It is a great pleasure to speak in today’s debate. We often have wonderful debates in this place about what Britishness is about and what our culture is about. I actually think that the voluntary sector in this country represents the best of British—that is, the best of English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. As politicians, we do not always say thank you, but our starting point today as we consider the Bill should be to say a very big thank you to our hard-working and diverse voluntary sector in this country.
We should also remember that most charities in this country are relatively small. They operate in communities, and it is not our job in this place to be a pain in the neck for the 900,000-plus trustees of charities around the country who give their time voluntarily to make management and governance decisions, or for the charities’ many volunteers. The motivation of those people is undoubtedly to do good in our society and in our country.
We cannot, of course, forget the exceptions—the horror stories—including the dreadful death of Olive Cooke, who appears to have been hounded by 90 charities sending her 460 letters asking for donations in the course of one year. Nor can we forget the undercover Daily Mail report on what appeared to be severe malpractice in the call centre from hell. And nor should we forget the case of Kids Company and all the abuses that went on there. Incidentally, those abuses could and should have been dealt with by the Government and by the Charity Commission under its existing powers. We see those cases as exceptions, but they are nevertheless important and it is right that we are having this discussion today in Parliament.
Members on both sides of the House will see elements of voluntary activity in their own political traditions, and we can certainly develop some sort of empathy with different parts of the voluntary sector. We on this side of the Chamber can look to the labour movement, the co-operative movement, the working men’s and women’s organisations and a whole range of other bodies, but I know that the Minister for Civil Society, the hon. Member for Reading East (Mr Wilson), will also be moved by Edmund Burke’s notion of the little platoons. What I ask
today is that he does not overburden those well-behaved little platoons in our country with red tape when it is not needed. Most of us would agree that where regulation is needed, the sector itself generally does that job best. I, for one, would give a warm welcome to the fundraising preference service, which will deal with some of the totally unacceptable abuses of practice in fundraising.
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The shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Anna Turley), spoke eloquently to new clause 1 and outlined the safeguards that were needed. She mentioned the power to make an application to the Charity Commission against a warning when an appeal is made, with a warning not being made public for at least 28 days after the submission of the appeal. That is good common sense, because we are not talking about extreme or gross misconduct or about criminal acts, both of which should of course be reported straight away. We are, however, talking about things that could ruin the reputation of a charity, be it large, medium-sized or small.
We know from the wonderful report produced by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, “The 2015 charity fundraising controversy: lessons for trustees, the Charity Commission and regulators” —and, I would argue, for the rest of us—that one of its recommendations states:
“It would be a sad and inexcusable failure of charities to govern their own behaviour, should statutory regulation became necessary.”
That would be a failure of voluntary action, not a success. The report also makes the point that good governance is about sustainability of reputation in the long term as well as about sustainability of finances. So it is reputation that we are arguing for in new clause 1. With the law as it stands, it would be difficult for charities to undo any damage dealt to their reputation, to their good standing in the community and, importantly, to their finances.
I want to say a few gentle words about new clause 3, about which views differ, and about the gagging Act. We have had a debate in the House today, but perhaps our memories are failing a little and we do not remember how the law was 500 years ago or the Charitable Uses Act 1601. If we go back to the founding of charities in this country and to that Act, we can see that they were not just about the relief of poverty. They were also about general charitable purposes and the advancement of education and religion. The idea that our charities had no broader view of advocacy simply does not add up.
People will rightly say that such advocacy should not be party political—indeed, it cannot be, because that would be illegal—but it would be an extraordinary state of affairs if a charity that campaigned and ran practical programmes linked to, for example, international development was not interested in lobbying against malaria, say, or against international debt. Also, anyone who donates to a charity has the right to go straight to the Charity Commission’s website and see how that charity is spending its money.
We want to work with the Government and, most of all, with the voluntary sector but we are asking in our very moderate little new clauses for measures that are proportionate and sensible, and that would find agreement not only among Members on this side of the Chamber but with Mr Burke and his little platoons.