Announcing the bill, charities minister Fiona Mactaggart said: “Charities can make a real difference to countless people’s lives. Thousands of people benefit from charitable action. Many others donate money, volunteer their time and talents or work as a trustee. Charities are held in high regard.

"The Charities Bill builds on this foundation of confidence in the work of the sector, reforming charity law and regulation with an emphasis on public benefit and the significant regulatory role of the Charity Commission.”

Shadow home affairs secretary Jacqui Lait: “We welcome the publication of the Charities Bill today. The charitable and voluntary sector have campaigned long and hard for these measures and they will be reassured that the bill has finally begun its Parliamentary progress.

"We are pleased that the Government recognises the public benefit of charitable schools and hospitals and that this bill will be no threat to their continued existence.”

In tackling the issue of public benefit, the Government has rejected the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendation that the principles for a definition of public benefit should be those set out in the September “concordat” between the Charity Commission and the Home Office. As expected, it has instead charged the Charity Commission with drawing up guidance on the basis of case law. The Government has also introduced a new objective for the Charity Commission that states it must "promote awareness and understanding of the public benefit requirement".

However, the Government has bowed to pressure to removed the reference to maximising the “social and economic impact” of charities from the Charity Commission’s objectives outlined in the bill. This has been replaced with an objective “to promote the effective use of charitable resources”.

"The Government notes that the balance of evidence to the Joint Committee was clearly against the Bill’s proposals to give the Charity Commission a “social and economic impact objective”, its response to the Scrutiny Committee notes.

There have been fears that the bill would not pass before the next General Election expected in May, but Fiona Mactaggart said today there was a good chance it would pass in time. "We'll be presenting it to the Lords, and I'm confident it will get through," she said.

The bill is available to download from www.parliament.uk, while the response to the Scrutiny Committee report will be available later today from www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/active/charitylaw/index.html