Month: September 2018

The Charity Commission has today published the results of its latest monitoring reviews of charity trustees’ annual reports and accounts. The findings reveal a modest improvement in the quality of public reporting, but the regulator says that too many charities are still falling short in this area.

Public benefit reporting plays a key role in providing transparency so that the public can understand exactly what a charity does and how their donations are being used.

As part of its proactive monitoring work, the Commission scrutinised a random sample of 106 charity trustees’ annual reports and accounts filed with it to assess:

• how charities are meeting the public benefit reporting standards
• whether the accounts meet readers’ needs, including a separate sample of “small charities”

Telling your story well: Public benefit reporting by charities

Trustees have a legal responsibility to comply with the Commission’s guidance on public benefit reporting. All registered charities must publish a trustees’ annual report, setting out the charity’s activities for the public benefit.

The Commission’s review found that 51% of the charities reviewed demonstrated a clear understanding of the public benefit reporting requirement – a 5% improvement from last year’s result.

The majority of annual reports also included key aspects of public benefit reporting, with 71% explaining who benefitted from the charity’s activities, and 62% including a public benefit statement.

Some trustees had expanded their statement to explain why they believed their charity’s activities provided public benefit, whilst others discussed the difference that they had made, particularly to beneficiaries.

Do charity and small charity annual reports and accounts meet the reader’s needs?

The Commission examined whether the charities’ trustees’ annual reports and accounts as a whole met readers’ needs, based on a range of criteria.

For the sample of charities with incomes over £25,000, the Commission found that 74% of the trustees’ annual reports and accounts reviewed were of acceptable quality, meeting the basic benchmark set by the Commission.

The most common reason for inadequate reporting was that the trustees’ annual report did not explain the charitable activities the charity had carried out.

For the sample of small charities, the Commission found that 64% of the charities provided trustees’ annual reports and accounts of acceptable quality, meeting the regulator’s basic benchmark. The main reason for inadequate reporting was that the charity failed to provide one or both of the trustees’ annual report and the accounts.

The Commission has provided regulatory guidance to 89 charities included in the reviews in order to help the trustees improve the quality of future trustees’ annual reports and accounts.

Nigel Davies, Head of Accountancy Services at the Charity Commission for England and Wales said:

“Our research into trust and confidence in charities shows that the public no longer give charities the benefit of the doubt; they want evidence that charities make a difference when using their money. Public reporting is an opportunity for charities to tell their story and explain to the public what they do and how they use charitable funds.

“Producing a trustees’ annual report and accounts is not an administrative box-ticking exercise. It is a chance to show how your charity is making an impact and how you are delivering on your core purpose.

“Today’s results show that too many charities are still not meeting very basic standards when it comes to making key information available to the public. I am encouraged to see that an increasing number of trustees recognise the value of public benefit reporting, but there is clearly more work to be done across the sector.”

The full reports are available on GOV.UK.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. The Commission’s research into public trust and confidence in charities was published on 11 July 2018 and is available on GOV.UK.
2. The Charity Commission is the regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
3. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
4. To assess whether small charities accounts met readers’ needs, the Commission included a separate sample of 110 small charities, those with incomes less than £25,000, who are not required to routinely file their trustees’ annual report and accounts with the regulator (except for Charitable Incorporated Organisations)
5. In addition to producing an annual report, all registered charities must prepare accounts and, where the charity’s income is over £25,000, arrange for them to be scrutinised through an audit or independent examination. They must also file their set of accounts with the regulator.

Prison governors will today be able to have their say on a new approach to incentives which encourages prisoners to take responsibility for their own rehabilitation.

A consultation is being launched on the new Incentives and Earned Privileges policy, which would empower governors to design their own programme of incentives tailored to the specific challenges in their prison.

Those who behave well and engage in meaningful activities such as education and employment programmes could receive privileges such as more time in the gym or additional visits.

Crucially, governors will be able to tackle poor behaviour by taking away privileges – returning people to a more basic regime and living conditions – and will have greater freedom to decide how prisoners move up or down privilege levels.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said:

Prisons must be places of safety, decency and purposeful activity to turn around the lives of those in custody.

This new framework will give governors the tools to set clear behavioural standards for offenders under their watch, and the consequences should these not be met.

Research on behaviour change shows positive reinforcement is much more effective at shaping behaviour than punishment and, while sometimes necessary, punishment alone does not effectively change behaviour.

Many consider that the incentives system is not currently as effective as it could be, with governors having too little flexibility to establish incentives that their particular cohort of prisoners value.

We are therefore providing governors with more freedom to design their incentive scheme to take account of the
local needs of their prison population and the facilities available in their prison. This means a prison with a good gym, or a wing with a kitchen area, could better use these in its IEP system in future.

Governors could also choose to increase the amount of time out of cell an individual prisoner receives to engage in recreational activities or exercise alongside education and work programmes.

And to better assist them in preparing for life back in the community, governors could choose to incentivise prisoners by offering additional visits from family and friends, with more flexible timings.

We will retain sensible limitations on governors’ freedoms, so that, for example, no paid for TV channels or other inappropriate incentives are permitted.

And for those who don’t follow the rules, a strict system of adjudications and punishments will ensure that governors are able to deal swiftly with those who refuse to engage. Punishments range from the removal of privileges to harsher measures such as prosecution and additional prison time.

Notes to editors

• The consultation will launch today (3 September) and will run for a period of 28 days.
• The new system will retain 3 privilege levels: basic, standard and enhanced, but remove ‘entry level’ which Governors tell us is bureaucratic and penalises prisoners who are new, setting up an adversarial relationship with staff from the outset.

