Charities Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 55:"Before Clause 20, insert the following new clause—"    ““COMMUNICATING DETAILS AND GROUNDS OF PROTECTIVE ORDERS    After section 18(2) of the 1993 Act (power to act for protection of charities) insert— ““(2A)   The Commission must send a copy of any order made by it under subsection (1) or (2) above and particulars of the broad grounds of its satisfaction that the preconditions for making the same have been met— (a)   to the charity concerned (if a body corporate), or (b)   (if not) to each of the charity trustees. (2B)   The copy or copies and the particulars must be sent to the charity or charity trustees as soon as practicable after the making of the order. (2C)   The Commission need not, however, comply with subsection (2B) above as to the copy order or the particulars (or both) if it considers that to do so— (a)   would prejudice any inquiry or investigation, or (b)   would not be in the interests of the charity; but, once the Commission considers that this is no longer the case, it must send the copy or copies or the particulars (or both) to the charity or charity trustees as soon as practicable.”””” The noble Lord said: My Lords, the amendment is designed to ensure that where a manager or receiver is appointed by the commission, the charity should be informed of the appointment and of the broad grounds for it unless there are good grounds for withholding the information; for example, where there would be prejudice to the work of the manager or receiver or where it would not be in the interests of the charity. When I looked at the matter in more detail, I discovered that although Section 18 of the 1993 Charities Act gives a whole tranche of fundamental powers for the Charity Commission to act in protection of charities, there was no comparable clause relating to the commission if it were appointing new trustees, vesting property in a custodian or ordering a debtor not to make payment to the charity to which the debt was owed and so forth. The amendment would require the commission to send a copy of the order to the charity concerned or, if it were a body corporate, to the charity trustees. At the same time, it must give particulars of the broad grounds upon which it has acted under Section 18. It seems to me that on human rights grounds there is a severe injustice and probably a breach of human rights requirements if the trustees and the charity are unaware of the making of an order so pregnant for their own charity and custodianship of it. They should know the broad grounds on which the order has been made. I tabled the amendment in an attempt to bring the Charities Act 1993 up to date and in alignment with the amendment the Government are inclined to accept for managers and custodians. I hope that it commends itself to the Government. I beg to move.