Enterprise Bill [HL]
Debate between Baroness Sharp of Guildford and Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts
Baroness Sharp of Guildford (LD)
My Lords, I rise to speak to our Amendment 50 and to the other amendments in the group. Before doing so, I should declare my interests. This is not at present in the list in the register because it is very new, but I am very recently president of the AoC Charitable Trust. I am also an honorary fellow of the City & Guilds Institute and a patron of the 157 Group.
I think we have similar probing questions about this clause and, in particular, about the definition of precisely what is and what is not a public body. That is really what Amendment 50 is about. It raises questions about the slightly odd wording at the end of new Section A9, which says that,
“‘public body’ means … a public authority, or … a body or other person that is not a public authority but has functions of a public nature and is funded wholly or partly from public funds”.
There are difficulties with such a definition. For example, Kids Company is largely funded by public funds. Is that a public body? A lot of charities are largely funded by public funds for one reason or another. Are they public bodies? I certainly would not have thought of them as being public bodies. Or are you going to take the ONS definition? The ONS, for example, is now classing housing associations as public bodies, although a lot of the money they receive does not come from the public sector. However, equally, the ONS does not class the Student Loans Company as a public body in spite of the fact that the Student Loans Company receives all of its funding from a public body. Therefore, as I say, that definition strikes us as being extremely loose, and I think it is necessary to know precisely what the Government have in mind when giving such a definition in the Bill.
In general, I share very much the view of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, in asking questions about how far the Government should go in setting targets here, there and everywhere for public bodies—so much for localism, if I might say so. To provide that “The Secretary of State shall set such targets” leaves very little discretion to the locality. One would hope that, actually, the whole thing was done very much in conjunction and consultation with localities. A great many local authorities, such as in Birmingham, work very closely with local enterprise partnerships and do set targets for themselves. Indeed, as I shall go on to explain later, they also set targets for vulnerable young people who should be taken into apprenticeships. This clause raises lots of questions on which we need some clarification.
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Con)
My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 50, and will pursue the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. It will not surprise the Committee, given my interest in the charitable and voluntary sector and the reports that I have written for the Government, that my line of questioning follows that which the noble Baroness has just raised.
It is absolutely clear that many charities and voluntary groups carry out functions which the Government find difficult to fulfil. The Government can provide the vanilla flavour, but the more difficult and challenging aspects of our society may often be better addressed through smaller, local voluntary groups. They will therefore have, in the words of the Bill,
“functions of a public nature”,
and be,
“funded wholly or partly from public funds”.
Rather than wait until today’s debate, I asked the Minister’s officials to throw a little light on the matter, and they very kindly wrote back. My question was whether the definition of a public body under Section A9(7) would cover bodies such as the Charity Commission and some charities. The answer was:
“The Charity Commission would fall within the definition of public body (it’s a non-ministerial department and therefore part of the civil service). No targets can be set for charities unless they are also public bodies prescribed in the regulations. We will set out the full list of public bodies for whom a target may be set in regulations. There will be an opportunity for those affected to respond to a consultation on this during the passage of the Bill through Parliament”.
We are discussing it in Parliament today, but I have not yet seen the regulations, although I may have missed them. This is a trifle too opaque. The sector is entitled to greater clarity now so that we can provide the appropriate level of scrutiny.
We are all very much aware of the deficiencies in the process for scrutinising regulations or statutory instruments—we had a clear example of that last week. I very much hope that, if my noble friend cannot give a direct answer this afternoon and tell us where the list is, she will be able to promise us clarity before we reach Report, at which time we could have a further, better and more focused debate on this issue, which means a lot to individual charities and voluntary groups. They need to know exactly what lies in store for them.