Chamber and committees

Okay. I think that we have a different understanding of the thematic organisation of the questions, but that is absolutely fine. We can get the answers to those questions later, if you wish.

Is there a need for a wider review?

A number of organisations spoke to us last week about the importance of its being an independent review. What is your view on that?

Thank you, I appreciate that.

John Maton, are there areas in the bill that you think will link well with charities regulation in the other parts of the United Kingdom? What has your experience been of implementing similar proposals?

Did that challenge affect the resources that you had available? Did you need more resources in order to communicate that to charities?

Thank you, convener, and apologies for the earlier preview of this question. I will repeat it, because we have moved on slightly. Volunteer Scotland, which gave evidence last week, told us:

“we will not know the true impact of this legislation on charities, and their trustees, until it is clear how OSCR intend to communicate and implement the new measures. This is not clarified within the detail of the Bill.”

Further, the SCVO said that the administration and communications budget may be significant.

My question is for Martin Tyson. How are you preparing for the bill? Will you be able to do that within existing budgets, and how will you communicate the changes?

What kind of process do you imagine would be in place to waive or challenge that decision?

Where would the administrative burden of proof fall?

A couple of questions have come up from the answers that we have been given. John Maton made a point about discretionary versus automatic disqualification. Will you explain that a bit and say what we would need to do here to apply discretionary disqualification instead of automatic disqualification?

We heard some evidence about that from the sector last week. I think that those who gave that evidence would concur with that.

Does Keith Macpherson have anything to add?