ACEVO Director of Public Policy, Asheem Singh said:
“The Public Accounts Committee have issued yet another wake up call for both the Charity Commission and for the Government. At ACEVO, we have argued time and again that the Charity Commission has been crippled by cuts to its budget. These have undoubtedly had an impact on its ability to do its job.
But the Commission cannot be absolved of all blame. In many cases it has been its own worst enemy. It’s crucial that the commission is capable of upholding the integrity of the sector and we support its call for stronger powers to do so. But we are concerned that it is often too ready to lose sight of its core mandate. The Commission’s intervention on the Lobbying bill, where it argued against a charity exemption, was particularly unfortunate.
The independent charity sector needs an independent regulator. We urge the Government to heed the clarion call of the committee and hypothecate adequate resources to the Charity Commission. And we urge the Commission to focus on the things that matter: investigating wrongdoing and providing the regulation that will inspire confidence in the charity sector.”
