This policy round-up will help you stay informed about latest developments on ACEVO’s key areas of policy and influencing work and a flavour of what the team has been focusing on in the last month.
By Shareen Patel, policy and influencing officer at ACEVO.
Chancellor’s Budget
We were very pleased to hear the mention of ‘charities’ at the start of the Chancellor’s Statement on 15 March. The acknowledgement of their “brilliant work” made clear that our collective sector-wide influencing efforts have been heard and recognised. We welcome the £100m being offered to support charities and community organisations, the £63m going to leisure centres and the £10m being put towards suicide prevention. Our Chief Executive, Jane Ide wrote a thread on twitter responding to the Budget. Jane also met with Minister Stuart Andrew and Lucy Frazer after the Budget announcement and she highlighted the value of constructive relationships between government and the sector, and the opportunities for building those relationships to help find meaningful solutions.
Three of the four key asks that the Civil Society Group (CSG) submitted were answered and delivered. These were targeted funding for charities to support with energy costs, support for charities to safely reduce energy use and the extension of the current Energy Price Guarantee for households. The fourth ask of uplifting government contracts to cover the true cost of delivery was not addressed. The CSG is now making efforts to collect case studies to either demonstrate where contracts have not been uplifted and the material costs and wider-reaching impact of that or to demonstrate good practice where contracts have been uplifted. If you would like to submit a case study, please contact me directly.
Social media consultation
We responded to the Charity Commission’s consultation on draft guidance for use of social media for trustees just as the BBC’s response to the comments Gary Lineker made on social media about asylum policy gained traction. Clear parallels with some of the issues raised by the draft guidance were bought into high relief by this exchange. This example raised important questions about impartiality for the BBC and its employees and contractors, but for charities, who in many cases exist to campaign and advocate on behalf of the people and causes they represent, it is their duty to use all communication channels available to them, including social media, to further their aims in line with existing regulations.
Our response to the consultation focused on a few key areas and in particular the management of risk and how to define ‘problematic content’ and the definition of using social media only to help achieve a charity’s charitable purpose and how this interacts with advocacy and campaigning efforts more broadly. Some of these issues were picked up in discussion at ACEVOFest where Orlando Fraser delivered a session and spoke about his views on the reaction to this consultation. We appreciate the opportunity to feedback to the Commission and should you wish to read our full response, please get in touch.
The Public Order Bill
The Public Order Bill went to the Commons on Tuesday 7 March and returned to the Lords on Tuesday 14 March. The Consideration of Commons amendments took place on 28 March and the Bill will now receive Royal Assent. In the Commons, David Davis MP gave a good speech reflecting concerns around certain provisions of the Bill; you can watch it here.
Despite strong campaigning efforts from civil society, the outcome of the debate in the Lords was very disappointing. MPs voted out key amendments and inserted an alternative definition of ‘serious disruption’, which contains an extremely low threshold. Check out the briefing Liberty produced for Peers ahead of Consideration of Commons Amendments. It now seems to be the case that Peers are less likely to keep insisting amendments and are probably going to accept the Bill with no further push back. Despite this, it is important to remember the wins that have been achieved by civil society throughout the Bill’s passage and the hard work collectively done. Liberty will be developing resources to support protesters to know their rights, which we will share in due course.
Energy costs
A friendly reminder that the webinar we are hosting with Utility Aid is taking place on Thursday 20 April 11:00-12:00. If you haven’t done so already, please book your place here to gain further understanding of the next steps that your charity can take in managing rising energy costs.
The policy and influencing team is here to help! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on shareen.patel@acevo.org.uk.
