Tag: accountability

Modernising OSCR: Scottish Government publishes Charities Bill

Improvements and updates to increase transparency and accountability

Legislation to update and strengthen existing charity law has been published. The Charities (Regulation and Administration) Bill aims to increase transparency and accountability and improves the powers of the Office of Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

As part of the proposals OSCR will:

  • publish annual accounts for every charity
  • include the names of all charity trustees in the Scottish Charity Register
  • be able to remove charities that fail to provide accounts and don’t respond to OSCR’s communications
  • create a publicly searchable record of removed charity trustees

The legislation will also give OSCR new powers to issue positive directions to a charity to take action, such as managing a conflict of interest, where a risk has been identified by the regulator.

Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “Charities play a vital role in our society, from supporting individuals and communities, to informing policy at a national level.

“Current charity law is now 17 years old, the charity sector has changed significantly in that time and the legislation needs to be updated to reflect that. Charities have told us that they want these changes to help strengthen existing charity law and update their system of regulation.

“In order to maintain public trust and confidence in this important sector and its regulator in the years ahead, we are taking the required steps to increase transparency and to extend OSCR’s enforcement powers.

“Scotland’s charities raise more than £13 billion of income each year and this Bill will give the public further transparency as to how that money is used.”

Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “I welcome the introduction of this legislation. Charity regulation is vital to public trust and confidence in the sector, and it needs to be fit for purpose.

“This Bill is an opportunity to modernise regulation and ensure that OSCR has the powers it needs to fulfil its functions as effectively as possible. I also welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to a wider review of charity law in the future.”

The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Bill is a 2022-23 Programme for Government commitment.

Provisions in the Bill include:

  • updating the criteria for the automatic disqualification of charity trustees and extending it to individuals with specific senior management positions in charities
  • removal from the Scottish Charity Register of unresponsive charities that fail to submit statements of account
  • a requirement for all charities in the Scottish Charity Register to have and retain a connection to Scotland
  • a requirement on OSCR to publish the statements of account for all charities in the Scottish Charity Register
  • requirements on OSCR to include charity trustee names in the Scottish Charity Register, to keep an internal schedule of charity trustees’ details and to create a publicly searchable record of charity trustees removed by the courts

The Scottish Government consulted on proposals put forward by OSCR in 2019 and consulted again on a number of specific reforms in 2021 and found a majority of support for the changes.

Scottish charity law: consultation analysis 2019

Strengthening Scottish charity law: analysis of engagement responses 2021

Generation Equal: Scottish Government to be accountable for delivery of equality action plan

The First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG) has laid out its vision for the future in Scotland’s progress towards  gender equality, as it comes to the end of its initial three-year term. 

In a next steps report to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP, the NACWG has laid out the rationale for developing a model which sees it move into an accountability and scrutiny role for a further three years to push forward the implementation of the systemic changes required to tackle gender inequality in Scotland.

Since 2017, the NACWG has worked with communities, activists, academics, leaders of public services, and members of the public in Scotland to explore gender inequality and produce a package of recommendations to be taken forward collectively to deliver tangible systemic change.

All recommendations from the first two NACWG reports have been accepted by the First Minister, with feedback yet to be presented on the latest report, published in January 2021. 

The NACWG has been clear from inception that it didn’t anticipate continuing with its current model indefinitely and, given the scope of the NACWG’s recommendations to date, it has now advised that the repeated annual submission of further recommendations at this level would be unhelpful, without taking time to take stock and allow them to be implemented and the consequences analysed.

The system needs time to adapt – especially if wholly inclusive intersectional gender mainstreaming is to remain the end goal for Scotland.

In its next phase, the NACWG suggests building on and upscaling existing accountability practices to assess the progress of the implementation of the recommendations and ensure these are taken forward as intended. 

Co-chair Louise Macdonald OBE said: “The First Minister asked the NACWG to be bold and to challenge the government and public services, private sector and public where required – and that’s exactly what we’ve done with the ambitious recommendations set out in our annual reports.

“The first iteration of the NACWG has delivered a strong package of recommendations but now, to ensure we continue our work to make Scotland a gender equal society, we believe the subsequent phase should focus on the scrutiny of the development of these recommendations.

“Systemic change requires time for any recommendations to bed in and we are not advocating for the next iteration of the NACWG to become “part of the system”. Instead, our aim would be to have a degree of independent oversight of implementation and assess impact so that at the end of this period there is a clear understanding of the successes, any unintended consequences, and whether further work is required.”

Louise added: “We didn’t recommend quick fixes or tweaks, but systemic change and we thoroughly understand that care needs to be taken and careful attention paid to implementation. 

“Every member of the First Minister’s Advisory Council on Women and Girls has considered it a privilege and an honour to be part of this work. We are proud of what we have achieved – but that pride is matched with a certainty there is much more to do to realise the transformational impact our recommendations could deliver, and a belief that through collective will, effective collaboration and shared ambition gender inequality CAN become a historical curiosity in Scotland.”

The decision around the next steps and remit for this work going forward sits with the First Minister.

Report link: 

https://onescotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/590637_SCT0321216300-001_p1.pdf

COSLA: Unanimous ‘No’ to National Care Service

There is much in the Feeley Report on Adult Social Care that Local Government and Scotland’s Council Leaders have been calling for, COSLA said yesterday.

Leaders have long advocated that that the lived experience of those who rely on social care should be embedded within the system and that social care should move to a more person centred approach, recognising the value of not for profit provision, and carried out by a workforce that is valued.

However Leaders unanimously expressed ‘grave concern’ at the recommendations around the future governance and accountability arrangements contained within the Report.

Whilst they agreed with a lot of the content within the Feeley Report, Council Leaders together voiced their opposition to the recommendation which proposes the removal of local democratic accountability from Adult Social Care and the centralising of the service under a National Care Service with accountability falling to Ministers, a move that they described as being detrimental to the local delivery of social care and its integration with other key community services.  

They also felt that given the level of funding set out in the Review, Local Government would be well placed to continue to deliver this vital service.

Speaking following a special meeting of Council Leaders Councillor Stuart Currie, COSLA’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson, said:  “Council Leaders noted the publication of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care and endorsed many of the principles set out in the report particularly in relation to  empowering people, valuing the workforce and embedding a human rights approach to social care.

“Leaders were also clear that the lived experience of those who rely on social care should be embedded within the system and that social care should move to a more person-centred approach.

“However, there was real and unanimous opposition to the recommendations on governance and accountability which would see the removal of local democratic accountability and a degree of centralisation, which Leaders rightly felt would be detrimental to the local delivery of social care and its integration with other key community services.

“They also felt that given the level of funding set out in the Review, Local Government would be well placed to deliver the human-rights based approach outlined at pace, whilst ensuring local democratic accountability remains front and centre of social care.”

A further detailed report on the proposals will be considered by Council Leaders at the end of February.