Consultation Hub

The Attorney General’s Chambers sought your views on proposed new legislation which aims to update and improve the effectiveness of the registration and regulation of Charities in the Island.

The consultation attracted 20 responses.  There were a number of categories of respondent, including Statutory Boards, individuals, businesses and a charity.  The responses were broadly supportive of the proposals in the Bill, with the creation of a Charities Tribunal, clarification of the meaning of “charitable purpose” and the improvements in regulatory effectiveness being particularly welcomed by a number of responders.   Other themes raised included:

1. That the advancement of religion should no longer be a charitable purpose (five responses)
2. Whether the “close connection” test (ie that a charity have a substantial and genuine connection with the Island in order to register here) should be retained (four responses)
3. Whether foreign charities should be put to possible additional expense of having to file accounts relating to their activities on the Island, as opposed to their global activities (three responses)
4. Concerns as to the adequacy of oversight of safeguarding issues (three responses), and
5. Concerns as to the references in the draft Bill to the FSA (four responses).

We considered the responses and made appropriate amendments to the draft Bill. No amendment has been made in respect of (1), (2) and (3). This is because the purpose of providing a statutory definition of “charitable purpose” is so that the meaning in the Island remains at least as broad as in England and Wales, where the advancement of religion continues to be a charitable purpose. Further, an express purpose of the draft Bill is to ensure more effective regulation, which would be hindered if charities could legitimately operate in/from here without sufficient connection, or if they did not have to provide adequately detailed information as to their activities connected with the Island. However, changes have been made to increase (4) oversight as regards safeguarding matters. Automatic disclosure to the FSA (5) has been replaced with provisions enabling disclosure between public bodies and the Attorney General for the purposes of the discharge of their respective statutory functions. A number of other mostly consequential/technical amendments have also been made to the draft Bill.

We asked for the views of the public on the proposed Civil Aviation (Charges) Scheme 2019 which would revoke and replace the Civil Aviation (Charges) Scheme 2018.

There were no consultation responses.

The Scheme will be submitted to Tynwald for approval.

The Department of Infrastructure invited comments on the proposed scheme aimed at making financial support available for people living with long-term health conditions to adapt their homes and continue living independently. The purpose of the consultation was to gauge public opinion before the proposed scheme was finalised and taken forward for approval by Tynwald.

We received 48 responses to our consultation which were generally in favour of the proposed scheme.

A summary report of responses has been published on the Consultation Hub. Based upon your feedback we are progressing with the proposed amendments which will be submitted to Tynwald for approval.