Public appointment: members appointed to the Scottish Charity Regulator

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Ms Robison, today announced the appointment of Lynn Bradley, Kirsten Howie, Neil Mackay, William Maxwell and Robin Strang as members of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

Members

Lynn Bradley

Lynn Bradley is a chartered accountant with broad experience in the public and private sectors, including EY and Audit Scotland. She works for the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, specialising in the auditing and public sector accounting.

She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant’s Audit and Assurance Panel and a board member of Revenue Scotland, where she chaired the audit committee. She is also a trustee of Cash for Kids (Radio Clyde) where she chairs the audit and risk committee. Lynn brings her governance, audit and financial experience to the board as well as her strong commitment to public sector values.

Kirsten Howie

Kirsten Howie has worked in leadership and fundraising roles within the charitable sector for 20 years.  Her roles have ranged across the disability and arts sectors, in organisations of varied scale and scope.  She is currently working at Scottish Opera.

Kirsten is also proud to have contributed as a board member to a charity in her area. She is passionate about our vibrant charitable sector,and the role it can play in supporting people and places to thrive in a flourishing Scotland.

Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay is a career banking and finance executive.  His career has spanned a range of roles. These include leading teams that had responsibility for large corporate loan sanctioning and restructurings, the role of chief operating officer of a large division of a FTSE 25 plc with responsibility for strategic direction and change delivery management and he has held ownership of board enterprise risk and data reporting and risk / policy / governance frameworks, together with various regulatory compliance activities. 

He has previously been a board member of a charity, a charity mentor, chairperson of a grammar school, and earlier in his career had been seconded to a DTI supported business support agency. 

William Maxell

William Maxwell joins the Board with extensive experience of leading regulation, quality assurance and public sector reform, gained in Scotland and beyond. 

After an initial career as an educational psychologist, Bill joined the Scottish Education Inspectorate in 1994.  Following a range of roles and a secondment to the Scottish Government, he was appointed to head up the Welsh education inspectorate in 2008. He returned to Scotland in 2010 as HM Senior Chief Inspector of Education for Scotland. Shortly after he was appointed to lead the creation of Education Scotland, a new type of public service improvement agency. This combined regulation and inspection with a wider range of services to promote improvement and the effective delivery of the Government’s major reform programmes in education. 

Bill retired from Education Scotland in 2017 and is now consulting on education quality assurance, including undertaking commissions for the European Commission and the OECD.  He is a member of the Board of the Care Inspectorate, a Director of the High School of Dundee and a member of the British Council's Advisory Committee for Scotland.

Robin Strang

Robin Strang has extensive experience working within the public and charity sectors. He was Chief Executive of West Lothian Leisure and of Manchester Sport and Leisure Trust. Both are charities that seek to improve physical and mental health and wellbeing primarily through sport and physical activity. He is currently a Sport and Leisure Consultant, Chair of Community Leisure Scotland and Non-Executive Director of Sportscotland’s Trust Company and Scottish Canals. Robin previously served as a Justice of the Peace in the Lothian and Borders Sheriffdom.

Robin brings experience of managing charities, charity governance and working within a complex regulatory framework to the Board of OSCR. He believes that Scotland needs well run and effective charities and is looking forward to doing what he can to enable the sector to thrive.

Appointment

The appointments for Lynn Bradley, Neil Mackay and Robin Strang will be for four years and will run from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2026.

The appointments for Kirsten Howie and William Maxwell will be for three years and will run from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £212 per day for a time commitment of two days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Lynn Bradley is a Member of Revenue Scotland, for which she receives remuneration of £297 per day, for a time commitment of two days per month.

William Maxwell is a Member of the Care Inspectorate, for which he receives remuneration of £174.50 per day, for a time commitment of two days per month.

Kirsten Howie, Neil Mackay and Robin Strang do not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.   

Lynn Bradley, Kirsten Howie, Neil Mackay, William Maxwell and Robin Strang have had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a Non-Ministerial Office and part of the Scottish Administration following commencement of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

They are the independent regulator and registrar for over 25,000 Scottish charities including community groups, religious charities, schools, universities, grant-giving charities and major care providers. Based in Dundee they have around 50 members of staff. Their work as Regulator ultimately supports public confidence in charities and their work.

OSCR's general functions are set out in the 2005 Act:

• to determine whether bodies are charities
• to keep a public register of charities
• to encourage, facilitate and monitor compliance by charities with the provisions of this Act
• to identify and investigate apparent misconduct in the administration of charities and to take remedial or protective action in relation to such misconduct
•  to give information or advice, or to make proposals, to the Scottish Ministers on matters relating to OSCR's functions