Will, I just saw the show and have long thought that what is the state and what is not is too blurred. I remember meeting Turning Point in their swanky offices a few years ago and hearing some guy talk about their objectives in terms of increasing revenue (ie state funding) rather than outcomes (ie helping real people).
Organisations like the Carbon Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust purport to be independent but are simply quangos by another name.
The Civitas proposals are bang on. Over 70% government funding you cannot call yourself a charity. If you get less than 30% of your cash from government you can call yourself an independent charity as opposed to a state-funded charity.
The government should also have a HMG logo that gets put on anything produced by an organisation that is more than 70% state funded. They should also be required to use a .gov domain name for clarity. Any body that gets over 70% from statutory charges that cannot be avoided should also carry an HMG logo and use a .gov domain name. All of a sudden the true size of the state would become apparent.
Commenting by HaloScan
