Debating charity law in the Commons
27th June 2006, 9:49 am
Yesterday (26th June) the Charities Bill finally reached its second reading stage in the House of Commons. This debate gives a good view of the MPs and political parties concerns and likely actions in the remaining stages - committee consideration and Third Reading.
The Hansard record of the debate can be read online. Your editor listened/watched most of it on ParliamentLive.tv (and it should be viewable in archive for a while), but managed to miss both Hilary Armstrong’s introductory speech and Ed Miliband’s winding-up. So maybe more comments later.
The Conservative opposition had some constructive suggestions, from the viewpoint of the sector, such as wanting a suitors fund so charities didn’t have to to use charitable money to take case against the Charity COmmission to the new tribunal. However they also repeatedly expressed concerns about the public benefit test in respect of education and religion in an unhelpful manner.
The Committee stage is timetabled to finish by 13th July. As the summer recess isn’t due to start until 25th July, there is a possibility that the Third Reading (final stage) won’t have to wait until parliament returns in the autumn.