected by the commission can have their say, and which will influence directly the commission’s work. A final example is the commission’s accountability objective in the Bill. The commission must enhance the accountability of charities to donors, beneficiaries and the general public. The commission, in performing its own function, so far as is reasonably practicable, must act in a way which is compatible with its objectives and which it considers most appropriate for the purpose of meeting those objectives. In terms of the specific interests of donors and volunteers, the Bill gives the commission the duty to,"““act in a way which is compatible with the encouragement of . . . all forms of charitable giving, and . . . voluntary participation in charity work””." I hope that I have demonstrated that we can see that the intention behind the amendment is good, but there are many ways in which the Bill meets the needs identified by the noble Lord, Lord Swinfen. It is for those reasons that it is unnecessary for us to accept the amendment. The noble Lord, Lord Swinfen, was right in his earlier assertion about Section 14.