Hansard

I welcome the debate and look forward to the bill becoming an act. I add to those of the cabinet secretary my thanks to the bill team, clerks and staff in the Parliament, and to all those who gave evidence to the committee at stage 1.

As we took evidence, I think it is fair to say that it became clear that this is an OSCR bill rather than a third sector bill. It is very technical in many ways, and its being brought forward has clearly been driven by OSCR.

Everyone in the chamber agrees on the importance of the third sector and the role that it plays in Scotland, whether that is in regard to volunteering, giving to or being a trustee of a charity. However, we have to be aware that society is changing. I say this as one of the conveners of the cross-party group on volunteering: volunteering is becoming harder for people to do post pandemic, and many organisations are struggling to find volunteers to come on board. That is perhaps more true with regard to their being asked to be a trustee, with all the legal responsibility that comes with that appointment.

Over the next months and years as the Scottish Government consults, we must have a wider conversation as to what role the third sector has to play within our society, how we encourage more people to volunteer and how we make sure that charities are able to do what they want to do locally and nationally. That will pose some interesting questions.

The other overwhelming remark that we heard as we took evidence was that there is a desire within charities and the third sector for reform, and for greater reform than the bill represents. I hope that the consultation to which the cabinet secretary referred in her opening speech will not be overly time consuming. Yes, we need to speak and to consult, but we also need to be able to introduce legislation in the next session.

The bill as amended is good. It could have been better if my amendment 3 had been accepted, but we still have a bill that will provide not only transparency and openness but a bit more clarity in regard to the role of trustees, what they can do and what they should do. I am pleased that members accepted my amendment 1 because there was some criticism that OSCR has not been communicating in such a way that the information that it wants to get to charities is getting through.

The Conservatives welcome the bill and look forward to it being implemented. Most importantly, we look forward to seeing the third sector grow and flourish over the next number of years.