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