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Charities Bill [HL]

Subsection (1) of new Section 19A allows the commission to give a direction, once it is satisfied,"““as mentioned in section 18(1)(a) or (b) above””." That means that the commission may act, once it has opened an investigation and has satisfied itself either that there has been misconduct or mismanagement in the charity or that the charity’s property is at risk and action is needed to protect it. As the Bill is drafted, the commission may direct the taking of an action that is expedient to the interests of   the charity. The noble Lord’s amendment would limit the commission to directing an action that was   necessary to protect the charity’s property. The practical effect of the amendment would be to prevent the commission from giving a direction that was actually in the charity’s best interests and was aimed at remedying some misconduct or mismanagement when   there was no risk to property. For example, when the misconduct was towards one of the charity’s beneficiaries, trustees or employees, but there was no risk to any of its property, the commission could not in practice use the power. If the noble Lord could reassure me that he had identified every possible circumstance when there was misconduct towards a beneficiary but no risk to property and had satisfied himself that the commission could deal with the problem using one of its other powers, in those circumstances I might just begin to look kindly on the amendment. In the mean time, I must ask the noble Lord to withdraw it.