§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) what recent consultation her Department has had with local authorities and charities concerning public charitable collections; and if she will make a statement; [8733]
(2) what plans she has to amend the Charities Act 1992 to introduce protection against fraudulent public charitable collections; and if she will make a statement; [8734]
(3) what estimate she has made of the total money donated to fraudulent public charitable collections in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [8735]
(4) when the regulations provided under part III of the Charities Act 1992 concerning public charity collections and referred to in the report, "Public Charitable Collections: Response to Consultation" will come into force; and if she will make a statement; [8887]
(5) what plans she has to institute London-wide regulations on decisions to prosecute for offences related to conducting charity collections in the street without a licence; and if she will make a statement. [8883]
§ Mr. SproatGood progress has been made in implementing the Charities Acts 1992 and 1993, most recently with the commencement on 1 March this year of the statutory framework for charity accounts and reports. Against that programme it has been necessary to delay bringing into force the provisions in part III of the Charities Act 1992, dealing with public charitable collections. This sought to rationalise existing law which provides separately for the licensing of street collections under the Police, Factories Etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 and house to house collections under the House to House Collections Act 1939. Since this legislation is already in force, implementation of part III has been given lower priority than other parts of the 1992 and 1993 legislation, which introduced more substantial reforms.
444WA meeting on public charitable collections was held with practitioners from charities, local authorities and others on 28 February and my officials met with Westminster city council on 23 May. As indicated in the publication "Public Charitable Collections: Response to the Consultation", referred to by the hon. Member, the practical issues involved are complex and it is essential that these are fully considered in designing the regulations, guidance and accompanying practical arrangements before bringing part III into force.
Estimates of the total amount of money donated to fraudulent collections in each of the last five years are not available. In general, however, the public should be vigilant in responding to appeals, as to the charitable status of the organisation to which they are making a donation and as to the bona fides of the collector. The Charity Commission has recently issued a press release to warn people to give carefully to charities, especially at Christmas.
Part III of the Charities Act 1992 was amended by the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 to remove the maximum advance period for applications, in response to a recommendation of the deregulation task force on charities and voluntary organisations. There are no further plans to amend part III. It is already an offence to conduct an unlicensed street collection for charity in London, as it is in other areas for which local regulations have been made under the 1916 Act; in addition, criminal offences—for instance, obtaining property by deception—may be committed where collections take place falsely purporting to be for charity.