HC Deb 16 July 1990 vol 176 cc422-3W
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints of criminality have been made against an officer or committee member of a registered charity in Scotland since 1979; what was the nature of the complaints; what action was taken; and what convictions, if any, were obtained.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

This information is not centrally held and cannot be made available since hitherto such complaints have been dealt with no differently from other complaints of criminality and cannot be differentiated from them.

Sir Nicholas Fairbairn

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints have been made since 1979 of non-registered charities in Scotland holding themselves out to be charities; and what action was taken.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

At present charities operating in Scotland are not required to become recognised as charities for the purposes of section 505 of Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. Where persons falsely and dishonestly hold themselves out to be acting as or on behalf of charities the ordinary criminal law applies and I would refer to my previous answer.

Sir Nicholas Fairbairn

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints of misconduct or mismanagement have been made against an officer or committee member of a registered charity in Scotland since 1979; what was the nature of the complaints; and what were the names of the charities.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

There is at present no machinery for the receiving and investigation of complaints where the complaint or evidence available fall short of an inference of criminality. Such misconduct or mismanagement has from time to time been brought to the attention of the Secretary of State and other agencies but these have not been recorded. In the absence of any investigative machinery actively seeking out misconduct or mismanagement, it is impossible to say how many complaints have been made since 1979.