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Charities Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 50:"Page 147, line 19, at end insert—"    ““After section 19B (inserted by section 21 of this Act) insert—    ““19C      COPY OF ORDER UNDER SECTION 18, 18A, 19A OR 19B, AND COMMISSION’S REASONS, TO BE SENT TO CHARITY (1)   Where the Commission makes an order under section 18, 18A, 19A or 19B, it must send the documents mentioned in subsection (2) below— (a)   to the charity concerned (if a body corporate), or (b)   (if not) to each of the charity trustees. (2)   The documents are— (a)   a copy of the order, and (b)   a statement of the Commission’s reasons for making it. (3)   The documents must be sent to the charity or charity trustees as soon as practicable after the making of the order. (4)   The Commission need not, however, comply with subsection (3) above in relation to the documents, or (as the case may be) the statement of its reasons, if it considers that to do so— (a)   would prejudice any inquiry or investigation, or (b)   would not be in the interests of the charity; but, once the Commission considers that this is no longer the case, it must send the documents, or (as the case may be) the statement, to the charity or charity trustees as soon as practicable. (5)   Nothing in this section requires any document to be sent to a person who cannot be found or who has no known address in the United Kingdom. (6)   Any documents required to be sent to a person under this section may be sent to, or otherwise served on, that person in the same way as an order made by the Commission under this Act could be served on him in accordance with section 91 below.”””” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 50 is tabled in the name of my noble friend Lady Scotland. We have had several debates about the need to provide a copy of orders and the reasons for making orders in relation to particular protective powers of the commission. Most recently, we debated an amendment similar to this one on Report on 12 October. I think that it was Amendment No. 55, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury. During that debate, I said that the Government wanted to give the matter further thought and return with an amendment of their own covering the commission’s protective powers under the Charities Act 1993. It is the commission’s usual practice to inform trustees why it has taken any significant action using its protective powers. The amendment will make that a statutory requirement, subject to certain safeguards. It will require the commission to provide the trustees—or the charity, if a corporate body—with a copy of the order where it exercises a protective power under Section 18 and new Sections 18A, 19A, and 19B of the Charities Act 1993. It will also require the commission to provide a statement of reasons for making the order. However, the commission would not need to comply with this requirement—or not comply with it in relation to the statement of reasons—while it considered that to do so either would prejudice any inquiry or investigation or would not be in the interests of the charity. We are responding to an issue that was raised at an earlier stage by the noble Lord, Lord Phillips. I hope that noble Lords will welcome the amendment, and I beg to move.