Charity Commission
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Charities' governance key to limiting terrorist abuse

Charities' governance key to limiting terrorist abuse

CHARITY COMMISSION News Release (PR 20/07) issued by The Government News Network on 1 August 2007

Charity Commission publishes response to Government review

Accountable and transparent governance, strong financial management and effective risk management policies and procedures are key to charities' ability to protect themselves from terrorist exploitation, according to the Charity Commission's response to the Home Office/HM Treasury Review on protecting the sector from terrorist abuse.

Key points of the Commission's response include:

* While completely unacceptable, the actual incidence of terrorist involvement with charities is extremely rare - the response must be proportionate to the scale and seriousness of the threat;

* The independent regulator is an essential and trusted partner, alongside government and the charity sector itself, in protecting charities from terrorist abuse;

* Support and guidance for charities, to avoid problems arising in the first place, is a key part of our regulatory strategy;

* The Commission will act swiftly and decisively where deliberate wrongdoing, criminality and abuse, including terrorist abuse, takes place.

The Treasury has already committed additional funding of £1m in 2007/08 to increase the Commission's capacity for tackling terrorist links to charities and promoting public trust and confidence in charities. The Commission proposes to publish a draft counter-terrorism strategy for public consultation in the autumn.

The Commission's Chief Executive, Andrew Hind, said:

"We must safeguard charities from the risk of terrorist abuse without damaging their ability to carry out their vital work. In particular, we will work with charities to help them know their partners and beneficiaries more clearly - building on existing good practice within the sector. Our response to the Government's review puts robust governance at the heart of our strategy, while being absolutely clear we will not tolerate the exploitation of charities for terrorist abuse."

Notes to editors:

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator for charitable activity in England and Wales. See http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information.

2. The Home Office/HM Treasury Review and Consultation on Safeguards to Protect the Charitable Sector from Terrorist Abuse was published on 10 May and is available at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk Responses to the review are requested by 2 August 2007.

3. The Charity Commission was consulted on the development of the review, along with a number of other departments, public bodies and charity sector organisations. The Commission's response is available on the website at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk

4. Andrew Hind gave a speech outlining the Commission's approach to the Royal United Services Institute at Whitehall on 25 July 2007.

For more information or a copy of Andrew Hind's speech please contact :

Sush Amar on 020 7674 2462 or out of hours on 07860 202 895

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