§ Mrs. Margaret EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he will seek to introduce, as a compulsory requirement upon each charity in Scotland, registration with the registrar of friendly societies, together with a requirement to lodge annual accounts with the registrar;
(2) if he will seek to extend to the sheriff court jurisdiction, concurrent with the court of session, over matters concerning charities.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Scottish Home and Health Department issued a consultative memorandum last year on supervision of charities in Scotland. Among matters on which views were invited were the establishment of a register of charities and a requirement on charities to make publicly available copies of the annual accounts. Views were also sought on the possibility276W of the sheriff court having concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Session on charitable matters. The responses to the memorandum are now under consideration.