A step backwards

For as long as the UK has been in existence, Scotland has maintained its own systems of law and education, and in more modern times its own health service, amongst other aspects of Scottish life. Much of this stems from the Church of Scotland having remained fully separate from the Church of England in the days when it provided much of what the state now does. Yet it has also historically maintained its own control of another area which is often overlooked, and that is the charity sector.

As a result of the distinct nature of Scots Law and the different historic religious landscape north of the border, charity regulation in Scotland has been different in nature from that south of the border. This was formalised by an Act of the Scottish Parliament in 2005 and there is a stronger line on the required public benefits that an organisation must perform to be considered a charity in Scotland.

Yet that historic situation has been put under threat by a bizarre part of the proposed changes to Scotland’s devolved powers contained within the Calman Commission’s report. One of its measures calls for charity regulation to be taken out of Scottish hands and given to Westminster. When the majority of opinion in Scotland favours greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, such a retrograde step is difficult to understand.

This has caused significant disquiet in Scotland’s charity sector, which rightly recognises the need for different regulation in Scotland as a result of the distinctiveness of Scots Law. The Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, which represents the majority of Scotland’s 45,000 charities, has called the proposals a muddle and rightly questions why the submissions of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland and a single independent academic appear to have carried more weight than that of the SCVO and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

These are not just abstract legal concepts, but have real potential to hinder the activities of charities in Scotland. Housing Co-operatives have been held back in the rest of the UK by a lack of a clear framework and lack of UK Government support, but in Scotland they have been allowed to register as charities. They are delivering affordable housing across the country and have the potential to do even more in coming years. Yet all that would be severely put at risk if UK was to take control of charity regulation.

There is no support for these proposals amongst the people who will be affected the most and sending some of the powers that Scotland already has to London flies in the face of public opinion. The London based parties that are currently working on implementing the Calman Commission’s recommendations should distance themselves from these proposals and accept that what the Scottish Parliament needs is more powers, not fewer.

With more powers, the Scottish Government can do more to encourage growth in the Scottish economy. With our hands on the economic levers, Scotland would have a flexibility when it comes to tackling budget cuts that we simply do not have at present. While we must currently wait to find out exactly how much less money will be returned to the Scottish Government to spend, with real economic powers we would be able to make the balance of investment and cuts that will best secure recovery in Scotland.

The incredible work that is done by so many dedicated voluntary staff across Scotland should not be jeopardised by short sighted Calman Commission recommendations and responsibility for charity regulation must remain in Scotland.