UKIRELAND CHARITY REGULATORS FORUM,

Date:25 March 2010,

Venue:Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Dún Aimhirgín

43-49 Mespil Road

Dublin 4

Ireland

Present:

Jane Hobson, CCEW

Nick Allaway, CCEW

Roy McGivern, CCNI

Martin Tyson, OSCR

Andrew Edwards, HMRC

Liam Keogh, Irish Revenue Commissioners

Terry Dunne, Dept CRAGA

Anne Delaney, Dept CRAGA

  1. Welcome, matters not on agenda & updates

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs welcomed the attendees to the Forum, particularly those who were attending for the first time. Members of the Forum, acknowledged the outstanding contribution that Seamus Murray had made to the Forum. All wished Seamus well in his new role, and looked forward to working with the incoming CEO of CCNI, in the future.

Each jurisdiction provided an update on significant policy, consultative and legislative developments that were not included in the agenda. In particular, NI gave an update on the recent NI public benefit consultation. An update from the ASB on their review of the UK and Ireland GAAP was circulated. It was agreed that this issue should remain on the agenda whilst that review is ongoing.

  1. Political activity and campaigning by charities – the regulatory perspective (general)

There was a useful discussion on the issue of political advocacy by charities, both in the normal course and “pre-election” phase.

  1. Vetting and Barring Scheme – role of respective regulators (general)

There was a brief discussion on this topic, as had been suggested at the previous meeting of the Forum in Belfast. There was agreement that, as there have been no new developments in this area, that it could be taken of the agenda until further notice.

  1. UK Budget announcements about charities (HMRC)

The HMRC representative gave an update on the extension of UK Charity Tax Reliefs to certain organisations in Europe, following a judgement in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in January 2009. As a result of the ECJ judgement, legislation will be introduced in the UK Finance Bill 2010 to extend UK charitable tax reliefs to designated categories of international organisations.

The Irish Revenue Commissioners representative also gave an update on related measures in the RoI , which are contained in the Irish Finance Bill 2010.

A general discussion followed.

  1. Use of online services – increasing take-up and as a tool for managing demand (CCEW)

CCEW outlined its plans to optimise online solutions to the requirements of the charities sector, given that it is UK Government policy to progress the online agenda.

CCEW have responded to UK Government policy by making it a strategic goal to steer everyone towards web-usage, with the aim of decreasing white mail, emails and phonecalls CCEW outlined the challenges it faced in promoting the IT agenda.

A general discussion followed.

  1. Protocols for signposting and mutual referrals to guidance - Terms of reference of the Forum to be revisited (General)

The current terms of reference for the Forum were circulated. There was consensus that the existing terms of reference of the Forum adequately provide for signposting and mutual referrals to guidance, and thus did not need to be amended.

  1. Anti-fraud strategy – Outline and discussion (OSCR)

OSCR gave an outline of its anti-fraud startegy. One of the key purposes of the strategy is to set out definitively the extent of the OSCR’s responsibilities in this area. It was agreed that the Memorandum of Understanding between CCEW and OSCR would be looked at to see if the Strategy had any implications for it.

  1. AOB

The upcoming International Forum of Charities Regulators to be held in WashingtonDC in May 2010 was briefly discussed.

9.Arrangements re next meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Forum was due to be hosted by OSCR in Scotland in late 2010, date to be arranged.