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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Charities' use of government grants curbed | Charities' use of government grants curbed |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Charities that are given government grants will be banned from using the money to try to persuade ministers to change the law or increase spending. | |
| A new clause will be added into all new and renewed grant agreements to ensure funds are spent on good causes, rather than on political campaigns. | A new clause will be added into all new and renewed grant agreements to ensure funds are spent on good causes, rather than on political campaigns. |
| Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock said "the farce of government lobbying government" had to stop. | Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock said "the farce of government lobbying government" had to stop. |
| Critics said the new rules, which begin in May, could be hard to enforce. | |
| The Cabinet Office said the government gave the voluntary sector about £10bn in grants last year. | The Cabinet Office said the government gave the voluntary sector about £10bn in grants last year. |
| The government says it wants to put into the official conditions that government grants to charities cannot be used for "activity intended to influence - or attempt to influence - Parliament, government or political parties". | The government says it wants to put into the official conditions that government grants to charities cannot be used for "activity intended to influence - or attempt to influence - Parliament, government or political parties". |
| Under the rules charities would still be able to use privately-raised funds to campaign as they like. | |
| 'Uncomfortable for government' | 'Uncomfortable for government' |
| Mr Hancock said: "The public sector never lobbies for lower taxes and less state spending, and it's a zero sum game if Peter is robbed to pay Paul." | Mr Hancock said: "The public sector never lobbies for lower taxes and less state spending, and it's a zero sum game if Peter is robbed to pay Paul." |
| But a senior charity source told the BBC it was an attack on freedom of speech. | |
| "Charities are not only about Tiny Tim on his crutch, but espousing the cause of the disadvantaged," the source said. | |
| "That will sometimes be uncomfortable for any government." | "That will sometimes be uncomfortable for any government." |
| BBC political reporter Alan Soady said exactly how such a rule would be enforced - and how charities would prove which pots of money funding for lobbying came from - was still unanswered. | BBC political reporter Alan Soady said exactly how such a rule would be enforced - and how charities would prove which pots of money funding for lobbying came from - was still unanswered. |
| There was also some concern in Whitehall that some charities seemed to have been set up primarily to lobby, or that they were straying from their brief on the issues they lobbied on, he said. | There was also some concern in Whitehall that some charities seemed to have been set up primarily to lobby, or that they were straying from their brief on the issues they lobbied on, he said. |
| The move follows work by the right-of-centre think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) into so-called "sock puppets", where taxpayers' money is given to pressure groups which then campaign for policy changes or extra money. | |
| 'Bureaucratic nonsense' | |
| Chris Snowden, the organisation's head of lifestyle economics, told the Daily Telegraph: "At every level - local, national and European - people have been subsidising political campaigns that they may not know about and might disagree with. | |
| "Campaigning is an important part of a thriving democracy but charities and pressure groups should not be doing it with taxpayers' money." | |
| Former Bishop of Oxford Lord Harries, who chairs a commission which has looked into charity lobbying - the Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement - said the "polarisation" between charities' direct work and policies they wanted to change was "very, very unhelpful". | |
| Charities on the "front line" could often best identify where government policy was failing, and "surely they are morally bound to tell the government they could improve their work to help, say, children in poverty?" he said. | |
| Trying to separate where lobbying money came from would be a "bureaucratic nonsense", he added. | |
| The system has been trialled in grants provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. | The system has been trialled in grants provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. |
| Ministers insisted it had not curtailed the ability of charities such as Shelter from lobbying on housing legislation. | Ministers insisted it had not curtailed the ability of charities such as Shelter from lobbying on housing legislation. |