By Steve Bargeton, political editor

NEW LEGISLATION to crack down on Scotland’s charities will cost major national institutions millions of pounds, scupper new projects and hit tourist numbers.

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill currently passing through parliament is designed to restore public confidence following a series of scandals involving a number of high-profile charities.

However, the new law also means that some of Scotland’s major national cultural institutions will also lose charity status and associated tax relief.

They include the National Museums of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, National Library of Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Royal Commission on the Ancient Historical Monuments of Scotland.

They would fall foul of a provision in the bill that says no third party can “direct or otherwise control” a charity’s activities. As non-departmental public bodies they are technically directed by ministers.

Yesterday representatives from these bodies urged MSPs to amend the bill so that they retained both public body and charitable status, as is the case south of the border.

The parliament’s communities committee was warned of the ramifications if the legislation was not changed.

Together the five national collections claim that losing charitable status will cost them £10-15 million a year. They also claim they cannot become full independent charities because by doing so they would lose millions of pounds in government indemnity for commercially uninsurable items, including many national collections.

National librarian Martyn Wade told MSPs that losing charity status could threaten the National Library of Scotland’s ability to raise enough cash to bid for the “internationally important” John Murray Archive—offered for sale for £35 million despite a higher valuation.

Last year ministers announced a £6.5 million Executive contribution to the purchase attempt for the archive, which includes items from Charles Darwin, Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott.

“An inability to raise the £6.5 million would prevent the purchase of an archive valued at £45 million to Scotland, so the impact on any fund-raising is followed by the actual leverage that funding produces in terms of the scale of projects we can deliver,” he said.

The Botanic Gardens warned that a £13 million plan for a biodiversity centre would be at risk without charitable status.

The knock-on effect of losing public donations through charitable donations could threaten the National Museum of Scotland’s £70 million Royal Museum modernisation plan.

Michael Clarke, director of the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, said education facilities in the recently-completed Playfair project were funded from bodies that were only permitted to donate to charities.

“That sort of giving, which is of enormous benefit to everyone, would be under threat,” he told MSPs.

An Executive spokesman said ministers were aware of the concerns and that the institutions’ charitable status and governance would be part of their performance and financial management reviews.

“We will consider potential losses of income as we review the status of each of them over the next two years,” he said.