Day: March 2, 2018

The Charity Commission has today confirmed that it has opened a statutory inquiry into the Lantern of Knowledge Educational Trust (1111331). The inquiry was opened on 17 February 2018.

The Commission’s inquiry is examining the charity’s general administration, governance and management by the trustees, including the management and supervision of staff at the school with access to children or young people. It will also examine the charity’s policies and procedures, including those relating to safeguarding.

In a report into the school published by Ofsted in January 2018, the inspectorate concludes that “governors have not held school leaders to account for the decline in standards”, and “have too readily accepted information from school leaders without insisting that it is rigorously analysed”.

The opening of the inquiry follows engagement with the trustees and a compliance visit to the school’s premises in November 2017.

The Commission has exercised its powers, under sections 47 and 52 of the Charities Act 2011, to compel the provision of information and records.

It is the Commission’s intention, in accordance with its policy, to publish a report after it has concluded the inquiries, detailing what issues the inquiries looked at, what actions were undertaken and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

If there has been misconduct or mismanagement in a charity or the charity’s beneficiaries, staff, property or assets are at risk, the Commission will take robust action to both protect these and deal with the failings either of its own motion and/or in collaboration with other agencies.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

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Notes to editors

1. Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. The Commission’s role is as charity regulator to oversee charity trustees’ compliance with charity law duties and responsibilities.
4. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
5. The Commission does not investigate matters relating to education standards in schools; this is a matter for the DfE, Ofsted and/or other authorities.

The Charity Commission has today confirmed that a statutory inquiry into the Essex Islamic Academy (also known as Ripple Road Mosque) (1131755) is underway, having started in October 2017. The announcement, which confirms the Commission has been in regulatory engagement with the charity since 2017, follows the conclusion of the criminal trial today of Umar Ahmed Haque, a former religious teacher at the charity.

The Commission did not previously make the opening of the inquiry or its prior regulatory engagement with the charity public to avoid prejudicing the police investigation and subsequent criminal trial.

At the start of the trial, Mr Haque pleaded guilty to disseminating terrorist material to children at the Essex Islamic Academy. Following a 6 week trial at the London Central Criminal Court, Mr Haque has today been convicted of further offences, including the preparation of terrorist acts also relating to the Essex Islamic Academy.

Now the criminal proceedings are over, the regulator will resume its investigation in full. Once the Commission has completed its investigatory enquiries, it will deal with any failings or evidence of misconduct or mismanagement by taking appropriate regulatory action.

As part of the inquiry into the Essex Islamic Academy, the Commission will consider how Mr Haque was able to attempt to radicalise children, and what the trustees and others at the charity knew about this. The regulator will examine the level of supervision, due diligence and oversight the charity had over Mr Haque, and its adherence to safeguarding policies and procedures.

The Commission has liaised closely with multiple agencies including the police, educational regulators and the local authority on this matter since information was shared with the regulator by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command about Mr Haque in 2017.

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring, and Enforcement at the Charity Commission said:

The crimes that Mr Haque has been convicted of today are horrendous, and are likely to have a devastating effect on many of the young people exposed to this harm.

This is one of the worst cases we have seen with children, as young as 11, being exposed to harm through attempted radicalisation and terrorist material by this man. The welfare of these children is of utmost importance to all agencies involved. Mr Haque’s abhorrent actions don’t just affect these children, but their families and the community as a whole. It is important that those affected have the appropriate support made available to them, and the Commission will continue to do all it can to support the statutory agencies to ensure that this is the case.

The vast majority of mosques and supplementary schools including madrassahs do good work and are an important resource in local communities. What happened clearly damages the trust and confidence the children’s parents had in the charity he was employed at, as well as wider public confidence. We and the public expect charities, particularly those working with children and young people, to be safe places, free from abuse or harm. This was not the case here, where Mr Haque grossly abused the trust placed in him because of his position and teaching role.

Today’s conviction will reassure the public that such abuse is not tolerated, and that those responsible will be held accountable for their actions. We will continue to work closely with the police and other authorities to tackle the threat terrorism and extremism poses to charities, their beneficiaries and their work.

Essex Islamic Academy

The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the Essex Islamic Academy on 2 October 2017 to investigate serious regulatory concerns relating to Mr Haque’s time at the charity and the charity’s safeguarding practices. The inquiry is examining the administration, governance and management of the charity, including the management and supervision of staff with access to children or young people and the charity’s adherence to its policies and procedures including its Child Protection Policies. The inquiry is also examining the charity’s financial controls. The regulator’s engagement with the Essex Islamic Academy prior to opening the inquiry included corresponding with the trustees and conducting a compliance visit to the charity’s premises in September 2017.

