HL Deb 21 July 1982 vol 433 cc848-9

2.57 p.m.

Lord Allen of Abbeydale

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the South Atlantic Appeal and the Falklands Appeal are registered as charities.

The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)

My Lords, I am advised by the Charity Commission that the trustees of the South Atlantic Fund have applied for its registration as a charity and that the application is being considered. I understand that it is not proposed to apply for charitable status for the Falklands Appeal but that its trustees have announced that any funds remaining after the immediate needs of the islanders and the cost of projects for the general benefit of the community have been met, will be paid to the United Kingdom Falkland Islands Trust which is a registered charity.

Lord Allen of Abbeydale

My Lords, in thanking the noble and learned Lord for that informative reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that I heard the organisers of the Falklands Appeal speaking on the radio as though it were a charity; and is he further aware that the Government stated on 25th May that the South Atlantic Appeal would not be a charity? If the Government themselves find it difficult to get it right and the public are left in some confusion, does not this lend some force to the argument which some of us have been propounding that the time has come to take a fresh look at the law on charities?

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, I do not think the Government have misled the public in any way at all. The question as to whether the South Atlantic Appeal is a charity depends, first of all, upon the application to the Charity Commissioners and then on the answer that they give to the application, which is under consideration. So far as the Falklands Appeal is concerned, that is a different organisation altogether. I have here a press release which I think was not issued by the Government but which gives the objects of the Falklands Appeal, which in themselves, I should have thought, were not charitable. But I have stated the true position with regard to it. I am not sure what the noble Lord means by further consideration. I do not think there is any doubt about the situation at all.

Lord Elwyn-Jones

My Lords, if the Charity Commissioners deem the South Atlantic Appeal to be charitable, may we assume that any monies already forwarded to that appeal will be treated as part of the charity?

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, that is the assumption I should be inclined to make myself.

Baroness Faithfull

My Lords, may I ask the noble and learned Lord whether he could explain—I realise I ought to have deduced it—exactly what the difference between the two is, why one is a charitable appeal and not the other?

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, the objects of the Falklands Appeal are to benefit the islanders and the islands. The objects of the South Atlantic Fund are to benefit those who were injured in the recent conflict and their dependants, and the dependants of those who died. The aims of the Falklands Appeal were set out in a press release. I understand that the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, is a patron.