EDUCATION SECRETARY Fiona Hyslop has announced plans to ensure that Scotland’s colleges retain their charitable status, writes Grant Smith, education reporter.

The issue was in doubt after a ruling by the Dundee-based charity regulator, which carried out a pilot review of a variety of charities.

The regulator decided that ministerial powers over colleges were inconsistent with the requirement that charities should operate independently.

That potentially put at risk the sector’s charity status, which is reckoned to be worth £25 million a year.

Ms Hyslop confirmed at the weekend that the Scottish Government intended to bring in legislation to ensure that colleges—and universities created after 1992—continued to qualify as charities.

Ministers plan to solve the problem by exempting colleges from the independence aspect of the charity test. Comments on this proposal will be invited from MSPs on Holyrood’s education and justice committees.