Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to improve public trust and confidence in charities.
Mr Rob Wilson
The Government has taken a number of steps to improve public trust and confidence in charities in England and Wales
The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 gives the Charity Commission new and enhanced powers to tackle serious abuses of charitable status. The Charity Commission is already taking a more robust approach to tackling abuse and mismanagement and has also simplified and updated guidance for trustees to remind them of their duties.
Following scandals in 2015 that highlighted unacceptable charitable fundraising practices, a new Fundraising Regulator has been established. Chaired by Lord Grade of Yarmouth, this independent regulator is tasked to set high standards of fundraising practice and to deal with public complaints when these have been breached. It has a range of sanctions and can refer serious noncompliance or abuse to the relevant statutory regulator.The Fundraising Regulator will also develop a Fundraising Preference Service to enable people who feel inundated with targeted fundraising requests to put a stop to them if they wish.
The Office for Civil Society and Innovation is further working with charities to explore the challenges facing the leadership of the voluntary and community sector. One of the four themes that has been identified as part of this work is ‘responding to decline in trust and confidence’. A dedicated working group has been convened to explore this issue and identify potential solutions.
