Official Report 143KB pdf
We now move on to item 3. There are no officials present for this item. Committee members have before them a copy of the regulations, including an explanatory note and committee papers prepared by the clerk, which includes a note on procedure.
Am I correct in thinking that this has come about because of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, and that it is about changing some of the accounting terminology that we use, for example, inserting "Auditor General for Scotland" to replace the terminology that was used in the past?
The short answer to your question is yes. The long answer is that there are accounting requirements on charitable bodies. Certain Scottish charities are exempt from the regulations, because they already have to meet the accounting and auditing requirements of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
I thought that, as a Parliament, we wanted to make life easier for charities by not requiring them to go through complex and potentially expensive auditing procedures?
I am afraid that I am not in a position to go further than the information that the Executive passed on to me. If there is a question that the committee wants to be addressed, it could raise that in its report to the lead committee and invite it to examine the issue.
It seems to be a fairly anodyne matter.
Does the committee want to make any comments to the lead committee? It appears not. Thank you very much. This is not like us at all. I am not used to those silences.
I think that we find it difficult to understand, from the explanatory note, exactly what the instrument does.
The way to silence us is to confuse us. That is a useful tactic.