That is an important point, and it has been illustrated well in this debate. The right hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Sir Edward Garnier) spoke eloquently about the co-operation he has had from, and the work he has done with, a charity of which he is a trustee, Unlock. Indeed, his speech was clearly intricately prepared, probably with the support of Unlock. I do not see that as party political at all, because all of us in the House today benefited from his work with Unlock. That illustrates the point that engaging with politicians does not necessarily mean engaging in a party political act. I am grateful for his speech and for his interaction with, and support from, the charity Unlock.
I support new clause 1 and amendments 8 to 12. There are three fundamental benefits to our society from charities and the role they play. The first is that often they can get to hard-to-reach groups. Through their methods and the way they have evolved over time, many charities can work with hard-to-reach pockets of our society that other organisations struggle to reach, which is an incredibly important part of their work.
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I stand up and defend the strength of the voluntary sector’s relationship with its clients and service users. What is important is that it is the strength of that particular sector as opposed to that of other sectors. For example, it is often the case that people who are vulnerable, who are in hard-to-reach groups or who have multiple challenges are, for obvious reasons, very suspicious of the role of the state. They may have been sanctioned or imprisoned by the state. They may have a relationship with social services that they regard as invasive in their family life. These people are often very,
very reluctant to work or engage with the Government and other sectors. That is where the strength of the voluntary sector lies. It can work independently of Government and other sectors and form a very strong relationship with individuals.
As co-founder of two charities, a chief executive of a charity and a deputy chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, I know that the voice and the independent advocacy that the voluntary sector gives to individuals and communities are absolutely essential. It is about giving a voice to those who are disempowered. Members from all parts of the House celebrate the importance of freedom speech, but there are some people in our society who do not exercise that freedom as freely or capably as others. In this day and age, that is exacerbated by the existence of social media. Every person who has made it to this House will be aware of social media campaigns and the fact that some people in society have a disproportionate voice. Very often, by looking at the social media activity of a constituency such as Hove and Portslade, which I proudly represent, we can map the areas of advantage and disadvantage. That illustrates the importance in this day and age of strong advocacy.
Politics, party politics and the process of democratic representation exist to give voice to everyone equally. The voluntary sector has played a key part in ensuring that those people who have been isolated, alienated and disenfranchised from the democratic process have a very clear and powerful voice in the democratic traditions of this country. That means advocating on their behalf, liaising with politicians, and ensuring that public policy represents everybody, not just those who can advocate for themselves, and signing and organising petitions on the No.10 website to trigger a debate in this place. Unfortunately, we are going down a path where people who have advantage are given disproportionate weight and voice, which is why we should never ever get to a point where people who are disadvantaged have their voices shut out from the democratic process. That is why it worries me when we blend party politics and politics per se in debates such as this.
Boards of trustees are inherently cautious. Volunteers who give up their time are also criminally responsible for the activities of their charities. As they are not paid workers or full-time workers, they are not always aware of every single activity that goes on from the top to the bottom of their organisation. Add that to the criminal responsibility that a trustee has and we can see why, collectively, boards of trustees become very cautious. I have been a trustee of many charities. One of the challenges of driving a charity from the executive or from the board is to make sure that the charity can still take decisions that are bold enough to deliver the transformation that service users need. I remember feeling that very acutely. For three years, I was on the board of trustees of Pride. Each year, Pride in Brighton and Hove has a fantastic celebration on the streets that brings out up to 200,000 people. I remember being a trustee for the very first time. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Simon Kirby) knows very well the importance of Pride to the fabric of our society. He also knows the challenges that it poses for our city, especially in regard to policing and to ensuring the safety of all the 200,000 people who come to our city to celebrate. I remember seeing tens of thousands
of people flooding through the streets, and knowing that, as a trustee, the uncertainty of having such large numbers of people could lead to all sorts of outcomes.
