Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)

Tom Tugendhat Excerpts

Tuesday 5th January 2016 Public Bill Committees

[Mr Wilson]

I did not note many questions in the hon. Lady’s speech, but I am grateful for her strong support for the clause. There have been some worries in the sector about the financial burden on charities as a result of the clause. Overall, we estimate the cost to the charity sector to be about £1 million over 10 years, which is marginal compared with the benefits of greater transparency about how charities will safeguard the public from poor practices. That is a very positive investment.

[Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) (Con)]

Having sat through sittings of the Select Committee on Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs and listened to stories of misery from various people, and seen the rapid reaction of the Government on this issue, I would like to pay a little credit to both the Government and the Opposition. They have worked closely together to produce what is a very effective response to the malpractice of various of our charities and what, I hope, will go far in securing the greater confidence that the public have the right to have in our charitable sector.

[Mr Wilson]

It is very kind of my hon. Friend to make those comments. It is true that the Opposition have worked effectively in the other place and, indeed, in this place. I deliberately set up the Etherington review as an all-party review because I wanted every party to be involved and to have a stake in ensuring we get this right. By and large, the Etherington review, all of whose terms I have accepted, has proved to have produced a very effective report, and we need to get on with implementing all parts of it.