09/01/2010

 Robin Walker, Parliamentary Candidate for Worcester, has signed up to a petition on the Number 10 website launched by Worcestershire public services campaigner Helen Donovan.

Under new rules coming into force in April, hospitals will have to list the income and assets from their charitable arms on their main balance sheet. There are fears that this will see donations to health charities subsumed into the general budget of the Department of Health, which faces many challenges due to the soaring budget deficit Labour have created.

In a briefing note sent to MPs, the Charity Commission warned that the new rules 'could be viewed as tantamount to a form of nationalisation of the gifts and donations of the public, which could lead to a decline in public trust towards NHS charities'.

The Conservative Party has backed the Charity Commission on this issue and has said

"We share the view of the Charity Commission that this undermines autonomy of charities and may well discourage giving"

The petition, launched today on the Number 10 website is available here http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Hospital-Charity/ and reads:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to scrap government plans to control hospital charity donations as of April 2010

We demand that the Labour Government, immediately drop their outrageous plans to take control of all hospital charity donations, to come under the umbrella of total Treasury Budget, as of April 2010, and that these donations stay as they always

have been, fully independent of Government and outside influence / control.

Hospital donations are given in good faith by the public for specific causes close to their heart. We want the money to go direct to the causes and used for the good of our communities and services. The Government has no right whatsoever to control

these funds.

If Government control the funds and outrageously use them as part of their Treasury budget, then people won't give, and our hospitals will suffer!"

Robin Walker said

"In the week that the Conservatives set out our campaign for a more patient focused and humane NHS it is only right that we be absolutely clear that hospital charities deserve our support. It has been one of characteristics of Labour's management of health always to centralise and to do everything they can to get the maximum possible control for Whitehall. The move to take charity assets on balance sheet is just such a step and it would be profoundly wrong if it were to damage the independence of charities or stop freely given money from getting to the worthy projects it has been given for. Like many people in Worcester, I back local health charities and I urge everyone who does to sign this important petition."