The way in which the Charity Commission operates should act as an exemplar for the charities it regulates. This means that its board members should reflect the agencies that the Commission serves. Over many years I have written blogs about the failure of the existing but soon to retire Chair of the Commission to understand the sector, that the his Commission is supposed to regulate. Every board member needs to be appointed taking into account the charitable sector as a whole and the geographical spread of England and Wales which is the reach of the Commission. Sadly far too frequently William Shawcross has overseen the appointment of people who are based in the South East and whose experience of charities is based on a very narrow profile of high income agencies. It is therefore rather disappointing that a new appointment has just been announced and in this case rather than bringing in someone who understands the sector that is being regulated, he is someone who has been working for the commission as its legal director for many years. Kenneth Dibble is now to be appointed as the boards legal board member. I know several people with huge experience as lawyers working in the charitable sector who would make first rate legal board members. I don’t know Kenneth and have no reason to question his ability. However the people I know (and there are many others no doubt in other parts of the country) would bring in a fresh perspective and if they identified any problems with previous decisions taken by the Commission, they would not be placed in any position of conflict to raise their concerns. By the same token if Kenneth Dibble’s successor within the Commission identifies any issues that their predecessor appears to have handled badly, it will be very hard for them to come to the Board without any fear of being misunderstood or ignored or losing their job.

Apparently the appointment for the board member was managed entirely by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. However the Charity Commission is not a voiceless agency. It would raise concerns if something similar took place in a charity it was scrutinising. Along with Helen Stephenson, the recently appointed CEO there are currently 6 other Board Members plus of course William Shawcross. Each one of them is capable of speaking out and challenging the DCMS and its decision making. In Charities there can be occasions when there is disagreements between the Board and its senior staff and sometimes charities make decisions which fall into conflict with its policies and procedures. Clearly ideally such disagreements need to be dealt with internally, but the Commission should be capable of modelling how such difficulties are dealt with when they become public.