- Suzi Leather
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Dame Susan Catherine "Suzi" Leather, DBE DL (born 5 April 1956 [1]), sometimes known as Susie Leather, has been the chair of the Charity Commission since 1 August 2006.[2] Previously she was chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.[1] She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in January 2006.[1]
Contents
Education
She was educated at St Mary's, Calne, Tavistock School, and Exeter University where she received a BA degree with honours in Politics in 1977, followed by a BPhil degree in social work. She then took an MA degree in European politics in 1978 from Leicester University.[1]
Career
From 1979-84, she was a senior research officer for Consumers in Europe. From 1984-86 she was a trainee probation officer. From 1988-97 she was a freelance consumer consultant. From 1997-2001, she was chair of Exeter and District NHS trust.
From 2000-02, she was first deputy chair of the Food Standards Agency. From March 2002-July 2006, she was chair of Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Joined the board of United Kingdom Accreditation Service in 2006 alongside her colleague Professor Michael Mainelli (a political recommendation from the Downing Street office of then Prime Minister Tony Blair) to improve their quality standards regulation. From May 2005-July 2006, she was chair of the School Food Trust.[1] She gave up the HFEA and School Food Trust positions for the Charity Commission position.[2] She saw her qualification for that position as coming from her experience as a regulator rather than expertise with charities: “My main contact [with charities] has been through volunteering — I have no experience personally of working for charities. I don’t think I had a very well developed sense of what the Charities Bill was going to do, so I can't describe myself as a charities expert in any sense”, and therefore spent her early months in the post absorbing information about the sector.[3]
Controversies
Suzi Leather’s public appointments, none of which were elected posts, have led some right-wing commentators to question the motives of those who appoint her. The Adam Smith Institute accused her of pursuing a "political agenda" on behalf of politicians who lacked the "moral courage" to tackle the issue themselves.[4]
During her tenure at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Leather was criticised for stating that a child's absolute need for a father figure was "nonsense".[5] Jack O'Sullivan, of the campaign group Fathers Direct which campaigns for the rights of fathers, said that "while discrimination against single and lesbian women was wrong, the benefits of a father figure were proven by scientific studies".[5]
The Charities Act (2006)[6] added to the traditional list of "charitable purposes" for which charities can be established (the prevention or relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, and so forth) a requirement that their activities should be carried on "for the public benefit"; and it required the Charities Commission to determine how it would be established that the public benefit was being served. In pursuance of this requirement, in 2009 Dame Suzi instigated an investigation into private schools in order to determine whether non-profit education providers should continue to be accorded charitable status automatically. She has stated that she cannot "see why charitable status was always merited". Specifically, it was decided that, while providing education is a charitable purpose, doing so only in exchange for an economic fee does not meet the requirement that the purpose is carried on for public rather than private benefit. A fee-paying school could nonetheless deserve charitable status, for example if it offered bursaries, or provided teaching or coaching children from surrounding schools, or otherwise contributed. As of July 2009, five private schools in the North West of England had been investigated and it was concluded that two of the five gave insufficient benefit to the public and had therefore failed the proposed test. These school would lose their charitable status in a year’s time "unless they gave out more bursaries".[7] It has been claimed that the Commission may have exceeded its powers under the 2006 Charities Act.[8]
Public Sector Salary
In 2010 a list released by the Cabinet Office in a drive for greater transparency in public life revealed the salaries of 156 "quango" bosses,[9][10] including Dame Leather's remuneration package of £104,999 a year for a 3 day week as head of the Charity Commission.
Family
Ms. Leather lives in Exeter with her husband, Professor Iain Hampsher-Monk, and their three children (one son and two daughters).[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "The Guardian profile: Suzi Leather" (Sarah Boseley, Guardian, Friday 12 May 2006)
- ^ a b Dame Suzi Leather to chair the Charity Commission (PublicTechnology.net, 20 June 2006)
- ^ Times Online business report
- ^ The Telegraph report on Suzi Leather
- ^ a b BBC report on controversy over Leather's comments
- ^ Office of Public Sector Information: Charities Act (2006)
- ^ Simon Heffer, July 15, 2009. "There's a class war to be fought over the future of private schools", Daily Telegraph
- ^ "Charity Commission is government stooge"
- ^ "Quango high earners revealed by the Cabinet Office" (Cabinet Office 1st July 2010)
- ^ "Quango chiefs' salaries revealed" (BBC News 2nd July 2010)
External links
Categories:- 1956 births
- British civil servants
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Living people
- People from Exeter
- People educated at St Mary's School (Calne)
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