Charities Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 67:"Page 102, leave out lines 36 to 38." The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving this amendment, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 103, 108 and 111. Clause 37 of the Bill gives the Charity Commission the power to relieve trustees, auditors and others from liability for breach of trust or duty where the relevant person has acted honestly and reasonably and should fairly be excused for the breach. These are minor, technical amendments to that provision and their purpose is twofold, as I shall now briefly explain. First, we have discovered that the Bill as drafted does not cover all those who report on a charity’s accounts. Logically, the commission’s power should extend to all those who report on charities’ accounts, including group accounts, and these amendments ensure that it does. Secondly, the amendments also extend the court’s existing power to grant relief to an auditor or independent examiner of an unincorporated charity appointed under the current Section 43 of the Charities Act 1993. The amendments give the court the power to relieve from liability all those who report on the accounts of an unincorporated charity, including the group accounts of an unincorporated charity. I hope that noble Lords will agree that this is a sensible and logical group of amendments that tidy up the existing powers in the Bill. On Question, amendment agreed to. Schedule 7 [Charitable incorporated organisations]: