This consultation started on 16th November 2009 and ends on 26th February 2010.
1. The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (hereafter "the 2005 Act") was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 9 June 2005 and received Royal Assent on 14 July 2005. The Act improves and strengthens the regulation of charities operating in Scotland in a way that builds on the value that charities bring to Scottish society. The majority of the provisions in the Act, relating to the basic regulation of charities by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR), came into force in April 2006.
2. This consultation paper sets out a number of options for the development of the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation ( SCIO), a new legal form of incorporation specifically for charities, which is introduced by the 2005 Act. The SCIO is intended to help charities enjoy the benefits of incorporation without being subject to the complex apparatus of company law and dual regulation currently imposed on charitable companies. Scottish Ministers have powers to make further provision in relation to the SCIO by regulations under sections 50, 52 and 64 of the 2005 Act. This consultation does not include draft regulations but rather focuses on the policy principles which will determine the structure of the SCIO and the design of the regulatory framework within which it will operate.
3. The options outlined in this consultation paper have been developed and put forward by the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations ( SCIOs) Working Group, which was set up to advise Scottish Ministers on the implementation of this new legal form.The SCIO regime will be designed to provide a new incorporation mechanism specifically for charities that will remove the need to register with, and report to, the Registrar of Companies in Scotland. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR) will be responsible for operating the regime and regulating SCIOs.
4. This consultation paper is divided into a number of parts. Part one provides some background to the development of the SCIO and poses some key design questions. Part two sets out three potential models for the SCIO, the first of which is the preferred option of the SCIOs Working Group. We are particularly interested in hearing whether you agree with the Working Group as to which model should be implemented. Part three discusses some detailed technical aspects of the SCIO regulatory framework. Part four focuses on the issues associated with the winding up and dissolution of a SCIO, and part five briefly outlines next steps. Although the SCIO model proposed is itself intended to be simple and user-friendly, we are conscious that this consultation paper is quite lengthy and discusses complex issues, such as SCIO insolvency. The main reason for this is that we have tried to provide sufficient background to the SCIO and present the options for implementation, as well as covering some of the more detailed technical aspects. However, we have also produced a separate shorter summary of the proposals, which can be accessed on the Charity Law pages of the Scottish Government website ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/charities/law/SCIOs) or by contacting the address given below.
5. This is your opportunity to have your say about these plans before the regulations are developed. We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received. However, while we have highlighted key areas for comment, your views on any aspect of the proposals within this document are welcome.
6. You are invited to respond before the closing date on 26 February 2010 in writing to:
Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations ( SCIOs) Consultation
Charity Law Team Civil Law Division Scottish Government 2W, St Andrew's House Edinburgh EH1 3DGTel: 0131 244 0123 Fax: 0131 244 8325 Email: charityact@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Please reply by 26 February 2010.
7. This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.
8. The Scottish Government ( SG) now has an email alert system for consultations ( SEconsult:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/seConsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SG distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SG consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.
Handling your response
9. We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form (attached to the front of the response form) enclosed with this consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.
10. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would, therefore, have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.
Next steps in the process
11. Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and, after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library (see the attached Respondent Information Form) by 26 March 2010. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.
What happens next?
12. Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on how best to take forward the implementation of SCIOs. The responses we receive to this consultation will inform the development of draft regulations, and our intentions for these will be set out in the Consultation Report.
Comments and complaints
13. If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the address above.
http://www.tellthemwhatyouthink.org/consultation/con-2670-options-implementation-organisation-scio
seen at 02:28, 2 February in All consultations.