Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate
Civil Law Division
T: 0131-244 0123
F: 0131-244 8325
E: CharityAct@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

November 2009

Dear Consultee

CONSULTATION ON OPTIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SCOTTISH CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION ( SCIO)

I am pleased to enclose a copy of the Consultation on Options for the Implementation of the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation ( SCIO) which has been published today. The consultation paper outlines a number of policy options for the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation ( SCIO), developed by the SCIOs Working Group, which was set up to advise Scottish Ministers on the implementation of this new legal form for Scottish charities.

Also enclosed is a shorter consultation guide and a response form for you to complete Links to all these documents can be found on the Charity Law section of the Scottish Government website, where you will also find details of public consultation events, once these have been finalised: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/charities/law/SCIOs

Responding to this consultation

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 26 February 2010. Please send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) to CharityAct@scotland.gsi.gov.uk, or to the address below:

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations ( SCIOs) Consultation

Tel: 0131 244 0123
Fax: 0131 244 8325

We would be grateful if you would use the consultation response form provided or could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations to which you can subscribe at the following address: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/seConsult.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form, attached to the front of the response section, as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their responses to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by 26 March 2010 and on the Scottish Government website. We will check all responses, where agreement to publish has been given, for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangement to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered, along with any other available evidence, to help us reach a decision on the best option for implementation of the SCIO. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by the end of April 2010, after which draft regulations will be developed in light of responses received.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to me at the above address.

Yours faithfully,

Anita Popplestone
Charity Law Team