Being true to their values and the ability to demonstrate efficiency and impact join transparency among the most important ingredients of trustworthiness in charities, according to new research.

The Charity Commission has published the latest in a series of authoritative, independent studies examining the factors that the public associate with a trustworthy charity.

The research, carried out by Populus, reveals that demonstrating high standards of conduct and behaviour (being ‘true to their values’) is as important to trustworthiness as making a positive difference to a charity’s cause.

It identifies the key drivers of trust in charities as being:

• transparent about where money goes (8.8 of 10)
• true to their values (8.5)
• efficient in their use of resources (8.4)
• well-governed and well-managed (8.3)
• able to demonstrate making a positive difference (8.3)

The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, says these findings underline that organisational ethos and values in charities matter to the public, and that rebuilding trust depends on behaviour change, not just on better communication.

The research finds that public trust in charities has plateaued since 2016, and remains low at 5.5 out of 10* . The public now trust charities less than they trust the average person in the street.

The Commission says that while trust in other social institutions has also declined, its aspiration is for charities to be among the most trusted institutions in society.

The research also reveals that a person’s trust is closely associated with his or her donating behaviour; 52% of those whose trust has increased say they donate to charities more as a consequence, while 41% of those whose trust has decreased say they donate to charities less as a consequence. Similarly, individuals who do trust charities are far more likely to have recently made repeat donations to a charity than those who do not (24% vs 11%). Those who do not trust charities are more likely to have never given to charities (9% vs 1%).

Baroness Stowell, Chair of the Charity Commission, welcomed the findings and urged charities to respond to them:

Charitable endeavour is about benefiting society, adding value to our lives and communities – making the world a better place. This research shows that the public no longer give charities as institutions the benefit of the doubt in providing that value. What the public expect is not unreasonable: they want charities to be guided by their ethos and purpose in everything they do, and they want charities to use their money efficiently and responsibly. The public have seen evidence of charities failing to demonstrate these behaviours. So it is not surprising that trust has not recovered, and that the public are calling for greater transparency. This is proxy for a more profound issue: the public want evidence that charities are what they say they are.

But this research also contains good news for charities and those who care about trust in charities: it shows that the answer is not to impose more rules and procedures or to tick more boxes, it is about attitude, ethos and culture. If we together respond to these findings and ensure everything charities do is driven by their purpose we can reverse the decline in trust. And more important than that: charities will improve as organisations, and as a result make a bigger impact on the lives of their beneficiaries, and in their communities and for society as a whole.

Baroness Stowell said the Charity Commission itself was drawing conclusions from the Populus research:

We are currently reviewing the Commission’s strategy, and these findings are significant in informing our approach. We have a common interest and purpose here, and as Chair of the Charity Commission, I want to work in constructive partnership with charities to help us together respond to the public’s legitimate expectations and strengthen the vital role of charities into the future.

The research findings indicate the public place value in the role of the Charity Commission as regulator. The vast majority (83%) of the public consider the Commission’s role either ‘essential’ or ‘very important’. Most of the public (55%) think that charities are regulated effectively in England and Wales, though 33% do not. The research was conducted by Populus; 2,059 adults in England and Wales were surveyed from 22-25 February 2018.

The full report is available on gov.uk.

*While the overall score is given as 5.5 in this year’s report, compared to 5.7 in 2016, the researchers are clear that overall trust and confidence in charities remains at similar levels to 2016. The change in score results from a shift in research methodology. For more information, please see page 18 of the report.

East Midlands HS2 Partnership will receive up to £1.8 million of funding to help realise the extraordinary potential of the new HS2 station at Toton, the Transport Secretary has announced today (11 July 2018).

With high speed trains serving Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and other mainline stations, a new station at Toton will deliver significantly faster journeys for passengers and improved connections to Birmingham, London and Leeds.

This builds on significant previous funding for the region, with the government providing Midlands Connect with £25 million to develop a transformational transport strategy for the region, as well as investing £1.8 billion on the region’s motorways and trunk roads and distributing £1.7 billion from the Local Growth Fund.

This additional funding will further develop proposals for public transport connections to the Toton hub, ensuring surrounding communities benefit from new rail, tram and bus services, as well as improved road access, to the new HS2 station.

Proposals also include the development of an innovation campus — creating 10,000 skilled jobs — and 4 new garden villages around the station, driving regeneration and unlocking new housing opportunities. By 2043, it is anticipated that up to 74,000 new jobs will be created, boosting the regional economy by £4 billion.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:

As the future backbone of our national rail network, HS2 is vital for delivering better connections between our major cities, bringing communities closer together with faster, more frequent services for passengers.

It will also play a pivotal role in boosting productivity and prosperity across the country, with new and improved stations acting as catalysts for regeneration, jobs, new housing and economic growth.

Committing additional funding to support the development of a HS2 station at Toton will help drive forward ambitious proposals, ensuring that the region stands ready to seize the enormous benefits of HS2.

Cllr Jon Collins, Chair of the East Midlands HS2 Strategic Board and Leader of Nottingham City Council, said:

I am delighted about today’s announcement. The additional funding will help us to progress some of the key infrastructure projects that will make our growth ambitions a reality.

