Charity Collectors (Hansard, 20 July 1998)

§ Mr. Alan Howarth

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 20 July 1998The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning studies he has undertaken into the effectiveness of the precautions against Jobcentres assisting in the recruitment of collectors for bogus charities. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. Since you last raised this issue, in November of last year, we have taken action to strengthen our guidance to Jobcentres in consultation with the Charity Commission. As I explained in my reply to you in November 1997, our guidance already told Jobcentres not to accept vacancies from or on behalf of any charity unless it was registered with the Charity Commission or, in Scotland, the Financial Intermediary Claims Office (FICO). Where any doubt arises about the registration, or the actions of a charity, the local Jobcentre is now instructed to forward details to a team in the Employment Service Head Office in Sheffield for investigation. This team will check the organisation's registration with the Charity Commission or the Financial Intermediary Claims Office, as appropriate, and advise the Jobcentre whether or not to accept the vacancy. Where necessary we will ask the Charity Commission or the FICO to investigate the organisation. This will confirm whether the organisation is registered and whether the Commission or FICO, through their Investigations Division, are aware of any other information about them which would lead us to doubt whether their vacancies were suitable for display in Jobcentres. If the organisation is not registered, or the Commission expresses any doubt about them, the team will instruct Jobcentres not to display any vacancies from them. These strengthened processes mean that a single team at our Head Office is now able quickly to tell Jobcentre staff about the steps they should take to safeguard jobseekers, and seek the advice of the Charity Commission or FICO about organisations whose activities are causing concern to staff or jobseekers. It also allows us to inform all our Jobcentres quickly of any organisations about which the Charity Commission or FICO have concerns and thus stop them accepting any vacancies from them. You ask what studies we have undertaken on our precautions. We have not undertaken any specific research, although our Head Office team will themselves monitor carefully any feedback from our Jobcentres and from our clients about charities which appear to have doubts attaching to them. If you have any examples or problems of which you would like us to be aware we would of course, be very happy to investigate them. I hope this is helpful.