Our weekly round up of news and updates from across the sector.
Charity Commission
New investment guidance
As you've probably heard, the Charity Commission has published an updated version of its guidance CC14, now called Investing charity money: guidance for trustees. Here are links to:
- The new guidance (including a legal underpinning) - the legal underpinning references the charity investment case in which Bates Wells acted citing it as, "Butler-Sloss is now the leading case in this area, and this judgment is central to the basis for the Commission's guidance on investment by trustees."
- The Charity Commission's press release
- The outcome of the Commission's consultation on the draft guidance.
Bates Wells will now be working with a group of umbrella bodies to develop some sector led 'Charity Investment Governance Principles' which will either sit alongside, or be incorporated into, the Charity Governance Code and complement CC14 by being more specific and action-oriented.
Inquiry report
The Commission has published an inquiry report into Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. Since 2007, the Commission has been engaging with Jehovah's Witness charities about safeguarding and child protection issues, leading to the opening of a statutory inquiry in 2014. Ultimately, the inquiry concluded that the Watch Tower is no longer the organisation directly responsible for the safety of Jehovah's Witness children. Responsibility for this area now rests with the Kingdom Hall Trust and the Commission says that it has opened a compliance case to work with the Trust to ensure that its safeguarding policies, guidance, and procedures provide a safe environment for beneficiaries within all JW congregations. The Commission was critical of the trustees for not being as helpful or cooperative as they could have been during the Inquiry, which included several challenges to the Commission by way of judicial review.
Inquiry opened
The Commission has opened an inquiry into the Have A Heart Foundation over serious financial concerns.
Data protection
ICO guidance "Likely to be accessed by children"
The ICO has updated its guidance, "Likely to be accessed" by children - FAQs, list of factors and case studies. The updated guidance includes additional information on why the ICO has not set a numerical threshold for assessing what a "significant number" of children is and some insight into whether the ICO would take regulatory action if an organisation interprets the list of factors differently to the ICO when assessing whether children are likely to access a service. It also includes some additional case studies for SME and hobby sites.
ICO reprimands for data breaches via group emails
The Information Commissioner's Office has reprimanded two Northern Irish organisations for disclosing people's information inappropriately via group emails.
- The Patient and Client Council (PCC) sent an email to 15 people across Northern Ireland, each of whom had lived experience of gender dysphoria, using the carbon copy (cc) option. Although the body of the email did not contain personal information, the people who received the email could reasonably infer that the other recipients also had experience of gender dysphoria, given their inclusion in the email.
- The Executive Office's Interim Advocate's Office, established following the report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, sent an e-newsletter to 251 subscribers using the 'to' field. Although only email addresses were disclosed, it can be inferred that the people included in the email were likely to be victims and survivors, as the newsletter content was tailored to survivors who were wishing to engage, or who were already engaging, with the Inquiry compensation scheme.
The ICO's investigation found that both organisations had insufficient guidance for staff about sending communications by bulk email so recommended that both organisations review and update their policies and procedures and provide appropriate guidance to staff in relation to email use. The issue of reprimands rather than fines or penalties is likely to be because both organisations are public sector entities.
ICO reprimand for data breaches via WhatsApp group
The ICO has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff's unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients' personal data over the course of two years. Between April 2020 and April 2022, 26 staff at NHS Lanarkshire had access to a WhatsApp group where patient data was shared on more than 500 occasions. While WhatsAPP was made available for communicating basic information only at the start of the pandemic, it was not approved by NHS Lanarkshire for processing patient data and was adopted by these staff without the organisation's knowledge. A non-staff member was also added to the WhatsApp group in error, resulting in the inappropriate disclosure of personal information to an unauthorised individual.
The ICO's investigation concluded that NHS Lanarkshire did not have the appropriate policies, clear guidance and processes in place when WhatsApp was made available to download. In addition to issuing a reprimand, the ICO recommended a range of steps for NHS Lanarkshire to take to safeguard against a similar breach in the future.
Public procurement and subsidy control
The Procurement Bill has cleared Commons Report and Third Reading stages and will next progress to 'consideration of amendments' (or 'ping-pong') in the House of Lords in September. Government has published details of a centrally-funded learning and development package for contracting authorities.
Product safety
The Department for Business and Trade and OPSS has published a consultation seeking views on proposals to overhaul the UK product safety framework. The consultation remains open until 24 October 2023.
Scotland
OSCR has published its newsletter for August 2023 containing a round-up of recent news stories.
OSCR has published two new pieces of guidance for charity trustees:
- How to improve your charity's cyber security - in light of a recent rise in phishing attempts within the sector.
- Are your Annual Report & Accounts missing important information? - a recent review of charity accounts finds that 'Comparative Year Figures' and 'Notes to the Accounts' are two pieces of information often completely or partially missing.
Northern Ireland
CCNI has published guidance helping trustees, especially those of smaller charities, deal with financial difficulties.
Youth services
The next phase of the Youth Investment Fund will include 44 youth centres sharing £70 million Government funding. The National Lottery Community Fund has also confirmed it will match fund the initial Government commitment of £11 million to the Million Hours Fund.
Social enterprise news
Ann Summerhayes from social enterprise Inside Job Productions writes for Pioneers Post about creating social value through training, education and job creation. Summerhayes gives tips on how smaller social enterprises can prioritise job creation.
Social investment/social impact investing news
British International Investment has published its approach to aligning with the "Operating Principles for Impact Management", the impact investment benchmark for impact management.
Big Society Capital and Schroders have published the 2023 Impact Report for Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust plc (press release). The fund was launched in December 2020 and aims to provide capital to organisations helping vulnerable and disadvantaged people in areas of high need in the UK, including in relation to housing, health, social care and education and skills.
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has published its 2023 GIINsights report series, which aims to provide an overview of the impact investing industry with actionable insights on impact investing activity and impact measurement and management (IMM) practice. For more, Pioneers Post provides some commentary on the IMM practice part of the series.
International development
The International Development Committee has published the FCDO Equality Impact Assessment which was provided to Ministers earlier this year to inform their decisions on where cuts to the Official Development Assistance budget for 2023-24 would fall. For comment from Bond, see here.
Education
Schools
R (TZA) v A Secondary School [2023] EWHC 1722 (Admin) (11 July 2023)- The High Court has held that a school's decision not to reinstate a permanently excluded pupil under section 51A Education Act 2002 was not unlawful, on account of a failure to have due regard to the public sector equality duty (PSED) under Equality Act 2010, or because of inadequate reasoning. One of the key practical points from the judgement is the significance of decision-makers referring explicitly to the PSED and keeping documentary evidence supporting their decision-making. The judge noted that if the headteacher had done this, the matter may not have come to court.
Further Education
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is funding an almost £9m Home Decarbonisation Skills Training package for specialist "net zero" courses in retrofitting and insulation, which could provide training for up to 8,000 people.
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