We will continue to work closely with HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport to make sure the forthcoming HS2 Phase 2b Hybrid Bill supports the delivery the Growth Strategy.

Cllr Kay Cutts MBE, Chair of the Toton Hub Station Delivery Board and Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council said:

HS2 at Toton will present enormous opportunities for growth in the Midlands which is home to untapped potential.

I feel it is particularly important to listen to local people and businesses as we create new garden villages and opportunities for businesses and universities to be developed side by side.

This is exactly what our plans for Toton will deliver with the backing of government and this additional funding.

Peter Richardson, Chair of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

HS2 will be a real ‘game changer’ for the East Midlands economy. The HS2 Hub Station at Toton together with the maintenance depot at Staveley and HS2 connectivity for Chesterfield are all massive opportunities for our businesses and in particular our young people. Today’s funding announcement represents a major step forward.

Cllr Simon Spencer, Vice-Chair of East Midlands HS2 Strategic Board, Chair of the East Midlands HS2 Mitigation Board and Deputy Leader of Derbyshire County Council, said:

Today’s announcement is a public vote of confidence in the work we have done to develop an ambitious vision for growth in the East Midlands.

As Chair of the new East Midlands HS2 Mitigation Board, I am also working to ensure the design of the new railway and associated development addresses the legitimate concerns of local people.

A further 67 companies have signed up to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, including J.P. Morgan, Bupa, Admiral Group, Equifax, Investec Asset Management, and Yorkshire Building Society, taking the total number of signatories to 272. This means that the Charter now covers over 760,000 financial services employees in the UK.

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

From banking to asset management, too few women get to the top in financial services. That’s why it’s so important that firms sign our Charter and commit publicly to take action. It’s not just the morally right thing to do; a balanced workforce is good for business, for customers, and for profitability too.

I commend our new signatories for taking a step in the right direction, but of course there is more to do. I urge firms who’ve not already signed our Charter to join us in building a more representative and inclusive industry.

As recommended in Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s review into the representation of women in financial services, the Women in Finance Charter asks firms to commit to four industry actions to prepare their female talent for leadership positions:

• having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
• setting internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management
• publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on our website
• having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money and the government’s Women in Finance Champion said:

I am delighted we have more than 270 companies committed to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter. Gender equality and diversity is integral to creating a fairer, more prosperous society. But there’s still more to do and we will keep going until every organisation is signed up.

Further information

272 firms have now signed the Women in Finance Charter. The 67 new firms that signed the Charter between 1 March 2018 and 30 June 2018 are:

• Admiral Group
• AE3 Media
• Armstrong Wolfe
• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
• Barrington Hibbert Associates
• BNP Paribas Personal Finance
• BondMason
• Bovill Ltd
• Brooks Macdonald plc
• Canada Life
• Coventry Building Society
• Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd
• EIS Association
• Ellis Davies Financial Planning Ltd
• Engage Financial Services Ltd
• Equifax Ltd
• Evolution Financial Planning
• Fintech Strategic Advisors Ltd
• Fintellect Recruitment
• First Wealth LLP
• Flood Re Ltd
• Foresight
• Franklin Templeton Investments
• GAM
• Global Processing Services
• Goji Investments
• Grant Thornton
• Hinckley and Rugby Building Society
• HUBX
• ICAEW
• Intermediate Capital Group
• Investec Asset Management Limited
• J. P. Morgan
• Kames Capital plc
• Lazard & Co Limited
• Lazard Asset Management Limited
• LifeSearch
• Magenta Financial Planning
• Marsh Ltd
• Medianett Ltd
• Mortgages for Business Ltd
• MT Finance Ltd
• Mustard Seed Impact Ltd
• National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers
• Nomura International
• PIMCO
• Prytania Solutions Limited
• Pukka Insure Ltd
• Rathbone Brothers plc
• Scottish Equity Partners
• SDB Bookkeeping Services
• Semper Capital Management
• Shepherd Compello Ltd
• St. James’s Place plc
• Stonehaven International
• Sussex Independent Financial Advisers Ltd
• Tesco Underwriting
• The British United Provident Association (BUPA)
• The Meyer Partnership
• The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau
• TPI CAP
• UK Government Investments
• UniCredit Group
• Vanguard Asset Services Limited
• Whyfield
• Yorkshire Building Society Group
• Zopa Limited

Today, 11 July 2018, HM Land Registry launches its new digital Local Land Charges (LLC) Register. Warwick District Council’s data will be the first to be available. Anyone requiring local land charge searches in the local authority area of Warwick from today onwards will need to get them from HM Land Registry rather than going to the council.

This marks another step in HM Land Registry’s transformation to fulfil its ambition to be the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data. The creation of a new digital LLC Register follows the launch of the first digital mortgage in April. Both mark milestones in using digital technology and data innovatively to provide quicker and simpler services for customers.

Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar Graham Farrant said:

Buying a house is the biggest financial investment of people’s lives. By centralising and digitising the local land charges information of local authorities in England we are helping to improve conveyancing. Search results from the new register will be instantly available in a standard, easy-to-read format. This is another significant step forward in the Government’s ambition to make the home-buying process simpler, faster and cheaper.

