The Board meeting on the 15^th March 2006 was to decide upon key issues such as the new Charity Test by which all new applications for charitable status will be considered.

 

The Board will meet on a quarterly basis. Future meetings have been agreed for 25 May and 26 July 2006.  OSCR’s operational functions are directed by its senior management team, headed by Chief Executive Jane Ryder.

 

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 is currently due to commence in late April.  OSCR, with its new Board, will launch the new Scottish Charity Register on 1st April and assume its full powers on 24th April with a formal launch event and conference at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh.

 

OSCR’s Chief Executive, Jane Ryder, said that the appointment marked a new era in OSCR’s development.  ‘From the start, we have been working towards the new regulatory framework and have aimed for a seamless transition to the new regime,’ she said.

 

‘I very much look forward to working with the new Board as we embark on a landmark year for OSCR and for Scottish charities,’ she added.  ‘The Board’s appointment confirms OSCR’s independence as a statutory regulator as we rapidly approach the date for commencement of our new functions under the new legislation.’

 

 

OSCR Chair John Naylor (front) with Board Members (left to right) Martin Crewe, Annie Gunner, Lindsay Montgomery; deputy chair Frank Kirwan and OSCR chief executive Jane Ryder.

 

 

 

OSCR’s Board is as follows:

 

John Naylor was most recently Chief Executive of the Carnegie UK Trust for 11 years. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of YMCA England. Mr Naylor was one of three Scottish board members of the UK Big Lottery Fund and was on the Scottish Charity Law Review Commission which recommended changes to charity law and regulation in 2001.

 

He is a member trustee of Medical Research Scotland and he is chair of UK Scout Association Development grants board. He is treasurer of the Tomorrow Project, an independent charity researching people’s lives in the next 20 years.  He is also a Kirk Elder in Edinburgh.  All these positions are voluntary.

 

Frank Kirwan worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, has worked with the Accounts Commission and is an honorary trustee of Oxfam UK. He has been a children’s panel member and served on the Scottish Social Services Council.  All his public appointments are unpaid. 

 

Martin Crewe is a Director of Barnado’s Scotland and is a Quality Scotland Excellence Assessor. He is also a trustee of Evaluation Support Scotland and was previously a trustee for Partners in Advocacy and Bfriends. 

 

Annie Gunner is Director of Community Care Providers Scotland and a Board member of Phoenix House and the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with a Disability (EASPPD).

 

Iris MacMillan is a solicitor specialising in Charity Law and is a member of the Law Society working party on Charity Law.  She is involved in a number of charities including being a Board member for Learning Teaching Scotland.   

 

Lindsay Montgomery is Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board and was previously a Director of Scottish Natural Heritage. He is a Non-Executive Director of the current OSCR, a Scottish Executive Agency and also chairman of a small cancer charity.