A Freedom of Information request has been lodged with the Scotland Office to find out what action is being taken against charities that claim on TV ads to be UK-wide but do not actually operate in Scotland.

Mr Alastair McLean – who bears no relation to the Fundraising Standards Board chief executive of the same name – lodged the question a week ago after becoming annoyed at seeing a number of charities promote themselves on Scottish TV when they did not deliver services north of the border.

He cited the RSPCA, NSPCC and Royal British Legion in particular.  

“Dear Scotland Office,” McLean wrote, “I would like to ask what action is being taken against any charity that advertises on television that they are a UK charity and in actual fact only serve in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and do not do support work in Scotland.

“People of Scotland give to these charities thinking they are supporting charitable work in Scotland and they are not.  Some form of disclosure should be added to every advert in this category.”

McLean is himself a member of the Royal British Legion Scotland and told Civil Society he was moved to write the FoI request after seeing ads on local TV for the Royal British Legion (that of England, Wales, Ireland and the Commonwealth, but not Scotland).

“I think there should be a big disclaimer across the bottom of every advert that says ‘This charity does not do work in Scotland’. Otherwise they are just stealing charitable funds,” McLean said.