Health board cash grab OK, says regulator
An NHS board didn’t break any rules when it raided charity funds to pay for IT projects, an investigation has found.
A probe by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), Scotland’s charity watchdog, has found that there was no wrong-doing when £2.7 million worth of donations were used to retrospectively bankroll NHS Tayside.
The cash was transferred from the board’s charitable endowment fund to pay for IT programmes after the health authority ran out of cash.
OSCR said that this was OK because “charitable assets were used only for the purposes of the charity, which are the same as those of the health board”.
There was an outcry when the practice came to light last year, culminating in the removal of NHS Tayside's chief executive Lesley McLay from her post.
While OSCR found there was technically no wrong-doing, it did criticise the decision to retrospectively use the cash to pay for projects which the board had already committed to.
It found that “that the decision to authorise retrospective consideration of funding applications was rushed and reflected poor practice in a number of respects. We also find that the charity trustee did not sufficiently recognise its duty to consider the interests of the charity separately and distinctly from those of Tayside Health Board.”
The charity trustee referred to is the health board itself.
In light of the row, OSCR said it has written to health secretary Jeane Freeman “to suggest that the legislation relating to NHS endowment funds charities be reviewed to address this issue.”
No individuals have been singled out. OSCR said: “Given changes in the charity since 2014 we do not find that action against the charity trustee or individuals involved is necessary or proportionate.
“However, we are engaging further with the charity to improve its policies and procedures.”
The regulator added: “In the period since April 2018 we have also reviewed the governance and decision-making of other NHS endowment funds charities, and found the standard of compliance and practice to be generally good.”
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations chief executive Anna Fowlie said this case highlights the need for a strengthening of charity law.
She said: “It is very disappointing that Scotland’s charity law isn’t robust enough to recognise that charitable funds should not be at the disposal of a public body, such as NHS Tayside, to use as they see fit.
"While it’s good OSCR has highlighted this oversight to the minister, it brings home to us at SCVO how vital it is that the current review of Scotland’s charity legislation is the perfect opportunity to ensure that it is fit for purpose. It must go much further than what is set out in the consultation paper. Charities do not exist to subsidise the public sector and this needs to be clear in both law and common knowledge.”
