The Scottish government has called on the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations to conduct its own “informal review” into fundraising practices in the country.

The Scottish government has asked SCVO to conduct its review and to report back with its findings in August, in a move mirroring calls from Westminster last week for NCVO to conduct a review of fundraising practices in England and Wales.

The review of fundraising self-regulation in England and Wales is being led by Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO and was requested by Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, in the wake of a number of media stories criticising fundraising practices in the wake of the death of Olive Cooke.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “Scotland has a strong and supportive view of charities and its own fundraising legislation. Our controls have served Scotland well so far, however we are always looking at improvements so will consider the UK Government’s proposals closely.

“In the meantime we have asked the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations to undertake an informal review of our fundraising position with the findings due to be reported by the end of August. Any changes will be tailored to suit the needs of people in Scotland”.

John Downie, director of public affairs at SCVO (pictured), said: “Recent media stories about poor practise in some areas of fundraising impact on the public reputation of the whole sector. SCVO believes its vital that the industry can effectively tackle bad behaviour so the public can enjoy the experience of donating to charity safe in the knowledge their money is well spent.

“We therefore welcome the Scottish Government decision to launch a review into fundraising in Scotland to run alongside the review being carried out in England. SCVO will announce in due course more details of how this review will be carried out”.

An SCVO spokeswoman said that the organisation hoped to have the “exact details of the review in place by next week”.  

Changes to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill to be implemented today

The proposed amendments to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill are set to go through at some point today.

The new amendments to the bill say that all charities with an income over £1m must set out fundraising practices in its annual report and accounts, as well as taking “steps to prevent inappropriate fundraising from vulnerable people”.

The amendments were supposed to be implemented into the bill on Monday 13 July. The changes will not be debated in the Lords.