The National Council for Voluntary Organisation has set up a group to review the regulatory powers that the Charity Commission and HM Revenue & Customs have in relation to fraud in charities.
An NCVO spokeswoman said the group had been set up in the wake of the ‘fit and proper person test’, introduced in the Finance Act in April this year, which gives HMRC the power to withdraw tax relief from any charity if it thinks trustees or senior managers are unsuitable.
The group will look at whether the powers the two regulators have are fit for purpose, and will identify any duplication of function between the commission and HMRC.
The review group will be chaired by Lord Plant of Highfield, a former president of the NCVO.
Other members of the group are Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the NCVO, Sir David Varney, former chairman of HMRC, John Stoker, former chief commissioner at the Charity Commission, and Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of the Charity Finance Directors' Group.
The group will produce a report in early 2011, and provide evidence to the Big Society Deregulation Taskforce, which was launched earlier this year by the Office for Civil Society and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
