24/03/10

By Andrew Holt

Angela Smith, Nick Hurd, and Jenny Willott have shared contrasting views about the role of charities in campaigning for change, in response to questions posed by the Directory of Social Change (DSC).

Among a series of five questions on key policy issues, DSC asked the Minister and Shadow Ministers for the three main political parties "How would life be different for campaigning charities?" if their party won the election.

Jenny Willott, the Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said that Liberal Democrats "believe that campaigning by charities is a crucial part of our democratic system' and that 'the reason charities have such a powerful voice is that their campaigning comes out of experience and is backed up with evidence from their service delivery."

Nick Hurd, the Conservative shadow minister for charities, social enterprise and volunteering, said the Conservatives "recognised the value of the advocacy role as long as it supports the charitable purpose' but would propose 'no changes to current regulations."

Angela Smith, the current Minister for the Third Sector, stressed that charities must work within charity law, but that charity campaigns which were grounded in their aims and objectives "could change lives".

They also performed a valuable role for Government by "ensuring that all aspects of any proposed policy are examined and any problems or potential problems are brought to Government attention."

DSC's head of policy Jay Kennedy said: "We wanted to ask some straightforward questions about issues that affect a broad range of voluntary organisations, not just those which deliver services for government. Each politician has answered in different ways as you would expect, but we're leaving it to our readers to compare and make up their own minds."

The MPs also responded to a range of other questions on issues such as Gift Aid, irrecoverable VAT, localism, and how government could better support the majority of charities which receive no income from the state.

You can find the full text for each of the interviews here:

Angela Smith:
http://www.dsc.org.uk/NewsandInformation/News/DSCAsksAngelaSmithMPrespondstoquestionsfromDSC

Nick Hurd:
http://www.dsc.org.uk/NewsandInformation/News/DSCAsksNickHurdMPrespondstoquestionsfromDSC

Jenny Willott:
http://www.dsc.org.uk/NewsandInformation/News/DSCAsksJennyWillottMPrespondstoquestionsfromDSC

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