News / Trust reform
SHETLAND Charitable Trust meets on Thursday to decide on how to reform itself under the watchful eye of Scottish charity regulator OSCR.
Last week the trust avoided the threat of losing control of its £200 million funds, after OSCR threatened to take it to the Court of Session over plans to hold a referendum on reform.
On Thursday trustees must agree a roadmap for change to present to the regulator before Christmas, to avoid further legal action.
OSCR wants Shetland Islands Council’s domination of the trust to end, and is proposing a 15 member board made up of seven councillors and eight independent trustees, all of whom would be appointed.
This week councillor/trustee Jonathan Wills proposed an alternative in his bid to ensure that a majority of trustees are elected.
Dr Wills suggests eight directly elected trustees, seven councillor trustees and five co-opted trustees to provide additional skills and experience as and when required.
He said: “I will not vote for any proposal that results in elected trustees being in a minority on the trust.
“This is in line with the compromise solution I proposed some time ago and which was described by the former Scottish Charities Regulator as ‘hitting the bulls-eye’.
“I believe it would resolve all of our current difficulties with OSCR and other authorities, while retaining and reinforcing the fundamental principle of public accountability through election.”
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