OSCR announces progress report
3 Sep 07
Perth conference hears of charity regulator's first year
Over 1,200 new charities have been recognised, and 8,000 "ceased" charities removed from the register, by Scotland’s charity regulator OSCR in its first year, a conference at Perth Concert Hall is hearing today.
OSCR, which took up its powers in April 2006, is holding the conference, attended by over 200 charity trustees from across Scotland, to report on its achievements and experience in its first year.
Since taking up its regulatory powers, OSCR has:
- removed over 8,000 ceased charities from the Scottish Charity Register;
- granted charitable status to 1,261 new charities;
- advised ministers on issues such as trustee indemnity insurance;
- published key guidance to charities on subjects such as charity trustee duties and charity accounting;
- issued its first direction to an organisation to cease representing itself as a charity when it was not on the Scottish Charity Register;
- announced its rolling review of charitable status, commencing September 2007;
- published its draft corporate plan, outlining its strategic priorities to 2010.
Under the rolling review, which is expected to take the next seven to 10 years, every one of Scotland’s 23,500 charities will be assessed against the new charity test specified in the legislation. A pilot scheme has already taken place with eight charities from different sectors submitting themselves for review.