Tracey Crouch named new charities minister

Already sports minister, Crouch is the MP for Chatham and Aylesford and has some connections with the charity sector

The sports minister Tracey Crouch has also been given the charities brief.

The Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford, who has been at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as sports minister since 2015, has taken on responsibility for the Office for Civil Society in addition to her sports duties as part of the reshuffle after last week’s general election.

Crouch, who has been an MP since 2010, has updated her Twitter profile to state that she is now “sports and civil society minister”.

The DCMS initially confirmed yesterday morning that John Glen, MP for Salisbury, had been made Minister for Civil Society, but Glen said on his Twitter feed last night that he had been made minister for the arts, heritage and tourism, the latter two areas previously falling under Crouch’s remit.

Crouch has already been in communication with senior figures in the sector, it is understood.

Her official website says she holds 11 patronages, including president of RSPCA Medway West, patron of the Medway branch of the National Osteoporosis Society, vice president of the Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and an honorary member of the Friends of Mental Health, West Kent and Medway.

She also volunteers as a manager and FA-qualified coach at Meridian Girls’ Football Club in Kent, according to her declaration of interests, and is a keen sports enthusiast.

In her maiden speech to the House of Commons, delivered on 10 June 2010 during a debate about tackling poverty in the UK, she spoke of the difficulty charities faced in helping to deal with social problems.

“There is no easy answer,” she said. “It is not just one thing that needs to change. Low income, family breakdown, addiction, mental health problems and criminal behaviour contribute to a lack of expectation that, in turn, leads to inactivity.

“Charities find themselves too small to help, agencies find it too difficult and authorities find it too expensive. Complex problems may require multiple solutions, but unless we invest our time, energy and support, deprivation in parts of one of the most advanced countries in the world will continue to blight our nation.”

The 41-year-old was born and grew up in Kent, and was educated at Folkestone School for Girls before studying law at the University of Hull.

Her official website says: “After graduation, she accidentally found herself working as a researcher to a Conservative MP rather than training to become a solicitor.”

She is a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on dementia, alcohol misuse and athletics and is a former member of the House of Commons select committees for Culture, Media and Sport and Political and Constitutional Reform.

Crouch succeeds Rob Wilson, who lost his Reading East seat at the general election last week after almost three years as charities minister.

She is the first female Conservative to hold ministerial responsibility for charities. The last female charities minister was Labour’s Angela Smith, who lost her seat at the 2010 election.

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Charities ‘should not be paralysed by election result’, says CFG’s Bradshaw

Voluntary sector figures have given their reactions to last night’s surprise election result

Charities should not be paralysed by the uncertainty created by the surprise general election result, the Charity Finance Group has said.

Representative bodies across the sector have called on whichever new government is formed after the election led to a hung parliament to engage with charities.

Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of the CFG, said that none of the parties’ manifestos had had a “particularly compelling offer” for charities and, in the wake of the result, it was important for all parties go back to the drawing board to develop a vision for the sector that included it as a key partner.

She said: “To charities we say: don’t be paralysed by this result. A hung parliament will create uncertainty, but that is our prompt to step up and provide proposals to government. We know that charities will continue to be asked to meet the needs of our society and we should be bold in putting forward policies that break down the barriers to us being as effective as possible.”

John Barrett, chief executive of the Small Charities Coalition, said that although the result had increased uncertainty it was also an opportunity.

“This is a time for organisations speak up about the big issues they face and their vision for a better future,” he said.

“We encourage small charities to make contact with elected members, whether arranging meetings or visits with their local MPs or engaging with political parties as this new government is formed. We also encourage all MPs to engage with these admirable organisations.”

Vicky Browning, chief executive of the charity leaders body Acevo, agreed, saying: “Civil society leaders now have an opportunity to help shape the future of our country. Charities should not shy away from speaking out as a new government forms.” 

