Suzi Leather - Charity Commission chairman

Question: The Charities Act hasn’t received a great deal of mainstream attention – how would you describe its overall purpose?

Dame Suzi Leather: The overall purpose of the 2006 Charities Act is to modernise the regulatory framework within which charities operate.

It not only ushers in the public benefit requirement, but also a number of important deregulatory changes for charities, increases for things they can do off their own bat and raises some of the thresholds for reporting,  which I think will particularly benefit smaller charities.

And from the commission’s point of view it modernises the  commission’s structure, it changes our organisation into a corporate organisation. We are expanding the board in line with the new legislation to increase its size and diversity  and I think that’s important, because it will make the board more relevant to the very diverse sector that we regulate.

Question: Is the commission going to have a more forceful role?

Dame Suzi Leather: I think there will be a renewed emphasis on the public benefit that all charities in England and Wales are bringing. The new law removes the  automatic presumption of public benefit from three categories of charity, charities which relieve poverty, charities which advance religion and charities which advance education.

From now on all those charities, and of course there are many thousands of them ,  will have to demonstrate to the independent regulator the Charity Commission that they are indeed acting for the public benefit.

This will bring a change of emphasis for all those boards of trustees who will have to review their activities and to think well what is it that we really do for the public benefit, and is that enough?

For the Charity Commission, we are the people who are maintaining and protecting charity integrity, we will be looking at what the charities tell us about the public benefit they bring and we'll be making a decision as to whether they should remain on the register of charities, whether they are meeting the implied covenant between charities and society that in return for bringing public benefit charities can continue to have the reputational advantage and the tax relief that comes with registered charity status.

Question: You must anticipate becoming involved in some high-profile arguments over this?

Dame Suzi Leather: The change in the legislation, which means that for the first time in 400 years charities which advance religion, advance education, the fact they have to demonstrate public benefit is a big change.

I think the job of the Charity Commission as the independent regulator is to protect charity integrity. Clearly we’re also there to enable individual charities to maximise their impact, we’re there also to encourage innovation and effectiveness.

But the key thing which is in the interest of the commission and the sector itself is that we promote the public’s trust and confidence in charitable activity.

Question: The voluntary sector is increasingly invoked by politicians as a way to provide public services. Do you worry they could be too much pressure on charities, or is it a good thing?

Dame Suzi Leather: There seems to be all-party agreement that charities are very important and will be increasingly important in the future for delivering services to the public, and there’s a sense charities are coming back to where they’ve been, because of course many of the services we think of now as important public services started off exclusively provided by charities.

I think the strengths the charities can bring to delivering those services are to do with charity skills in innovation, their closeness to beneficiaries and their understanding of beneficiaries’ needs. And I’m sure we will see increased involvement from charities in the delivery of public services and much of that will bring huge benefits to many people.

Having said that I think there are some warning signs for charities. I think there is evidence that many charities are struggling to get into public service provision, or once there are struggling with the terms under which they’ve been contracted.

Some of the key difficulties are short-term contracts and  limited achievement of  full cost recovery. Those are issues I know government recognises are important, but some of the work we have done with charities demonstrates how far there is to go in ensuring charities really can compete as equal partners with public sector providers.

I think it would be an enormous shame if in trying to ramp up charity involvement in public service provision we damaged the very characteristics of the charitable sector which are proving so attractive to many public service commissioners.

Boards of trustees will have to ensure they’re always sticking to the purpose of the charity, not to dance to the tune of the commissioners but to maintain their own integrity and stand on their own ground.

Question: Has the Office of the Third Sector made a difference?

Dame Suzi Leather: It’s been an enormous advantage to the charities sector generally and of course to the commission, because I think it’s brought the focus on what the third sector can do and its built up the platform of what it can do in public life.

Question: Is the Charity Commission going to become more high profile? Are the public going to start see more of it?

Dame Suzi Leather: I think there will be renewed interest in what it is charities are providing for society.

Some of that will come about through the change in legislation and the new requirement that all charities, whatever they are doing, should be able to demonstrate public benefit.

I think some of the interest will also come in the increased involvement in charities delivering services to the public, and both those factors will require a greater accountability from the charities sector, a greater articulation from individual boards of trustees as to what they are doing for public benefit.

And I hope during that public discussion we won’t lose sight of the enormous importance and value of having a very diverse charity sector, because it is that diversity and independence in the sector that is so important and indeed is a really important part of civic society.

Question: You may not be able to discuss the Smith Institute investigation directly, but more generally what is the law here? Can think tanks be charities and have links to political parties?

Dame Suzi Leather: Think tanks are not dealt with any differently from any other charity. Charities of course can campaign and indeed for many charities that is an incredibly important part of what they do. They cannot however be, and be seen to be, political organisations. So I think a too close allegiance with any single political party is not in keeping with charitable status.

I clearly can’t make a comment on any charities we’re currently involved with in an inquiry framework, safe to say there may be lessons to learn for the think tank sector more generally and where there are lessons to be learned we will do that with the sector.