One of the last government’s worst pieces of legislation was the Charities Act 2006, and a report released today by the Commons Public Administration Select Committee confirms the damage done. Since its implementation, the Act has helped to contribute to the worrying politicisation of the charitable sector.
Its requirement, for example, that the Charity Commission produce a “public benefit” test for organisations seeking charitable status led to an attempt to compel independent schools to provide more bursaries or funded places, even when they already carried out other activities in their communities. The concept was also invoked when denying charitable status to a meeting hall run by the Exclusive Brethren, because the commission concluded that it was not established for the wider advancement of religion. The idea that schools or churches function for anything other than the public benefit is plainly nonsense – and the select committee has rightly affirmed that defining the criteria for charitable status should be the responsibility of Parliament.
The report also calls for charities to publish their spending on campaigning and political activity. We can infer from this the concern that some have become overly political. Many take state funds which they then use to engage in political lobbying; effectively using taxpayers’ money to subsidise a new Left-leaning lobby. One recent example was Cafod’s support for “climate justice”. The problem is also apparent in the opposition that some charities have put up against the Government welfare reform agenda. Not only does the Charities Act 2006 need fixing, but we also have to address the troubling growth of partisanship in a sector that ought to be concerned with giving.
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