The Office of the Scottish Charity Register (OSCR) has revealed that the Scottish public’s feedback to its new public focus strategy is “largely supportive” but that some issues will require further examination.
The feedback OSCR, the regulator of Scotland’s charity sector, received to its new consultation document was largely supportive of its proposals, but mixed towards a greater use of social media and the possible establishment of a public panel.
OSCR has a new legal duty to involve its users in its work and prove that it is continually trying to improve that involvement.
To comply with this, it drafted the consultation document on the draft strategy that brought together all the ways it currently involves the public, including charities themselves, in its work, and included proposals on how it might increase that involvement.
OSCR defines its ‘users’ as those people who are served by, or may be served by, the charities it regulates, and since there are more than 23,000 charities with a range of functions registered in Scotland, the body considers this representation to effectively be its 'general public’. OSCR consulted on the strategy between October and December 2011 using its website, its e-newsletter, the media, and focus groups with the public.
With mixed reactions to the use of social media and a public panel to increase public involvement, the regulator said it would “examine these further before deciding whether to put them into effect”. It added:
“We will continue to fulfil our duty by integrating those activities that received broad support into our future engagement with our users. Many of these are initiatives that we already carry out and which are covered by existing documents, for instance our Consultation and Participation Strategy and Equalities Strategy.
“We do not, therefore, propose to publish a separate public focus document other than our action plan.
"We will instead review our existing corporate documents to ensure that these clearly reflect and communicate all the ways we involve, and will seek to involve, the public, charities and other bodies who may have an interest in our work.”
OSCR’s action plan is available here.
