HC Deb 27 June 1979 vol 969 c182W
Mr. John Grant

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why his Department issued a press statement about the Charity Commissioners' annual report which singled out the alleged political activities of three British charities, namely, War on Want, Oxfam, and Christian Aid, and whether this has been the practice in the past.

Mr. Whitelaw

My Department has made publicity facilities available to the Charity Commissioners since 1960. A press notice summarising the main points of interest in the Commissioners' annual report is prepared on each occasion by the Charity Commission and, as the notice itself makes clear, is issued by the Home Office on the Commission's behalf.

Mr. John Grant

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he considers that British charity law operates in a more destructive way in relation to political involvement by charities than elsewhere in the EEC; and what steps he will take towards harmonisation;

(2) if he will seek to amend the law to clarify what political involvement by charities is permissible.

Mr. Whitelaw

Because of fundamental differences in the way in which the various legal systems within the Community treat what we regard as charitable activities, I do not think that any comparison can usefully be made, or that harmonisation is practicable or desirable.

The question of political activity by charitable bodies is among those dealt with in the report of the Expenditure Committee on the Charity Commissioners (HC 495-I of 1974–75) and I ask the hon. Gentleman to await the Government's observations on that report.