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Mr Z
05-Aug-15, 11:07
David Cameron 'mesmerised' by Kids Company boss. So much so that he throws away £3,000000 Of taxpayer money. Bet he never gave any of his 10% pay risehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33787201

rob murray
05-Aug-15, 11:21
David Cameron 'mesmerised' by Kids Company boss. So much so that he throws away £3,000000 Of taxpayer money. Bet he never gave any of his 10% pay risehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33787201

Kids company is a charity.....according to the url..."something glamourous" and with loads of political leverage ( as a PR man would say ) ..hence the £3million grant situation was driven directly by number 10 ( where an ex PR man sits )...........likely that the situation will blow up in Camerons face

BetterTogether
05-Aug-15, 16:04
Better money going to charity than to 14 PR men.

cptdodger
05-Aug-15, 16:16
It's just been on the news, that it's closing tonight. Let's hope they get the money back.

rob murray
05-Aug-15, 16:17
Better money going to charity than to 14 PR men.

Yes the money "went to the charity" but ......A joint investigation by Newsnight (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33356304)and BuzzFeed (http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/government-refusing-funding-to-kids-company-charit)News last month revealed the £3m grant from the Cabinet Office would only be paid on the condition that Ms Batmanghelidjh, its high-profile chief executive, agreed to step down as part of a reorganisation.It was finally paid when Ms Batmanghelidjh agreed to step down to take up a new advocacy and clinical role.
She denied claims the charity had been mismanaged and that this had led to government pressure for a restructure.
It has also been revealed the Cabinet Office's lead official raised concerns (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445933/20150626_Request_for_Ministerial_Direction_-_RH_to_OL_and_MH.pdf) that the grant, intended for a "transformation and downsizing plan", would be poor value for money, but was told by ministers (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445935/Kids_Company_OL_MH_Final_290615.pdf) to press ahead.
'Safety net'Newsnight policy editor Chris Cook understands attempts are being made to recover the money because the Cabinet Office believes that the conditions attached to its use of were not met.
He said the charity appeared to have used some of the cash to pay staff - a day-to-day cost for which officials say it was not intended.

theone
06-Aug-15, 08:29
It's a strange situation this, I'll be interested to find the reasoning behind it.

The fact that Labour also supported the charity makes it not a party issue.

Was this 'charity' providing services that would otherwise be under government control? Social care for children etc?

It's not unusual for the government to give money to a charity to provide a service to the public.

Close to home Albyn Housing is an example of a charity that receives government funding to provide housing. Is this a bad thing? Something the government should be ashamed of? I doubt many would think so.

As I said before, I'm interested to see what happens here, but I don't have a problem with government funding to charities, and I don't have a problem with the government putting conditions on that funding or requesting organisational change. I'm not going to jump the gun here.

cptdodger
07-Aug-15, 15:20
And so the saga continues - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33822035.

It's one thing mishandling money, but this is not good -


"Kids Company has also faced accusations by former staff that the charity failed to deal with allegations of serious incidents, including sexual assaults.

The Metropolitan Police's sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse unit is investigating a number of allegations of crime involving the charity."

rogermellie
08-Aug-15, 02:08
this is the thin end of the wedge

what we'll see over the next few years is that charities who speak out against Tory party policy will find their funding cut, or if they have a CEO who is very publicly criticising the govt. then the message is clear .... either step down or we'll pull the plug

and here lies the problem for the next 4 years, there's not many (if any) Tory voters relying on these sorts of charities so the Tories don't give a toss about them, their view is 'either toe our line and support us publicly or you're finished'


Ms Batmanghelidjh said the "necessary, genuine, and deep-thinking commitment to solve the problem of large-scale childhood maltreatment in this country is not there inside the current government".

rogermellie
08-Aug-15, 02:24
"Kids Company has also faced accusations by former staff that the charity failed to deal with allegations of serious incidents, including sexual assaults.

The Metropolitan Police's sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse unit is investigating a number of allegations of crime involving the charity."

if you believe that these 'allegations' have suddenly arisen with the amazing good fortune that supports the govts plan to withdraw funding ... then think about it .... on the 30th July the £3 million grant is received and then days later it's all thrown into question ?

how many charities would receive millions in aid while allegations are pending ? .....

in plain English, Kids Company wanted to help kids more than it wanted to help the govt look good and so it had to go

theone
08-Aug-15, 03:29
this is the thin end of the wedge

what we'll see over the next few years is that charities who speak out against Tory party policy will find their funding cut, or if they have a CEO who is very publicly criticising the govt. then the message is clear .... either step down or we'll pull the plug

and here lies the problem for the next 4 years, there's not many (if any) Tory voters relying on these sorts of charities so the Tories don't give a toss about them, their view is 'either toe our line and support us publicly or you're finished'


Ms Batmanghelidjh said the "necessary, genuine, and deep-thinking commitment to solve the problem of large-scale childhood maltreatment in this country is not there inside the current government".







if you believe that these 'allegations' have suddenly arisen with the amazing good fortune that supports the govts plan to withdraw funding ... then think about it .... on the 30th July the £3 million grant is received and then days later it's all thrown into question ?

how many charities would receive millions in aid while allegations are pending ? .....

in plain English, Kids Company wanted to help kids more than it wanted to help the govt look good and so it had to go

I don't understand what's going on here.

The government DID give them £3million.

The government are getting criticised in the press for wasting the £3million on a failing charity, against the advice of civil servants. They're getting criticised for giving money to an organisation that was being investigated.

Surely if the government wanted rid of the charity they would have NOT given the £3million?

I understand your desire for Tory bashing but I really don't understand where you're going with this.

Confused..........

cptdodger
08-Aug-15, 10:25
if you believe that these 'allegations' have suddenly arisen with the amazing good fortune that supports the govts plan to withdraw funding ... then think about it .... on the 30th July the £3 million grant is received and then days later it's all thrown into question ?

how many charities would receive millions in aid while allegations are pending ? .....

in plain English, Kids Company wanted to help kids more than it wanted to help the govt look good and so it had to go

Sorry, I should have made it clear - that was a paragraph from the link I posted, written by a journalist.