§ Mrs. Helene Hayman (Welwyn and Hatfield)I beg to move Amendment No 51, in page 25, line 30, at end add—
(3) The trustee or any other person charged with the management of funds subject to such a provision as is referred to in subsection (2) may apply for such provision to be altered to enable him to confer benefits upon persons of either sex any such applications shall be made in accordance with the procedures laid down by Part III of the Charities Act 1960 and the making of such application shall he conclusive evidence that the condition set out in Clause 13(1)(e)(iii) of that Act has been fulfilled".This is a small but important amendment. All hon. Members will recognise that a measure such as this poses problems for charities, and that is why the Government chose to exempt charities and charitable trusts from the provisions of the Bill in general. However, an important area which is not covered by that 1569 blanket exemption is where trustees of a charitable trust desire to alter the terms of that trust to prevent it applying only to members of one sex and to open it up so that it is equally applicable to members of both sexes. This is particularly important in education.Hon. Members who have been female students at university will remember having felt deeply chagrined about scholarships, trusts and bursaries being open only to male students. Some trustees who administer trusts of colleges at universities are embarrassed because the college is no longer a single-sex college but admits members of both sexes yet they are forced to administer a trust set up many years ago when the availability of education to women was not even considered by the people who set it up. They are deeply embarrassed at being unable to offer to people of either sex scholarships, bursaries or trust funds of this type.
There is no element of compulsion in the amendment. I recognise the deep feelings that exist about trusts that have been set up—particularly under wills—and I accept that the wishes of the trustees should not lightly be set aside, but there is nothing in the amendment to force trustees to alter the terms of a trust that applies only to one sex.
The amendment is purely an enabling measure to allow the trustees, where they consider it appropriate and beneficial, and where they have no means whereby they can alter the trust terms so as to apply the trust equally to men and women, to give equal access to such funds to men and women. That is a limited but important provision.
I hope that the Government will see that we are trying to steer a path between too much interference with charities and ensuring that where public policy is being articulated, as it is in the Bill, and where public policy is coupled with the desire of the trustees to implement that policy, the charity they are administering is made open to men and women.
§ Mr. LaneI support the general argument put by the hon. Member for Welwyn and Hatfield (Mrs. Hayman) with a case from my constituency, where there is a fund administered by trustees from which grants are made to young scientific research workers. It has proved 1570 to be a valuable fund, but at present the terms of the trust do not permit any grant to be made to a woman research worker. This is the kind of situation where surely we want a little more common sense and sensibility in the Bill.
§ Miss Joan LestorThe Government are sympathetic to the intention underlying the amendment, which is concerned with educational trusts in which there are these anomalies.
It is important to say, first, that one of the principles of charity law is that the law should respect, as far as is practicable, the wishes of the donor. It is also clear that perhaps, as things are, there are precedents for a rather greater degree of flexibility in the education context to meet the major social changes that have taken place.
There have been many changes since many educational trusts were set up in the last century, not least the development of universal education. There has also been the general movement towards co-education, which the Government welcome, and for which provision has been made in the Bill. My right hon. Friend believes that there is a case for a public policy of implementing the principles of the Bill in relation to educational charities to enable, but not require, trustees to obtain leave to alter the original purpose of a trust in order to delete a conditional requirement based on sex. If no such change were made in the Bill, the trustees of a single-sex educational trust might have difficulty in moving to co-education.
We are currently considering how such a provision might be formalised and operated and what conditions and safeguards need to be introduced. The procedures proposed in the amendment are not entirely satisfactory as they stand. There is a certain inconsistency in the requirement that an application by trustees of a kind specified in the amendment should be deemed to fulfil the requirements of Clause 13 as to the occasions for applying property cy-pres. But at the same time, the provisions as regards the making of schemes should be required to be fulfilled.
On the other hand, there are problems about permitting trustees, whose principal and continuing duty is to preserve and 1571 administer trusts as long as they can, to have an unfettered and arbitrary right to modify them if they feel so disposed.
Difficult questions are involved and the Government are considering them urgently. We propose to introduce our own amendment in another place. In the light of that assurance, I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn and Hatfield (Mrs. Hayman) will withdraw the amendment. We accept the principle behind it.
I make it clear that our amendment would be related only to educational trusts. It is these with which my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Lane) are concerned. The considerations relating to other single-sex charities are different. The Bill already includes a wide range of exceptions for single-sex voluntary institutions.
§ Mrs. HaymanI am sure that my hon. Friend is a much better draftsperson than I am. On the basis of her assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.