Charities, Third Sector & Social Enterprise: Programme For Government

The Programme for Government has a number of items that will affect charities, the third sector and social enterprises. Here are some key sector announcements. We will have follow up blogs (and comment at forthcoming seminars) to look at some of these developments in more detail.

The sector is important

"The third sector is a crucial part of our social and economic infrastructure, playing a key part in the ongoing reform of our public services - without them we would not be able to innovate, adapt and maintain our drive to tackle deep-rooted social challenges in the way we are. That is why we continue to invest in the sector, and have made a point of maintaining our levels of funding within the third sector budget at ￡24.5 million."

Review of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005

"It is over 17 years since the McFadden Commission proposed establishing a Scottish charity regulator, and more than 13 years since the passage of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. To ensure public confidence in charities and in the Scottish Charity Regulator is maintained we will consult on updating legislation to promote transparency and accountability."

Non-Domestic Rates

"The Bill will deliver the ambition set out in the Barclay Review to enhance and reform the business rates system in Scotland to better support business growth and long-term investment and reflect changing marketplaces. Having already introduced the Business Growth Accelerator and Day Nurseries relief recommended by the Review, the Bill will include other measures to support growth including the move to a three year valuation cycle. The Bill will introduce measures aimed at improving the administration of the system including to reduce the number of appeals and improve the quality of information available to stakeholders. It will also deliver measures to increase fairness and ensure a level playing field by reforming a number of reliefs and tackling known avoidance measures."

Safeguarding and disclosure

"To modernise and improve proportionality in the disclosure system we will introduce a new Disclosure Bill. This will simplify the system and strike the right balance between strengthened safeguarding and helping people with conviction get back to work. We will provide a digital way to improve safeguarding and access disclosures that is more responsive to Scotland's people."

Social enterprise

"Later this month, Scotland will welcome the Social...