Major step forward in opening up top class facilities in private schools

Following extensive recent debate in the House of Lords on a proposed amendment to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill which had been tabled by Lord Wallace and Lord Moynihan and would require private schools with charitable status to share their facilities with their local community, the Charity Commission has agreed to voluntarily pursue more work in this area.

The Commission had been concerned about the use of legislation but did recognise the spirit and principles behind the amendment that was proposed. In response to the debate, the Commission has already written to the Independent Schools Council to outline a new approach.

The amendment had sought to ensure that:
• Independent schools which are charities must engage actively with local communities and state schools with a view to sharing resources and facilities.
• The Charity Commission must publish guidance setting out the minimum that independent schools which are charities must do to comply with the duty in subsection

The amendment itself was ultimately not passed following a decision by its proposers that enough had been achieved through a voluntary approach, culminating in their attempt to withdraw it.

The new approach will see a renewed effort to encourage the opening up of school facilities on a voluntary basis, including an online facility to help the identification of opportunities and a clear encouragement for greater partnership working between independent and state schools on sporting facilities.

There will also be a research project, looking at the annual reports of charitable schools and data the ISC collects through its annual census of independent schools. This research will assess in detail the impact of the new initiatives intended to increase partnerships between independent and state schools including through the new online facility.

Full details of this are here.

James Allen, Head of Policy at the Sport and Recreation Alliance, believes that the changes should have a positive wider impact on sports provision.

“We very much welcome these developments. It is important that the first class sports facilities which belong to independent schools with charitable status are opened up so that whole communities can benefit from them. We would once again like to place on record our thanks to Lord Moynihan and to Lord Wallace for their commitment and dedication to effect change on this important issue”.

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