Councillors in Dundee have approved plans to create a new kind of charity responsible for running the council’s leisure and cultural activities although there is no precedent for how it will operate.
The new organisation will be run by what is known as Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). The framework has been created especially for Scottish charities and allows them to create a clear corporate identity while avoiding much for the red tape associated with running a limited company.
However, SCIOs will not come into force until April 1, so there is little clear information available on how the scheme will work in practice.
At a meeting on Monday evening the council rejected plans to adapt Dundee Leisure or form a limited company specifically for leisure and cultural provision in Dundee.
While the SCIO will be able to establish a trading subsidiary, no councillors sitting on its board will be paid. That decision followed a Labour motion which received unanimous backing calling for councillors to be banned from accepting any earnings.
Labour’s leisure, arts and community spokesman, Richard McCready, said, “I thought it was wrong that there was a possibility that councillors could have awarded themselves extra payments for serving on the board of this organisation. We should not be in a situation where we are awarding ourselves extra money.”
Stephen Phillips from the law firm Burness gave the city council legal advice on how the model for the new charity should work.
“I’m absolutely convinced that the SCIO model will be the model of choice as we go forward I wouldn’t consider that there is any risk,” he said.
In his recommendations he said the simpler legal framework and less formal administration would be beneficial to the trust, although he warned the SCIO model may not be recognisable or understood immediately by the public.
A shadow board will be set up to help oversee the transfer of operations to the SCIO. It will include the director of finance, Marjory Stewart, the director of leisure and communities, Stewart Murdoch, and one member each from the SNP, Labour and Conservative groups on the city council.
There will also be a trade union representative, while Sinclair Aitken, former chairman of Dundee Rep, will serve as an independent.