Charities Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 54:"Page 18, line 37, leave out ““social and economic””" The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 54 is innocuous. It calls on the Government to drop the words ““social and economic”” from a part of the cy-près scheme arrangements of Clause 18. Put simply, the wording is relevant to the matters that the High Court or the Charity Commission must take into account when making a cy-près scheme. They include the spirit of the original gift, the desirability of securing that the property is applied for charitable purposes and the wording to be amended,"““the need for the relevant charity to have purposes which are suitable and effective in the light of current social and economic circumstances””." All one need say, and should say, is ““suitable and effective in the light of current circumstances””. The phrase ““social and economic”” is redundant, and confines the circumstances that can be considered in the making of a scheme. It id cramping, because there are many circumstances that are neither social nor economic. Why on earth should the court or the commission be confined to considering suitability in the light of current circumstances? It is a simple point, and I cannot see any answer to it, but that is not to say the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, will not attempt to find one. I beg to move.