Former justice charity criticised over its ‘unbalanced research’
A RACIAL-JUSTICE charity in West Yorkshire has been censured by the Charity Commission for “conflicts of interest and unbalanced research”.
Just West Yorkshire, founded in Bradford in 2007, was wound up late last year. The findings of the Charity Commission investigation into it were published yesterday.
It found that Just West Yorkshire produced reports that “did not appear to properly consider the charity’s purpose or the need for balance and trustees failed to manage conflicts of interest”.
The charity’s original base was the Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham, but, according to Companies House, it moved to Rotherham in 2016.
The commission says the charity’s trustees closed the organisation “after the regulator issued notice of its intention to issue an
official warning over the trustees’ action, but before it was able to complete this.”
Two of the charity’s reports in particular were criticised in the findings.
One called Rethinking Prevent: a case for an alternative approach looked at the controversial Prevent
deradicalisation programme used in schools.
The other, A Temperature Check report (Understanding and assessing the impact of Rotherham MP Sarah Champion’s comments in The Sun newspaper on August 10 2017) referred to the Labour MP’s remarks about grooming gangs and ethnicity.
The comments proved hugely controversial and at the time were heavily criticised by the charity.
Tim Hopkins, assistant director of investigations and inquiries at the Charity Commission said: “Charities should be distinct from other types of organisations in their attitude and behaviour, in their motivations and methods.”
Former members of the charity have been contacted for a response to the findings by the watchdog.