But Neil Cleeveley, chief executive of the local infrastructure body Navca, said that in a coalition governments tended to find it harder to push through the policies they wanted to pursue. This could mean that the subjects charities were concerned about were pushed to the back of the queue, he said, particularly with Brexit negotiations coming to the fore. 

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said the difficult issues facing the next government would make it more important than ever that the next government drew on the expertise of the voluntary sector.

“Charities should be seen as partners and critical friends in policy development in order to develop effective approaches to the country’s most challenging problems,” he said.

John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said it was worth remembering that charities continued to enjoy greater support than any political party.

“It’s charities that are strong and stable, working for the many, not the few,” he said. “The MPs and ministers reeling from last night’s results should remember that, and listen.”

Jay Kennedy, director of policy and research at the Directory of Social Change, said: “It’s vital that whatever government we eventually get looks to charities and wider civil society for answers. It needs to be a listening, engaging government. Such massive challenges simply can’t be overcome with a ‘government knows best’ approach.”

He said a signal of how serious any government was about such an approach would be in how quickly the charities minister Rob Wilson, who lost his seat as an MP last night, was replaced.

Chris Millward, chief executive of the Institute of Legacy Management, called on the Conservatives to rethink their proposals to fund the care of elderly people by taking the money from their estates after they died, leaving them unable to make legacy donations in their wills. 

Peter Lewis, chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, said strengthening and supporting charity fundraising, especially at smaller charities, and support for legacy giving should be at the heart of any government’s approach to partnership with charities.

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Fifty-plus charities urge parties to commit to repealing the lobbying act

A letter organised by Friends of the Earth to mainland parties at Westminster says the act has had a ‘chilling effect’ on legitimate charity campaigning during the election period

More than 50 charities have signed a letter calling on the leaders of the major Westminster parties to commit to repealing the lobbying act because of the “enormous administrative and financial burden” it is placing on voluntary sector organisations.

The letter, which was coordinated by Friends of the Earth, says the lobbying act has “had a significant chilling effect on legitimate charity sector campaigning in the pre-election period” and claims that some charities have had to reduce or alter their campaigning activities because of the act.

The lobbying act sets spending limits and makes it a legal necessity for all organisations that spend more that £20,000 in England or £10,000 in Wales on regulated campaigning prior to an election to register with the Electoral Commission.

The 53 signatories to the letter include ActionAid, Christian Aid, Age UK, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Women’s Aid and Sue Ryder.

The development charity umbrella group Bond said it and several of its members had signed the letter.

“Voices are being lost at this crucial time, and our democracy is the poorer for it,” the letter says. “Those charities that continue to campaign to further their charitable objects are subject to an enormous and unreasonable administrative and financial burden.

“This is compounded by the retrospective year-long regulated period, which requires us to go back and assess campaigning from before we knew a general election would be called.”

The letter has been sent to the major parties from Great Britain represented in Westminster: the Conservatives, Labour, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru.

Labour and the SNP have both committed to repealing the lobbying act in their manifestos, and the Green Party supported repealing the act at the 2015 general election.

The other three parties have made no explicit promises to repeal the act.

The letter comes after recent fines of £1,000 and £30,000 handed out to Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace respectively for failing to register with the Electoral Commission in relation an anti-fracking campaign the two charities ran before the 2015 general election.

Greenpeace subsequently threatened to take the Electoral Commission to court over its decision to retrospectively apply the election spending rules to the year before the snap election on 8 June.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said: “The problem with the lobbying act is that it seriously damages charities’ ability to do their job, and that job is to work for the greater public good.

“If the lobbying act is not reformed, democracy will ultimately suffer.” 

Tamsyn Barton, chief executive of Bond, said: “Campaigning during election time is a critical and legitimate part of what our members do. This is how charities ensure those who are vulnerable and marginalised have a voice. But the level of red tape involved in complying with the act is excessive and the cost of legal advice is unaffordable for smaller organisations, especially at such short notice.

