John Robertson, Labour MP for Glasgow North, has called on the government to launch a public awareness campaign of the gift aid scheme.

Speaking at a Wesminster Hall debate on trends in donations to charities yesterday, Robertson said more needed to be done to encourage gift aid, highlighting that £750m in gift aid went unclaimed by charities each year.

Robertson suggested that there should be a central database of gift aid donors which would allow charities to check if a donor qualified against the system easily.

Robertson also said there needed to be an awareness campaign on gift aid as much of the public did not realise it existed.