§ 5. Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy 976 of the text of the speech made by the Minister of State to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations on 13 November.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI have placed a copy in the Library today.
§ Mr. SmithWill the Minister be good enough to deposit in the Library an explanation of what he meant by
political activities carried out by charitable organisations."?Will he confirm to the House that it is perfectly right and proper for charities to express public anxiety on issues of a general, and sometimes political nature if their experience of individual suffering leads them to believe that general issues are at stake?
§ Mr. WaddingtonI made it clear in my speech that I was talking about party political activities. I see nothing wrong in voluntary bodies campaigning even for changes in the law — and, in the case of charities, within the restraints of the law. I said that in the longer term a neutral or an apolitical stance was important for the voluntary sector and in its own interests.
§ Mr. JesselIs it a welcome fact that an increasing number of voluntary organisations that are financed partly by public money devote a growing proportion of their time and money to campaigning on what they think Parliament and the Government should do? Why should the Government be expected to vote finance for such matters? Would it not be much better if voluntary organisations and charities concentrated more on their traditional role of helping people direct?
§ Mr. WaddingtonI said in my speech that if I were a member of the management team of a charity or voluntary body I should rather be criticised for putting too much emphasis on services to clients and too little on their political context, than to risk the opposite criticism and a loss of public good will.