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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2015/oct/15/kids-company-face-grilling-by-mps-live
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| Kids Company: MP accuses Batmanghelidjh of 'verbal ectoplasm' – live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 10.42am BST10:42 | |
| Buzzfeed writer Alan White picked up on this comment by Paul Flynn. | |
| Camila Batmanghelidjh just got accused of providing a "torrent of verbal ectoplasm" by an MP. | |
| 10.40am BST10:40 | |
| Further explaining the significant disparity between the number of clients Kids Company had on its books and the numbers handed over, Batmanghelidjh tells MPs: | |
| When the authorities wanted us to hand cases over they had a telephone meeting with us where they actually described the kinds of cases that they wanted to take ... They didn’t want any people with no status unless there was a child protection issue and consequently that narrowed down our referrals. | |
| They were also prepared to look at people with extreme mental health difficulties and that’s what we did, we narrowed down the client group to what they were prepared to take and that’s what we handed over. | |
| However, Kate Hoey subsequently read out a letter from Southwark council disputing this claim that they only wanted the records of certain clients. | |
| 10.34am BST10:34 | |
| Our connection to the live feed has dropped out. While we wait for it to come back here is some background on the collapse of Kids Company and the revelations about its operation since then (from PA): | |
| Batmangheldijh and Yentob’s appearance comes a day after an investigation by BBC’s Newsnight and BuzzFeed News uncovered documents raising concerns about the charity’s management dating back to 2002. | |
| They found issues were being raised with trustees and regulators over several years, with two charities that worked with Kids Company expressing reservations about the way it was managed. | |
| The documents show Kids Company gave a series of excuses for not supplying the Pilgrim Trust with information, ranging from a “specific learning disability” which prevented Ms Batmanghelidjh from using a computer keyboard, to a bank manager responsible for reproducing withdrawal slips being off sick after “falling off a roof”. | |
| The PA report adds: | |
| Whitehall’s spending watchdog has launched an investigation into Government grants to Kids Company. | |
| The National Audit Office (NAO) inquiry is examining a 3 million taxpayer-funded grant handed by ministers to Kids Company earlier this year against the advice of a senior civil servant, as well as a further 4 million grant made shortly before the charity was shut down in August. | |
| Kids Company is also the subject of a statutory investigation by the Charity Commission and an inquiry by the Constitutional Affairs Committee. | |
| Mr Yentob, who is also the BBC’s creative director, has previously insisted he has not influenced the corporation’s coverage of the charity’s troubles, and in August denied there was a conflict of interest after he called Newsnight about another report it did on the charity. | |
| 10.28am BST10:28 | |
| If you want to watch the hearing of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee for yourself it is being broadcast on the parliamentlive.tv website. | |
| Here is a link. | |
| 10.27am BST10:27 | |
| “Some people were getting £160 a week, isn’t that an inducement for people to identify themselves as in need of your services?” asks Flynn. | |
| 10.25am BST10:25 | |
| Paul Flynn is questioning Batmanghelidjh as to why the numbers of clients handed over to local authorities were so much lower than the number Kids Company claimed to have on their books. The charity’s records claimed to have 36,000 clients, but only 1,069 were handed over, he said. | |
| 10.06am BST10:06 | 10.06am BST10:06 |
| Batmanghelidjh is facing searching questions about the way that way that Kids Company handed money to clients. She said: | Batmanghelidjh is facing searching questions about the way that way that Kids Company handed money to clients. She said: |
| When legislation changed and people without status [ie asylum seekers] were not able to claim benefits that means the mothers and their children were starving. | When legislation changed and people without status [ie asylum seekers] were not able to claim benefits that means the mothers and their children were starving. |
| She insists that money was only handed to children and their families after a rigorous oversight process involving a number of mental health professionals. MPs are suggesting that after the money was handed over, Kids Company lost control of what it was spent on. | She insists that money was only handed to children and their families after a rigorous oversight process involving a number of mental health professionals. MPs are suggesting that after the money was handed over, Kids Company lost control of what it was spent on. |
| 10.00am BST10:00 | 10.00am BST10:00 |
| “There are large numbers of young children who are being abysmally failed by their government because they are not being protected and they are not being cared for appropriately,” Batmanghelidjh says. | “There are large numbers of young children who are being abysmally failed by their government because they are not being protected and they are not being cared for appropriately,” Batmanghelidjh says. |
| She is answering questions about the money spent on children, and how it was spent - a central criticism of the way that Kids Company operated. | She is answering questions about the money spent on children, and how it was spent - a central criticism of the way that Kids Company operated. |
| 9.55am BST09:55 | 9.55am BST09:55 |
| “I don’t think all of these organisations would have collaborated with kids company if it was all fraudulent,” says Yentob, defending the charity against suggestions from MPs that it somehow influenced the evaluations made of it. | “I don’t think all of these organisations would have collaborated with kids company if it was all fraudulent,” says Yentob, defending the charity against suggestions from MPs that it somehow influenced the evaluations made of it. |
| 9.53am BST09:53 | 9.53am BST09:53 |
| Yentob tells MPs that he doesn’t know how many organisations that have had so many evaluations as Kids Company, reeling off a list of eminent organisations that have probed the charity’s practices. | Yentob tells MPs that he doesn’t know how many organisations that have had so many evaluations as Kids Company, reeling off a list of eminent organisations that have probed the charity’s practices. |
| 9.51am BST09:51 | 9.51am BST09:51 |
| Batmanghelidjh is talking about how how the charity worked and the challenges it faced. | Batmanghelidjh is talking about how how the charity worked and the challenges it faced. |
| We were getting young people who were literally so mentally ill they were hearing voices ... | We were getting young people who were literally so mentally ill they were hearing voices ... |
| This is a result of chronic substance abuse since they were young children. | This is a result of chronic substance abuse since they were young children. |
| 9.47am BST09:47 | 9.47am BST09:47 |
| Two months after the collapse of Kids Company, the founder of the charity will be quizzed by MPs about how it was run. | Two months after the collapse of Kids Company, the founder of the charity will be quizzed by MPs about how it was run. |
| Camila Batmanghelidjh and the charity’s chairman of trustees, Alan Yentob, will face the Commons Public Administration Committee where they are expected to be questioned about how taxpayers’ money was used. | Camila Batmanghelidjh and the charity’s chairman of trustees, Alan Yentob, will face the Commons Public Administration Committee where they are expected to be questioned about how taxpayers’ money was used. |
| Their appearance comes a day after an investigation by BBC’s Newsnight and BuzzFeed News uncovered documents raising concerns about the charity’s management dating back to 2002. | Their appearance comes a day after an investigation by BBC’s Newsnight and BuzzFeed News uncovered documents raising concerns about the charity’s management dating back to 2002. |
| We will be liveblogging the action as it happens. | We will be liveblogging the action as it happens. |