Communities Committee, 22 Mar 2006

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Official Report 333KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Charity Test (Specified Bodies) (Scotland) Order 2006 (draft)<br />Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) (Scotland) Order 2006 (draft)

I open the ninth meeting in 2006 of the Communities Committee and remind everyone present that mobile phones should be turned off.

Unfortunately, I must tender a number of apologies. Tricia Marwick is unable to attend the meeting, so we will be joined later on by her substitute, Sandra White, who has another committee meeting to attend first. Mary Scanlon has also indicated that she will be late and Cathie Craigie is unable to attend because of a family bereavement.

The first item on the agenda is consideration of the draft Charity Test (Specified Bodies) (Scotland) Order 2006 and the draft Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) (Scotland) Order 2006. I welcome the Deputy Minister for Communities, Johann Lamont, who is accompanied by Sian Ledger and Laura Bailie from the Scottish Executive's Development Department.

As members are aware, the draft orders are subject to the affirmative procedure, so under rule 10.6.2 of standing orders the minister is required to propose by motion that the committee recommend that each of them be approved. The first motion is motion S2M-3992. Committee members have copies of the draft order and the accompanying documentation. I invite the minister to speak briefly to the draft order, but ask her not to move the motion just yet.

I am pleased to be here; I am even more pleased to be here to talk about charities rather than planning—those discussions lie ahead of us. Returning to the Communities Committee is like visiting an old friend and I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak to the two draft orders on the agenda.

The committee will recall its discussions on the independence test and the non-departmental public bodies for the five national collections during last year's consideration of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill. Concerns were raised that the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, the National Museums of Scotland, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh would fail the charity test because of the powers of direction that ministers hold in relation to them. Those powers could not be removed because it was felt important that ministers retain some form of control over the collections that they hold in trust for the nation. Therefore, at stage 1 I agreed to lodge amendments that would allow the five bodies concerned to meet the charity test while continuing to be subject to ministerial direction. The bill was amended to allow ministers to exempt bodies from the independence test by order. The result is the draft Charity Test (Specified Bodies) (Scotland) Order 2006.

Do members have any questions for the minister?

No.

As the committee seems to be quite content, I invite the minister to move motion S2M-3992.

Motion moved,

That the Communities Committee recommends that the draft Charity Test (Specified Bodies) (Scotland) Order 2006 be approved.—[Johann Lamont.]

Motion agreed to.

We will now deal with motion S2M-3993. Members have copies of the draft Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) (Scotland) Order 2006. I invite the minister to speak briefly to the draft order, but ask her not to move the motion at this point.

The second draft order relates to section 19 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, which protects the charitable assets of bodies that have been removed from the Scottish charity register either by choice or because they no longer meet the charity test. It will ensure that the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator retains its regulatory powers in relation to those charitable assets and will allow OSCR to transfer them to another charity.

Concern was expressed that if the NDPBs or the further or higher education institutions were to stop being charities, OSCR could transfer their assets to other charities. That would jeopardise the services that those bodies provide, which are funded by the public purse, so at stage 2 an amendment was lodged to allow ministers to exempt bodies from section 19. The Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) (Scotland) Order 2006, which has been made under section 19 of the 1995 act, will ensure that assets that are funded by the public purse will remain under ministerial control in the event that any of the NDPBs or the further or higher education institutions were to lose their charitable status.

As members have no questions, I invite the minister to move motion S2M-3993.

Motion moved,

That the Communities Committee recommends that the draft Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) (Scotland) Order 2006 be approved.—[Johann Lamont.]

Motion agreed to.

I ask members to agree that we report to the Parliament our decision on the two orders. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank the minister for attending our meeting.

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Housing Revenue Account General Fund Contribution Limits (Scotland) Order 2006 (SSI 2006/64)

Item 2 on the agenda is consideration of SSI 2006/64, which is subject to the negative procedure. Members have received copies of the order and the accompanying documentation. The order provides that, for the financial year 2006-07, local authorities should continue to set at nil any estimate for the amount that they will transfer from their general funds to their housing revenue accounts. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has reported that it did not need to draw the Parliament's attention to the order on any of the grounds that are within its remit. Do members have any comments?

No.

Is the committee therefore content with the order?

Members indicated agreement.

That being the case, the committee will make no recommendation on the order in its report to the Parliament. I ask members to agree that we report to the Parliament our decision on the order. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

We will have a brief suspension to allow our witnesses for the next agenda item to join us.

Meeting suspended.

On resuming—