Little did the National Bullying Helpline realise that the
furore over a breach of confidentiality would result in the Charity
Commission launching a formal inquiry into its activities and wider
practices. This is a salutary reminder to every charity to keep its
house in good order. Whilst enquiring about one matter the
Commission may well discover and pursue other issues.
The Commission has received over 160 complaints about the
charity most of which centre around the way it deals with
confidential information. Interestingly, the Commission has opened
its inquiry on the grounds of its statutory objective to increase
public trust and confidence rather than the objective of promoting
trustees' compliance with obligations in exercising proper
control and management of their charity. However, it is reported
that the inquiry will also look at how people were referred from
the helpline to a business run by one of the charity's trustees
and will review allegations that the
