Scottish charities and governance

Part 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 introduced a wholly new regulatory regime for bodies recognised as charitable in Scotland for tax purposes, describing such bodies as "Scottish charities". For many years prior to the 1990 Act charitable bodies had by virtue of their activities been concerned with issues of accountability and governance. In this article Dr Christine Barker, Dr Alice Belcher and Stuart Cross, all of the University of Dundee, discuss some of the governance issues which affect Scottish charities and consider whether such bodies should now be the subject of a unified approach to regulating internal governance.