Response from The Charity Commission

Submitted by Ilya Gedye (United Kingdom), May 5, 2006 at 20:18

Dear All,

I have posted the response from The Charity Commission to an email I sent about the Gift Aid artical. Happy reading!

Thank you for your email of 1 May.

The Commission is aware of the article by Sean O'Neill published on 20 April inf the Times newspaper - Muslim Students "being taught to despise unbelievers as filth" - and Daniel Pipes' article Subsidizing the Enemy. Subsequent to concerns initially being raised with us about the allegations made in this article, the Commission has received additional correspondence from individuals concerned about the contents of this article. We have reviewed the information available to us and determined that an assessment should be made of the allegations raised in the article. We are therefore contacting the trustees of the charities mentioned - the Irshad Trust and the Islamic Centre of England - to explore these allegations. Subject to the outcome of our enquiries we will assess whether any issues of concern are present and determine what action, if any, is appropriate.

The Commission is the statutory authority responsible for the regulation of the charitable sector in England and Wales. Our general function as set out in section 1(3) of the Charities Act 1993 is "promoting the effective use of charitable resources by encouraging the development of better methods of administration, by giving charity trustees information or advice on any matter affecting the charity and by investigating and checking abuses". As part of fulfilling this function we assess complaints about charities to ascertain if issues of regulatory concern are present and if action by us is required.

When assessing concerns we apply the principles of fairness, consistency and proportionality. We will seek to act with impartiality, fairness, independence and honesty; we will make sure that the decisions or actions we take in any particular case are accurate and consistent with the law, with our published policies, and with other decisions; and we will aim to ensure that the actions we take are proportionate to the risk of harm involved in a particular case. Our assessment of harm will be based on an objective and thorough analysis of the evidence we gather. The Commission places considerable emphasis on our enforcement role, ensuring that charities comply with their legal requirements and that if there is evidence of deliberate wrong-doing we are hard and sharp in our response. If any action is considered necessary in this case, it will be appropriate to the risks revealed by our assessment.

I trust this clarifies the Commission's position.

Yours sincerely

Louise Edwards
Senior Manager/Case Officer
Compliance and Support

Charity Commission
13-15 Bouverie Street
London EC4Y 8DP

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