Issue - meetings

Consideration of a Draft Charitable House to House Collections Policy (report of the Head of Public Protection enclosed).

The Public Protection Manager introduced the Charitable House to House Collections Policy and the Charitable Streets Collection Policy:

• The Charitable House to House Collection Policy included door to door and clothing collections and was based on the requirements of the House-to-House Collections Act 1939.
• The Street Collections Policy was based on the Police, Factories, etc (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916.
• There was no statutory requirement to have a policy but without one in place there could be inconsistency in the way collections within the district were managed.
• There was also a need for more clarity around the application process and expectations of charity collection organisers, such as information around percentage returns and security checks.
• There was no transparency for decisions without the policies in place.
• The policies aimed to protect the rights of charities to raise funds and balanced this with protection of residents in the district from the pressure of too many collections at one time.
• The policies presented were the first draft and officers were seeking the agreement of the Committee to put the policies out for consultation to different stakeholders, e.g., Charities, Policy Development Panel and residents via publication of the policy on the website.
• The draft policies were based on tried and tested policies at East Lindsey District Council.
• The policies were not controversial but aimed to put protections in place for all parties around granting a collection permit.
• The scheme of delegation within the policy detailed the reasons as to why the grant/refusal of a permit would be subject to a Panel decision.
• The proposed consultation would take place over the summer and the final policies would be brought back to the Committee in the autumn for approval.

Members raised the following points:

• Did charities have to apply for a permit annually or for every collection?
  • Officers confirmed that charities had to apply for specific timings and areas, but some national charities would give a broad range of dates and that would be over a number of weeks. It was important to remember that it was a permit that was issued for collections rather than a licence.
• There wasn’t anything in the House-to-House policy that stated collectors had to have an ID badge.
  • Officers responded to say that the Home Office Stationary Office provided collectors with an ID badge.
  • It was a challenge to monitor what happened on the ground once the permit had been granted.
• Members felt that ID should be checked as the public could be at risk.
  • Officers confirmed that the legislation required collectors to have ID, but they could consider adding this requirement into the wording of the policy.
  • If complaints were received about bag collections, residents were advised to check if the bag came from a registered charity.
  • Officers were working on providing a public register of collections on the website to enable residents to check what collections were taking place in their area.
• As there was a National Exemption Order in place for larger national charities, did they have to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3