The Charities Commission, which Dame Suzi heads up, which oversees the activities of some 170,000 organisations in England and Wales, is to shine a light on the charitable status that allows independent schools to escape an estimated £100 million in tax.
Under the Charities Act 2006, schools such as Eton, which charges £26,500 per pupil per year plus extras, must show that they offer a "public benefit" not confined to an elite few in order to retain their charitable status.
We wonder whether Dame Suzi has included the 'Educational' charities such as the fee charging secretive training 'charity' Common Purpose in her portfolio of establishments to investigate.
Why is a company that charges fees registered as a charity. Common Purpose now runs programmes in over 70 locations across the world. Where is the 'public benefit' of a secret organisation that operates under the Chatham House rules, funded with public money but will not disclose its participants, its methods or training literature. Where is the public benefit of a charity that secretly 'selects' who it trains and is therefore not open to all.
Dame Suzi's marriage to Iain Hampsher-Monk, a politics lecturer at Exeter, was followed by three children and a 10-year break from full-time work. That ended in 1997 with her appointment to the chairmanship of the Exeter and District NHS Trust, one of the first areas of England to receive the 'Common Purpose' treatment.
She has been occupying chairs ever since, at the HFEA, the Food Standards Agency and the School Food Trust, set up after Jamie Oliver's assault on the Turkey Twizzler. While there, Dame Suzi lobbied for more money per pupil per school meal, accusing the Government of inadequate funding. Her legacy was the ban on schools selling sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks.
She has held 30 public appointments in the past 15 years, a record that failed to endear her to that champion of private enterprise, the Adam Smith Institute. It accused her of pursuing a "political agenda" on private education on behalf of politicians who lacked the "moral courage" to tackle the issue themselves.
So, we ask Dame Suzi. Will you be investigating the Charitable Status of Common Purpose, Company registered number: 3556983, Charity registered number: 1023384. along with other educational facilities.
or will it receive the same Charities Commission treatment as the investigation into The Smith Institute i.e. Nothing.
