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Third Sector Review

It is impossible to know what the Minister has agreed to; I would like to hear from him. It is clear in the review, as I have already pointed out, that the Government have no objection to charities being ““wholly or mainly”” engaged in political activities. Today, the Minister says that they cannot be ““wholly”” political, so I would like to know whether they can be ““mainly”” political. We would all like to know that. What we do know is that the Minister is putting pressure on the Charity Commission to change its definition. We would like to know more about that pressure. As I said, the Minister is wrong to associate himself too closely with the review. Baroness Kennedy states that the consequence of not going in this direction is that"““charities will be pushed into a tiny area of traditional paternalistic or benevolent assistance””." What a patronising view that report takes of the contribution of the charity sector! Does the advisory group really dismiss anything beyond campaigning as being ““tiny”” in its impact or ““paternalistic””—a term used pejoratively in that context? If that is the company that the right hon. Gentleman is keeping on this matter, we are right to be concerned about his intentions. He should think more carefully before entering into this territory. He trucks with charities at his peril. As the Baroness rightly said, they enjoy a high level of public trust, much greater than that of political parties, so the last thing that we politicians should do is to undermine the confidence of donors in the charities themselves. Let me deal with some of today's speeches. We have heard some good and robust ones. The hon. Member for City of Chester (Christine Russell), in a cheery and upbeat speech, talked about the extent of voluntary activity in Cheshire. Such activity is typical in all our constituencies. It is constantly amazing how varied and diverse voluntary activity is. The hon. Lady mentioned that she will be in her local charity shop, supporting it to the best of her ability. I am sure that we will all find opportunities to volunteer on ““make a difference day””. The hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) is impressive in his reading material, as I see that he scrutinises Whitehall & Westminster World. His point about the independence of the sector is key. In a world where there is more contracting with the Government, which I think is a good thing, it is especially important for charities to benefit from buoyant sources of voluntary income. In terms of building capacity and independence, the best source is having a robust flow of funds so that organisations do not always have to kowtow to Government. The hon. Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) talked about the importance of core funding and the citizens advice bureaux. When I was a member of the Public Accounts Committee, we had a hearing with the permanent secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions on the complexity of benefit forms. He pointed out that the DWP now includes the CAB national telephone number on its forms, because they require some interpretation, but of course not a single penny is paid by way of contribution to the CAB for the extra work that that causes it. It is presumptuous to rely on organisations such as the CAB that provide such useful services without reflecting that in their funding. My hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr. Walker) told us about the exploits in the great north run of his nine-year-old son, whom we all congratulate. My hon. Friend also mentioned the amazing sum of £403,000 that that group of people raised, which illustrates the level of commitment that there was. That is a great success story. My hon. Friend also talked about the importance of volunteering. It is crucial that we have sustained volunteering. Many voluntary organisations welcome one-off incidences of volunteering, but it is the people who are prepared to return week after week who are essential for maintaining services—especially young people, who can continue doing so for many years. My hon. Friend talked about gift aid, too. I agree that we need to end the paper chase that surrounds gift aid. It is ludicrous that in the 21st century people have physically to fill in paper forms merely to certify that they are taxpayers. There must be more efficient ways of doing that. The hon. Members for West Bromwich, West (Mr. Bailey) and for Caernarfon (Hywel Williams) also made speeches. The hon. Member for West Bromwich, West talked about co-operatives. He is right that we should extend our discussions so that we talk about not only charities but co-operatives and social enterprises of all descriptions. The hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith also talked about gift aid, and I think that at the time one of the Ministers was nodding—I could not see properly because the Dispatch Box was in the way. That was a helpful sign that the representations made to the Government review of gift aid might be sympathetically received. The Institute of Fundraising and its coalition share our view that we should move to a paper-free way of allocating funds. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) made a fluent and passionate speech, largely without notes. He discussed the use of the term ““third sector””. I sometimes think that that is not the best term. The term ““the third world”” is now thought to be rather pejorative and patronising.