“Shockingly, many organisations have felt unable to speak out during this snap election on issues that affect the people they aim to represent, and our democracy is all the poorer for it.”

But several prominent people in the charity sector, including Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, have said charities have been “unduly stifling their voices” by misunderstanding the act.

Sir Stephen Bubb, former chief executive of the charity chief executives body Acevo, and the philanthropist and campaigner Gina Miller have also called for charities to speak out more ahead of the general election.

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Charities ‘must spend more on leadership and infrastructure’, report concludes

The ICAEW report says charities have shied away from making good investment decisions because of a fear that it might negatively affect public perception

A fear of how the public will view investment in charities’ internal infrastructure has led trustees and managers to “shy away from making good decisions”, a new report warns.

The report, Positive Impacts in Challenging Times, published this week by the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, says charities must invest more in leadership and infrastructure in order to retain public trust and operate effectively.

“Trustees and management have often shied away from making good investment decisions because they believe that it will impact negatively on how they are perceived,” it says.

“This has resulted in underinvestment in vital areas such as information technology, skills training, income-generating processes and governance and management.”

The report says charities should be prepared to spend more on infrastructure and support functions if it will improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

“Investments in training, evaluation, internal systems and fundraising are important as they enable charities to improve their performance,” it says.

“The risk is that under-investing in infrastructure can actually lead to a deterioration in a charity’s performance and the resilience needed to be able to sustain effective delivery.”

It says charities are to blame for “perpetuating the myth that reduced overheads mean the charity is more effective” and that “this leads to a vicious cycle of underinvestment and the belief that more can be done with less.

“Charities should be ready to make the necessary investment in infrastructure based on what is needed rather than how it may be perceived. Expenditure decisions should be governed by what is in the best interests of achieving objectives effectively, which may require more investment in infrastructure.

It notes that cost ratios of how and where funds are distributed are flawed “in almost all cases” and “lead to inaccurate conclusions”.

The report also says charities should focus more on the selection, induction and training of trustees to ensure they have the correct skills and experience to carry out their roles.

“All trustees should be able to confirm that, before taking up their appointment, they have received sufficient information about the activities of their charity and their role as a trustee, and that they understand the responsibilities that come with being a trustee,” it recommends.

The report says charities should also be more discerning about “unviable” payment-by-results contracts to deliver public services, the report says.

“The practice of winning the contract at any price can be harmful to charities and the causes they serve,” it says.

It says charities are likely to be better off bidding for such contracts as part of a consortium, so participants can be more efficient by sharing logistics and infrastructure. 

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Groundwork receives grant to train unemployed people to restore goods for charities

Groundwork London has received £30,000 to train unemployed people in repairing domestic appliances to be sold by charities.

The charity’s REWORK project restores furniture and white goods at one of the UK’s best-equipped domestic appliance repair workshops. Through the project, items that would be sent to landfill are returned to full working order and given a new lease of life.

The workshop, based at the Smugglers Way waste transfer station in Wandsworth, employs people who have been on long-term job seekers allowance and trains them in electrical engineering and maintenance.

Last year, the project’s 29 paid trainees refurbished and sold over 4,500 domestic appliances and 2,700 items of furniture.  The repaired items are then provided for resale through charity shops in London and across the country.

London Freemason, David Lawrence, visited the project to see the apprentices in action:

“We’re very pleased to be able to support this excellent scheme which provides practical training for long-term unemployed people, helps the environment and provides a cheap source of refurbished appliance for charities to sell.”

Ben Coles, director at Groundwork London, said:

“We’re very grateful to London Freemasons for their generous grant which will help us continue giving people the skills to find jobs in the capital’s growing retrofit sector. The project is a great example of Groundwork London tackling unemployment while protecting the environment.”

Groundwork London

Groundwork London is a social and environmental regeneration charity that works with communities across the UK. The charity supports them to create better places, live and work in a greener, more sustainable way and to improve their economic prospects.

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