The Scottish Government has today published an analysis of the responses to the consultation on changes to charity law.
This follows their consultation earlier in the year on changes to the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act), the main piece of charity law in Scotland. The changes set out in the consultation included proposals put forward by OSCR to enhance public trust and confidence in the charity sector by:
By the end of the consultation period, 307 responses had been submitted. The responses are available to view here. The vast majority of responses agreed with the proposals to change charity law put forward by OSCR.
OSCR Chief Executive Maureen Mallon said,
‘‘We would like to acknowledge everyone who responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation. Hundreds of individuals and organisations expressed their views, and we thank everyone who took the time to do so. The high volume of engagement and the overwhelming support for almost all of the proposals shows us that there is an appetite for change.
‘The proposals we submitted, which formed the basis of almost all of the consultation, reflected our experience of working with the 2005 Act over the past 13 years and sought to improve the legislation.
‘We are disappointed that there is no indication that the consultation will result in a reform bill for charity law in this session of Parliament. However, we welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement of a working group on changes to the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (Removal from the Register and Dissolution) Regulations 2011, with a view to bringing forward amendment regulations before the session ends.
‘OSCR will continue to press for required changes and charity law reform. As a non-ministerial office, we will work closely with the Scottish Government and our stakeholders on this matter.’
Background