My Understanding of it is that they will canvas questions on the Public Benifit Guidance that they have allready produced ( http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Library/publicbenefit/pdfs/publicbenefittext.pdf ) . This time they will ask questions regarding how this effects to the specific sub-sectors (i.e religions). You will not get the opportuntiy to ask your own questions but you can load the answers to the questions they give so that they go against the borg. From this they will produce suplimentary guidance for each subsector.
If you look at the questions they gave on the draft public benifit guidance, this may give some idea as to what they are going to do. See page 12 of the following document http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/library/enhancingcharities/pdfs/pbconsult.pdf .
I do not profess to know the ins and outs of the whole thing, but for me it is important to have a say....
The reason why it was delayed.... I do not know... It is just late... The consultation should start in the next month or so. What ever happens its worth having a look at it
taken form the guidance...
"This is the Charity Commission’s statutory guidance on public benefit.
The purpose of this guidance is to:
•
explain the requirement that, to be a charity in England and Wales, an organisation must have charitable aims that are for the public benefit;
•
raise awareness and understanding of that public benefit requirement amongst the public and the charitable sector;
•
explain how the public benefit requirement operates in practice; and
•
explain the new requirement for charity trustees to report on public benefit. This guidance deals with public benefit in general terms. It reflects recent changes in the law on public benefit arising from the Charities Act 2006. This guidance has been prepared following extensive public consultation. Separate guidance that explains the legal underpinning for the principles of public benefit set out in this guidance can be found in Analysis of the law underpinning Charities and Public Benefit on our website.
We will publish supplementary guidance, after further consultation, about how the public benefit requirement applies specifically to different kinds of charity. "
As they say this guidance is STATUTORY i.e the LAW..... Anything suplimentry should also be law also... If it goes to court this will be what they use to decide if a charity is a charity..
Anyway..... as I say I do not profess to know th in's and out's of this but it is worth having a say in what is happening.....
p.s... I know my spelling is bad so forgive me....