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The Scottish charity regulator is set to gain increased powers this year after politicians voted through proposals set before parliament.<\/h3>\nThe Scottish charity regulator is set to gain increased powers this year after politicians voted through proposals set before parliament.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Civil Society<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n The Scottish charity regulator is set to gain increased powers this year after politicians voted through proposals set before parliament.<\/p>\n Approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday,\u00a0the charities bill\u00a0gives OSCR the power to remove organisations from the Scottish charity register if they fail to submit accounts and are unresponsive to the regulator\u2019s communications.<\/p>\n It will extend OSCR\u2019s power to disqualify charity trustees, and it will be able to disqualify individuals with some senior management positions in charities.<\/p>\n OSCR will be able to investigate organisations which are no longer charities, and former charity trustees.<\/p>\n The bill requires all charities in the Scottish register to have and retain a connection to Scotland.<\/p>\n It will require OSCR to publish all charities\u2019 accounts and all trustees\u2019 names on its register and to create a publicly searchable record of trustees removed by the courts.<\/p>\n Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: \u201cThis legislation makes practical improvements and updates to existing charity regulation increasing transparency and to help ensure public trust is maintained….<\/p>\n OSCR said in a statement\u00a0that most of its existing powers would stay the same and that the new rules would \u201cenhance these measures and strengthen charity law in Scotland to bring it in line with key aspects of charity regulation elsewhere in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n\u2018New law will help to promote greater transparency\u2019<\/h3>\n