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Charities Bill [Lords]

If I was not aware of it before, I am now, and I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his advocacy of the work that angling does. I turn to the amendments in the name of the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon, which were debated extensively in another place. It remains the Government’s view that they are neither necessary nor desirable, and I want to explain why as briefly as I can. They are not necessary because it is established beyond any shadow of doubt that organisations promoting non-religious belief systems such as humanism and rationalism can be charitable. The British Humanist Association, for example, has been a registered charity since 17 January 1983. I was slightly confused by the speech from the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood). He said that it has been established that humanist organisations can be regarded as charitable under the provision concerning the moral, mental and spiritual improvement of humankind. So there is a clear charitable purpose in respect of which humanism can make its case; more than that, it is accepted under that provision that humanism is a way of promoting such improvement. The amendment on humanism is unnecessary because humanism’s contribution to charitable purposes is established in law and accepted by the Charity Commission.