Thanks to everyone who has signed the petition: Charity Commission investigate Oxfam.

We are clearly having an impact. Yesterday,  in response to public pressure, Oxfam announced that it will commission a review ‘to assess whether the board and trustees acted in line with their duties’.

While this is an implicit acknowledgement of our concerns, and while a review is urgently required, unfortunately, Oxfam also assert that the review ‘will be overseen by board members’, which of course raises questions about its independence, and indeed its terms of reference, or put more colloquially, whether the trustees will be ‘writing their own school report’.

It can’t be appropriate for a review into issues of governance focused on the actions of the board to be overseen by the board. This appears to be a desperate attempt to avoid the genuine scrutiny that a Charity Commission investigation would provide. 

I believe that the only way to restore confidence in Oxfam is for a fully independent investigation of the circumstance, and the governance issues, leading up to and including Dr Begum’s departure. 

Before writing to the Charity Commission again, to urge them not to be satisfied by Oxfam’s board attempt to be the judge their own actions, I want to be confident that this is the view of the majority of those who have signed the original petition. 

Can you please take five minutes to share your opinion? Just click the link below (or copy and paste it into your browser) and share your thoughts.  

https://forms.gle/cUKVaRigLkycBLQQ7 

Many thanks,

John