Minister for civil society Nick Hurd has today launched a consultation on strengthening the powers of the Charity Commission in the wake of a damning government report on the regulator.

Hurd's consultation announcement comes as the National Audit Office today released a highly critical report into the Charity Commission, concluding that it is not regulating charities effectively and is not value for money. 

The consultation has also been annouced today in conjunction with a response from the Home Office on steps government will take to tackle extremism in the UK. 

The government's consultation will run until 12 February 2014, and will seek views on proposals to help the Charity Commission tackle serious abuse within charities. 

The proposed changes include:

• Extending the range of criminal offences which automatically bar a person from acting as a charity trustee;
• A new discretionary power for the Charity Commission to disqualify a person who is unfit from acting as a charity trustee;
• A new power enabling the Charity Commission to close down a charity;
• A new statutory warning power;  
• Extensions of several existing powers and technical changes to close various loopholes.

In September, the Charity Commission called for a “general power of disqualification” of trustees, admitting that in the past it had been “too reticent” in using its regulatory powers.

The Charity Commission has today welcomed the consultation on amending and extending its powers. A spokeswoman said the Commission is especially keen to see the law strengthened in the areas of trustee disqualification and its powers to make directions.

Sam Younger, chief executive of the Commission, said: “We have long pressed for extensions to our powers to prevent and tackle abuse in charities. We raised this in the discussions which led to the 2006 Charities Act and our response to Lord Hodgson’s review of the Charities Act.

"So I welcome and support the Cabinet Office consultation.  If enacted, these changes would make us a stronger, more robust and more agile regulator."