As the Cairncross Review heads to Brussels, polling has also revealed almost half of British adults (47%) believe that the quality of news available has declined in the last five years.

The fact-finding mission to Brussels, as part of the Review’s Call for Evidence, will enable Chair Dame Frances Cairncross to explore threats to the sustainability of the news industry as a Europe-wide problem.

Dame Frances Cairncross said:

The challenges facing the press are not unique to the UK and it is vital that my Review listens to the experiences of other countries. I look forward to learning more in Brussels about the questions industry and policy makers are grappling with and the solutions they are considering to ensure the future of the free press is protected.

The independent review, commissioned by the Prime Minister in January, has been tasked with looking at ways to safeguard the future of the UK’s free, independent and high-quality news in the digital age.

Dame Frances will seek to understand what European governments are doing to protect the creation and consumption of accurate and financially-sustainable journalism and will speak to key stakeholders, including from the European Publishers’ Council and representatives of the Digital Economy in the European Commission.

With her final recommendations to Government and industry expected in the new year, she is particularly keen to gauge views in Europe on the buying and selling of advertising online and whether this could be made more transparent, as well as the appetite in the EU for regulation to counter the disrupting influence of online platforms on the press industry.

An online YouGov survey of British adults’ newspaper habits has found that for the first time, more people are now regularly accessing content from national newspapers online, through apps and websites, than in print (28% to 22%). It also revealed:

• Two thirds (68%) of British online adults regularly access news through the internet.
• Almost half of those who regularly access news (47%) admit they are accessing news in more ways now, compared to five years ago
• Almost a third (31%) of those who regularly access news said they pay more attention to what they read in a printed newspaper than to news they read online, although most (55%) say they pay the same level of attention to both
• TV and Radio remain the most popular platforms for accessing news – 58% regularly access news from TV and 43% from Radio
• This compares with 29% of adults online stating they access news through social media feeds such as Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat

The Review has previously highlighted how a quarter of all regional and local newspapers have closed in the past decade. And while the survey results show local or regional news is important to 76% of those who regularly access news, just 13% of adults said they access news via a printed local or regional newspaper, and 13% saying they access a local newspaper online. However almost two thirds (61%) said enough local news was provided for them where they live. This further emphasises the challenge posed to local newspapers – there is a disconnect between those who think local news is important, and those who seek out such news via a local paper.

The Review is calling for evidence and views from both consumers and the industry itself on the issues under consideration, including how to create and support the conditions that will enable high quality journalism to continue and flourish.

Notes to Editors:

1. Any evidence or information can be submitted to the Cairncross Review Secretariat at Cairncrossreview@culture.gov.uk or Cairncross Review Secretariat, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, 4th floor, 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ. Responses will be published in full or summary form unless explicitly flagged ‘not for publication’, in which case they will be kept private.
2. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. The total sample size was 2020 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23 – 24 August 2018. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will visit Bridgend-based PCI Pharma Services later today (Monday 3 September) to underline the UK government’s commitment to support the Welsh business community as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.

The visit follows the UK Government’s publication of its White Paper in July, outlining the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Last week, the Government published a series of technical notices with information to allow businesses and citizens to understand what they would need to do in the unlikely event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.

During the visit, the Welsh Secretary will tour the site and speak to senior leaders and members of staff about how the White Paper proposal will ensure a deep and long future relationship with the EU, making sure that Wales and the rest of the UK is best placed to make the most of the opportunities ahead while taking back control of our laws, borders and money.

PCI Pharma Services (PCI) is a full-service provider of specialist outsourced drug manufacturing, clinical trial services, and commercial packaging to the global healthcare industry. PCI’s Bridgend site provides extensive services in support of Clinical investigational medicines, including secondary packaging and labelling expertise, storage and global distribution, coupled with its capability for supporting a considerable range of Cold Chain and Ultra Cold chain product needs, including the expertise and infrastructure to support preparation, storage and global distribution of advanced medicines with cryogenic temperature requirements down to -196ºC.

The company also has facilities in Hay on Wye, Tredegar and Treforest, as well as sites in Rockford and Philadelphia in the US, Dublin, Ireland and Melbourne, Australia. The Welsh Secretary met representatives from the US sites during a three-day visit to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in February this year.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

This Government is committed to delivering a Brexit that promotes jobs and prosperity, keeps our people safe and protects the precious Union between the four nations of the UK, while taking back control of our money, laws and borders.

PCI Pharma is a global leader in the pharmaceutical field, providing packaging and drug development expertise to companies around the world. It is an important employer in this region of Wales and makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy. My ambition is for this to continue long after we leave the European Union.

Dr Fiona Withey, Vice Present of Global Clinical Strategy at PCI Pharma is a regular contributor on the Secretary of State’s Economic Advisory Board and Expert Panel, to advise on how Wales can capitalise on the benefits of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, as well as opportunities arising from leaving the EU.

Dr Withey said:

PCI has followed the Brexit negotiations with great interest, as have our global pharmaceutical and biotech clients. As a provider of services supporting medicines destined to more than 100 countries around the world, PCI is uniquely positioned to ensure a seamless supply chain to our clients for all potential outcomes. We support lifesaving commercial medicines, as well as those for investigational Clinical studies, to patients all over the world.

We appreciate the time and attention Secretary Cairns has paid to facilitating dialogue and communication with companies like ourselves, as well as ensuring the parties reach an agreeable outcome, with focus on safeguarding the continuity of timely delivery for critical medication to patients.

ENDS