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Plenary, 19 Mar 2003

19 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Charity Law Reform

Lamont, Johann Lab Glasgow Pollok Watch on SPTV

If the member lets me finish my point.

In its deliberations on the voluntary sector, the Social Justice Committee said that there had to be progress on charitable law. I am sure that the Executive will take that on board.

I want to make a few points before I move on to the substance of what I want to say. The issue is not just about legislation; it is about respecting and understanding the sector, and the Executive has an excellent record on that. We should also not be over-legislating for the sector. I was speaking to a constituent who, for the past 25 years and because she wanted to, ran a lunch club for a group of local pensioners. She has now stopped running the club because of the level of regulation and the lack of respect for the expertise of the women who ran the club out of the goodness of their hearts. They have simply stopped running the club. We have to be careful about that.

I welcome the work done by Jean McFadden and I recognise the degree of commitment that the commission has shown and the body of evidence that it has provided for us to use in moving forward.

As Jackie Baillie said, many organisations are charitable that we might expect would not be, and others are not charitable that we might expect would be. Given the perceptions of what a charity should be, which we might or might not share, that is central to the debate. We want to make the decision based on principles that have been developed through discussion and debate rather than through the deliberations of the Inland Revenue. That is why we need legislation.

The discussions will not always be easy, particularly for organisations that imagine that they are charities, and which might currently be charities, but whose benefit to the public might not be evident to the rest of us. The role of co-operatives highlights the importance of that debate—and I declare an interest.

The co-operative movement is broad and encompasses a range of groups and organisations. Because co-operatives often provide dividends to their members, they would be excluded from charitable status under what is being proposed—the McFadden commission considered the issue. However, co-operatives genuinely benefit the public in their communities, not least because they offer work opportunities to people within local communities and often provide a service that no other organisation would be able to provide. Co-operatives are rooted in an understanding of what their local communities need. Their position would be tested in the debate surrounding a charities bill, and discussion of such interesting and challenging issues could be developed.

We would be kidding ourselves on if we thought that there was a lack of will simply because the issues that have to be addressed are complex. We want charities legislation that can add to the support for the important work of charities and voluntary organisations in our communities not just because of what it concludes and what is enacted, but because of the legislative process, which allows further discussion and acknowledgement by all who are involved in making decisions of the key role of charities, organisations and people within our communities who genuinely provide a public benefit for us all.

I congratulate Jackie Baillie again. I am sure that the debate will put down a marker that this is one of the important jobs that must be done in the next Parliament, to build on the excellent work that has already been done and to recognise the key role of the voluntary and charitable sectors in Scotland.

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Plenary, 19 Mar 2003

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