2009/5/1 <[email protected]>: > I thought this what you might mean, but we are into unchartered territory > here. Normally a charity > would not operate in deficit and I suspect there are stringent rules > regulating it.
But the rules are different. the Treasury does not like any part of the public sector to borrow because it increases the liabilities on the public balance sheet. It is not unreasonable for a charity to borrow as long as it knows it can pay it back. So called social enterprises can both be charities and businesses. They may not be primarily for profit but might still borrow to fund investment. Similarly it might make sense for BW to buy land with a mortgage if that extra bit of land can then put with existing property achieve a good income. >There are certainly stringent rules regulating charities operating in surplus >as evidence by the > problems the RSPCA got into not so long ago. And so there should be - but it's a different regime to a nationalised industry. > > For me this debate underlines how much I need to know before deciding what I > think about this idea. I agree. I'm not arguing one way or the other, just trying to explore the pros and cons. In the real world, lots of decisions are finely balanced with real arguments on both sides. That is not how they are always reported in the media or discussed down the pub (and I'm as guilty as anyone). Adrian's support tends to make me suspicious, I must confess. But no-one can be wrong all the time, That would make it equally easy to be always right. > > Steve > Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nigel Stanley <[email protected]> > > Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 10:06:55 > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [canals-list] Re: BW to "move to the voluntary sector", and new > units > > > 2009/4/30 <[email protected]>: >> What makes you think don't becoming a voluntary sector organisation would >> give BW any more latitude to borrow than now? >> >> Steve >> Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange >> > > This is what I understand. > > At the moment anything BW borrows shows up on the public sector > overall accounts as debt. It therefore needs Treasury permission to > borrow (which is not easy to get) > > If it were an independent body - even one that got lots of government > grant - its debts would not be on the public sector balance sheet. > > > -- > Nigel Stanley > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- Nigel Stanley
