12 November 2008
The Shaw Trust has received a formal apology from Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, over comments related to the departure of Ian Charlesworth.
Mr Charlesworth was given six months notice placed on garden leave from his job as Chief Executive at the Shaw Trust in July.
It is reported that Mr Charlesworth had disagreed with plans by Mr Papé and chair John Briffitt over plans to expand the organisation into Australia.
In a number of critical comments about the issue, Mr Bubb called for the reinstatement of Mr Charlesworth and claimed the Shaw Trust’s employee forum had passed a vote of no confidence in its board of trustees and director-general Tim Pape.
In a statement, Mr Bubb said: "On 11 August, I issued a press release regarding Ian Charlesworth stating, amongst other things, that the staff of the Shaw Trust had passed a vote of no confidence in the director-general and trustees.
"I now accept that this particular statement was not accurate. No vote of confidence or otherwise was taken or passed by the staff of the trust.
“On behalf of Acevo and personally, I retract this particular statement and apologise to the director general and the trustees of the Shaw Trust for any distress or embarrassment I have caused by making it."
Meanwhile, trustees of the Shaw Trust have reportedly met with the Charity Commission over concerns raised by Mr Charlesworth.
The trust said it was confident that its governance arrangements were sound and it was looking forward to discussing the matter with the commission.
Mr Bubb has written in fairly outspoken terms about the Shaw Trust on his own blog - https://bloggerbubb.blogspot.com - and despite the apology he continues to raise concerns about the way the organisation is operating.
Elsewhere on the site, Mr Bubb provides a ringing endorsement of the Government’s much-maligned welfare reforms and his enthusiasm for the efforts of James Purnell and David Freud.