In January 2018, as part of the inquiry, the Commission exercised its temporary and protective powers and issued an order under section 84A of the Charities Act 2011 to direct the trustees of the Essex Islamic Academy not to provide educational classes or any recreational activities which involved regulated activity with those under the age of 18. This restriction and order will apply until the trustees are able to demonstrate that they have complied with a number of urgent actions required by the regulator.

The trustees gave assurances that they had voluntarily stopped regulated activity at the charity. However, given the seriousness of what happened, the regulator exercised its powers and issue an order in any event especially in light of its role to act in the public interest and the need to protect the charity’s beneficiaries.

Further information

The Commission has also exercised its powers, under sections 47 and 52 of the Charities Act 2011, to compel the provision of information and records relating to Mr Haque, and the general governance of the charity more generally.

No complaints were previously raised with the Commission regarding Mr Haque or his roles or employment at any charity.

The Commission is not a prosecuting authority. The investigation of criminal offences is a matter for the police and/or other authorities.

The lead on protecting children at risk are Children’s Services and law enforcement agencies. The Commission is encouraging anyone who may be affected by this case to contact Children’s Services for further advice on 020 8227 3811 in Barking and Dagenham. Social services, supported by the police, are delivering a comprehensive and long-term safeguarding plan to protect and support them.

It is the Commission’s intention, in accordance with its policy, to publish a report after it has concluded the inquiry, detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken and what the outcome was. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

If there has been misconduct or mismanagement in a charity or the charity’s beneficiaries, staff, property or assets are at risk, the Commission will take robust action to both protect these and deal with the failings either of its own motion and/or in collaboration with other agencies.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool: Essex Islamic Academy.

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Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. The Commission’s role is as charity regulator to oversee charity trustees’ compliance with charity law duties and responsibilities. Regulation of the standards of education in supplementary schools is not within the Commission’s legal remit. In 2015, the Department for Education ran a consultation on registration and inspection of out-of-school educational settings providing intensive tuition, training or instruction to children outside of school.
4. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
5. Mr Haque was employed at the Essex Islamic Academy from 2014 to the date of his arrest (May 2017).
6. The Commission issued the order under section 84A of the Charites Act 2011 on 19 January 2018.
7. Regulated activity is work which involves close and unsupervised contact with vulnerable groups including children. The full legal definition of regulated activity is set out in Schedule 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

Paul Newby and Fiona Dickie have today published statutory advice to provide clarity on the terms of Market Rent Only (MRO) tenancies following recent arbitration awards.

The PCA and Deputy PCA have reiterated the important point that a MRO proposal does not have to be by way of a new agreement. The advice stresses that it is the content rather than the form that is important.

Whatever the form of the individual MRO proposal, the terms have to be reasonable and consistent with the core principles of the Pubs Code; that there should be fair and lawful dealing and tied pub tenants should be no worse off than they would be if they remained tied.

“MRO is not the same as a negotiation on the open market and the pub-owning business should not take advantage of the fact that a tied pub tenant has limited negotiating power.

“The PCA will be likely to find it unreasonable for the pub-owning business to offer unattractive MRO tenancy terms if the intention is to persuade the tenant to stay tied,” the advice states.

The PCA expects pub-owning businesses to have meaningful negotiations with their tenants seeking a MRO tenancy. Tenants should not need to rely on arbitration by the PCA to get their Code MRO rights. Referrals for arbitration should be the exception and not the norm in the future.

Paul Newby, Pubs Code Adjudicator, said: “I understand that both sides of the industry have been looking for clarity on this issue and I am very pleased that following arbitration awards made by the Deputy PCA and myself we can now provide this statutory advice.

“The ability for a tied tenant to go free of tie is an important right introduced by the Pubs Code. Tenants have been facing high costs in pursuing MRO and we need to ensure these unnecessary barriers are eliminated.

“This advice gives a strong yet simple steer on what pub-owning businesses can reasonably ask from their tenants in a MRO-compliant tenancy and is a major step forward in delivering the MRO rights that Parliament has given tenants. I expect it to lead to meaningful negotiations that mean arbitration becomes the exception in the future.”

Fiona Dickie, Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator, said: “The Code is legally complex and uncertainty surrounding the meaning of the MRO process has caused frustration. This advice will be a useful tool in clarifying for the benefit of all what the Code requires and how its two core principles should be applied in practice to the MRO proposal.

“It is designed to support effective, balanced negotiation between tenants and pub-owning businesses, and reduce the number of cases that are referred for arbitration. I am confident that the arbitration process will now more efficiently and proportionately resolve any remaining MRO disputes where the parties cannot reach an agreement.”

Note to editors
The full statutory advice is available on the PCA website www.gov.uk/pca