One year, as tens of thousands of people squeezed down St James’s Street, which is in the constituency of the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, glass shopfronts buckled under the pressure—they were physically bowing. As a trustee, I knew that if we had not taken such things into account and predicted the challenges, I would be criminally responsible if there were any severe injuries as a result. Therefore, these things play out in very real and tangible ways in the minds of people who are running charities and who are on the boards of charities.
I worry that the imposition of official warnings will add another layer that will drive uncertainty and cautiousness through boards of trustees and down through to the executive at a time when we need charities to be outward facing, bold, open-spirited and engaging with communities in order to deliver the transformational change that every charity, service user, and beneficiary so desperately needs. I worry that warnings that are used in low-level cases could have a disproportionate impact on charities as they go forward. Low-level warnings can have a high-level impact if they are not used in the right way. Will the Minister tell us whether the Charity Commission uses warnings only for low-level non-compliance issues and limits them to those cases?
The impact on charities could be significant if warnings are not used in the appropriate way. They will have an impact on people who fund charities, on charities’ campaigning ability and on service users. Service users need to know that the charities that represent them and provide services to them—often when they are in difficult circumstances and feel extremely isolated and vulnerable—are robust. If they hear talk of the Government issuing warnings, it could affect the relationship between service users and charities. We all want to make sure that if charities step outside good practice, they are supported back into good practice, and we recognise that at times warnings should be issued. We just need to make sure that they are issued in the correct way.
Will the Charity Commission routinely make warnings public? How often will they be made public and how often will they not? Will there be guidance as to when warnings should be made public and when not, so that charities can understand the process that is unfolding? Under the Bill, a warning could be issued and made public within a 24-hour period. What is the point of the 24 hours’ notice? What can meaningfully be achieved in 24 hours that can deliver the positive change that we all want to see in charities that are drifting away from best practice? They cannot act; they cannot inform all their trustees. They cannot rectify many of the problems that have been identified. It will only cause panic. We do not want, and I am sure that the Minister and Members of Parliament do not want, a charity that is descending into panic when it needs to support its beneficiaries robustly.
Will the Charity Commission allow adequate time to understand and prepare for any warnings that are about to be made public? The independence of the sector is as essential now as it ever has been. Can the Minister confirm that the Charity Commission will not use its power to direct charities or trustees to take a specific action? Hon. Members on both sides have spoken eloquently about the independence of charities. Many people have
spoken about small charities in their constituencies. We all have great examples, but I do not want to forget the big charities. Sometimes we talk about small charities as if they are somehow more precious than any other charity. Every charity that is registered with the Charity Commission, and every charity working in our communities provides fantastic services, and sometimes the large charities are providing economies of scale and a value for money for their funders that cannot be matched elsewhere. The scale of their operations can lead to developments and innovations that others struggle to provide. We need to make sure that charities of all sizes are celebrated and mentioned in the Bill.
Hon. Members on both sides of the House support the overall aims of the Bill. As a special adviser at the Cabinet Office in 2006 and 2007, I worked on the Charities Act 2006 when the public benefit test was introduced into statute. I remember our debates at that time, including on the test as it is applied to private schools. I became aware at that time of the original 1601 Act, signed into statute by Elizabeth I. I know that the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Simon Kirby) was only a young man at the time, and it is good that he graces us with his presence today, bringing his experience with him.
The original statute signed in the 17th century allowed charities the scope to develop as society developed. We should not legislate to micromanage charities to such an extent that primary legislation inhibits them from evolving as society changes. If we had written into statute in the 1980s a strict definition of a public benefit, what would that have meant for charities that subsequently delivered HIV services? We need to ensure that there is enough scope in law for charities to evolve as society becomes less deferential and more communicative by means of the internet and social media, and as charities need to provide services to new areas of vulnerability that open up. Food banks, for example, are a new but unfortunate facet of our social landscape. Charities must have the space to evolve without the need to keep coming back to this House for permission to do so.