Oxfam and Save the Children bosses face grilling from MPs

Oxfam and Save the Children bosses will go before MPs this morning following allegations of abuse and misconduct by staff working after the earthquake in Haiti.

Directors from the Department for International Development will also face a grilling by members of the international development select committee this morning.

Oxfam offered its 'humblest apologies' to Haiti in a meeting between two senior members of the charity's leadership, Simon Ticehurst and Margalida Massot, and Haiti's minister of planning and external cooperation.

Oxfam, which has more than 10,000 staff working in 90 countries, denies a cover-up and chief executive Mark Goldring says the intensity of criticism is disproportionate.

But Oxfam's handling of the scandal is being investigated by the Charity Commission and a redacted version of a 2011 internal report revealed three men accused of sexual misconducting Haiti had threatened witnesses during the investigation.

In the report Oxfam said the former director of operations in Haiti, Roland Van Hauwermeiren, 'admitted using prostitutes' at his Oxfam residence after last week denying he paid prostitutes for sex.

Save the Children and Christian Aid have also been dragged into the fallout after an investigation by the Times newspaper first uncovered the extent of abuse. A total of more than 120 workers from a range of Britain's leading charities have reportedly been accused of sexual abuse in the past year alone with new figures collated by the charities revealing that Oxfam recorded 87 allegations of sexual misconduct between April 2016 and March 2017, of which 53 were referred to the police. Meanwhile, Save the Children had 31 cases, 10 of which were referred to the police, and Christian Aid had two.

The hearing before MPs begins at 10.30 and can be watched online here.

News
Darlington nurse describes brave stand for biological reality in US speech
Darlington nurse describes brave stand for biological reality in US speech

The NHS has been "ideologically captured" by transgenderism, nurse Bethany Hutchison said at an event on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

Scots families send clear signal to government over home education
Scots families send clear signal to government over home education

Proposals could disproportionately impact children with special needs or disabilities.

Is New Zealand experiencing its own 'Quiet Revival'?
Is New Zealand experiencing its own 'Quiet Revival'?

The so-called “Quiet Revival” report by the Bible Society noting an upsurge in Christianity among young people in the U.K. is also seen to an extent among young New Zealanders, according to a report by Baptists. 

Worship leader Ron Kenoly dies at 81
Worship leader Ron Kenoly dies at 81

Ron Kenoly, a pioneering Christian worship leader whose anthems helped shape modern praise music and whose ministry emphasized worship as service rather than performance, has died. He was 81.