Warwick District Council is leading the way by being the first local authority to migrate their local land charges data to our new register. I look forward to more local authorities joining the central register during the year.

Warwick District Council’s Chief Executive Chris Elliott commented:

As a forward-looking council aiming to provide the best possible service to all of our customers, we very much welcome any measures which will speed up the process of buying a home. Opening up our data to HM Land Registry will be a huge benefit not only to those wishing to purchase a home or land in our district, but also to our busy planning team.

HM Land Registry is working in partnership with up to 26 local authorities in England this year to migrate their LLC data to a central, digital register in a phased approach. Once the data is migrated, anyone will be able to get instant online search results via GOV.UK: Search for Local Land Charges.

HM Land Registry’s business customers can use their existing portal and Business Gateway channels.

HM Land Registry will keep customers informed when each local authority’s LLC records are migrated to the new digital register.

For an overview of the new service, watch our short video.

Creating a national Local Land Charges Register

For more information, read about the Local Land Charges programme.

Notes to editors

1. Most local land charges are restrictions or obligations on a piece of land or property such as listed status, tree preservation orders or notice of a conservation area. A search of these is normally required in the process of buying a home and are essential to mortgage lenders’ understanding of the risks to their loans. Each local authority maintains an LLC register for its administrative area and the records are held in a variety of formats such as paper, electronic and digital. Prices vary considerably, ranging from £3 to £76, and in some areas it can take up to 30 days to deliver the search results. This has led to an inconsistent service for customers depending on their postcode. HM Land Registry’s new digital service will remove those inconsistencies, providing a standardised, digital result.
2. Common obligations protected as local land charges include: planning permissions, listed buildings, conservation areas, tree preservation orders, improvement and renovation grants, smoke control zones and light obstruction notices.
3. Customers will need to continue to submit CON29 enquiries to local authorities. CON 29 enquiries relate to matters such as nearby road schemes or outstanding notices, which may affect a property purchaser’s decision whether to proceed.
4. Over the course of 2018, the following local authorities’ local land charges data will transfer to HM Land Registry: Blackpool Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, City of London Corporation, Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Lambeth, Norwich City Council, Peterborough City Council, and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
5. Read about what the service offers for an official search (£15) and a personal search (free).
6. According to HM Land Registry data assessments, there are approximately 25 million LLC records held across England.
7. The Infrastructure Act 2015 makes provision for the transfer of responsibility for Local Land Charge registers from 326 English local authorities to HM Land Registry.
8. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for more than 85% of the land mass of England and Wales
9. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.
10. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.
11. Follow us on: Twitter @HMLandRegistry, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

The Western Balkans Summit concluded yesterday (10 July) with Prime Minister Theresa May welcoming the six Western Balkan leaders to London, alongside other European figures including German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.

At the Summit, the Prime Minister welcomed the signing of Joint Declarations on Good Neighbourly Relations, War Crimes and Missing Persons by leaders of the Berlin Process. Leaders congratulated Prime Ministers Zaev and Tsipras on securing agreement on the Name Issue. In support of these declarations, the UK will commit to an additional £1 million to help the region address difficult legacy issues.

The Prime Minister also announced at the Summit that the UK will increase its funding to the region to £80m in 2020/21 and will double the number of UK staff working in the region on the security issues affecting the UK and the Western Balkans. This will help prevent crime reaching UK streets and also help strengthen the region’s own response to serious and organised crime, corruption and money laundering. The UK will also invest £1m in the region’s cyber capability.

The Summit was the culmination of preparatory meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Security, and Economy and Finance Ministers in Vienna and London.

At the meeting of Foreign Ministers in London on 9 July, Minister for Europe Sir Alan Duncan announced that the UK will commit £10 million to help build digital skills and employment prospects for young people in the Western Balkans.

The funding will see the British Council provide training to children in over 4,500 schools, to bolster digital literacy and core skills across the region. Foreign Ministers also heard directly from young people and civil society groups from the region and congratulated the winners of the Youth Entrepreneurship “Start Up” Games.

Sir Alan also announced a new £4m programme to expand Westminster Foundation for Democracy across the Western Balkans.

In parallel, at the meeting of Interior and Security Ministers chaired by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Western Balkans ministers signed a Joint Declaration on the Principles of Information-Exchange in the Field of Law Enforcement, committing them to deeper cooperation on tackling transnational serious and organised crime and terrorism.

Participants also endorsed a Franco-German initiative to combat the illicit possession, misuse and trafficking of firearms from the region by 2024 and welcomed the endorsement of the Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery, and Human Trafficking by the Western Balkans. As next year’s hosts, Poland’s Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski confirmed that their Summit will continue the UK’s security agenda.

At the meeting of Ministers of Economy and Finance in Vienna on 4 July, co-chaired by Sir Simon McDonald, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Permanent Under Secretary and Austrian Minister Schramboeck, Western Balkans’ ministers agreed to deepen regional economic integration.

Further information