Charities Bill [HL]

I support Amendment No.   18. While I think that Amendment No. 17 is unnecessary, Amendment No. 18 is important for all the reasons advanced by those who have spoken thus far. Let me add to the point of the noble Lord, Lord   Dahrendorf, by saying that this is a citizens’ Bill; it will not, I hope, be confined to the legal profession and other specialists. A great many voluntary organisations and thousands of small charities will have recourse to the Bill. We can be quite sure that the Charity Commission, quite rightly, in the vast amount of guidance and literature that it pumps out on its website, will emblazon the words of the Bill on crucial parts of its guidance and advice. Although it is always difficult to alight upon the particular collection of adjectives that you want to embody the virtues that you are seeking to uphold, I think that to omit ““fair and reasonable”” is a bit perverse. If it is said that the words are implied—which is true—my answer is that as so many other virtues are implied but are on the face of the Bill, these should be included as well. Including these words will support confidence in the Charity Commission, not dent it. I hope that the Government will be minded to do so, although I sympathise with the problems of drafting this part of the Bill, which must have been taxing.