COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
OFFICIAL REPORT
(Hansard)
Charities Bill
17 April 2008
Members present for all or part of the proceedings:
Mr Gregory Campbell (Chairperson)
Mr David Hilditch (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Mickey Brady
Mr Thomas Burns
Mrs Claire McGill
Miss Michelle McIlveen
The Chairperson (Mr Campbell):
The Committee must agree the wording of the proposed amendments to the Charities Bill that were discussed at last week’s meeting. Officials in the Public Gallery can, if necessary, provide clarification and assistance. There are a number of outstanding clauses.
Clause 13 (Practice and procedure)
The Committee Clerk:
On 3 April, the Committee deferred consideration of clause 13 — which makes provision for applicants, in certain circumstances, to be represented by special advocates at a charity tribunal — because there were thought to be developments on the issue in England and Wales. The Department contacted its counterparts and was told that no changes are imminent. Therefore, it was felt that any amendment to clause 13 would not be appropriate at this stage. The Department will consider the matter again should there be developments in England and Wales.
Question, That the Committee is content with the clause, put and agreed to.
Clause 13 agreed to.
The Committee Clerk:
Clause 122 deals with the exemption of the transfer of designated land. The Committee had already agreed the text to an amendment, which was an exemption for the transfer of designated land of very low value. The Office of the Legislative Counsel (OLC) has informed the Department that the text of the amendment is unacceptably vague. The OLC has suggested a figure of £90,000 which ties in with the threshold for small charities in the Bill and the Companies Act 2006.
The Chairperson:
The amount of money is difficult to define, because one person may have an opinion on what constitutes low value for land, and another person may think otherwise. The Committee accepts that leaving the wording to read “low value land” is vague and difficult to define. In the absence of a more suitable amount on which everybody could agree, I think that the suggested figure is as close as we can get. Relatively speaking, it is quite a low value.
Are members content that the Committee recommends to the Assembly that clause 122 be amended as agreed between the Committee and the Department and that the Committee agree to the text of the amendment?
Members indicated assent.
The Committee Clerk:
Clause 165 has been amended to ensure that no Order should be made under that clause in relation to designating religious charities unless a draft of the Order had been laid before, and been approved by, a resolution of the Assembly.
The Chairperson:
Are members content that the Committee recommends to the Assembly that clause 165 be amended as agreed between the Committee and the Department and that the Committee agree to the text of the amendment?
Members indicated assent.
The Committee Clerk:
Clause 166 refers to the length of time that a charity had to have been established, which has been reduced from 10 years to five years. The requirement that a charity have at least 1,000 members has been removed.
The Chairperson:
Are members content that the Committee recommends to the Assembly that clause 166 be amended as agreed between the Committee and the Department and that the Committee agree to the text of the amendment?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
We will now move into private session to consider the draft report on the Charities Bill.