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Charities Bill [HL]

My Lords, the noble Lord has addressed this issue at length on previous occasions with different amendments, but this amendment seeks to bring together two separate amendments that he tabled previously. The first part concerns a duty for the commission in performing its regulatory functions to act ““fairly and reasonably””, and the second concerns a requirement for the commission to have regard to the interests of beneficiaries and other stakeholders. We have discussed the ““fair and reasonable”” part of the amendment on five separate occasions and I feel slightly shamefaced in offering the same argument. Nevertheless, it remains the case that we consider that part of it to be unnecessary because the Charity Commission has always recognised that it has a duty to act in a fair and reasonable way.