Charities regulation is under scrutiny

Jean McFadden spent more than 12 months carrying out an investigation for the Scottish Executive as chair of the McFadden Commission.

Renewed concern over the issue has followed the freezing of the accounts of Breast Cancer Research Scotland.

The Court of Session was told that the organisation had only handed �1.5m to good causes from the �13.2m it had raised.

On Wednesday, Communities Minister Margaret Curran pledged to appoint a regulator to oversee charities, although she would not be drawn on a timescale.

There is some action, but it's not going to be on a statutory footing Jean McFadden

But Ms McFadden believes charity law needs to be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

She said the executive should have been looking at drafting a charity law bill.

"There is some action, but it's not going to be on a statutory footing and whether this charity regulator will have the powers that we envisioned are necessary is open to question," she said.

"We want a power which relates directly to the scandal which has erupted over the last few days.

"The regulator should have the power to scrutinise the charities' accounts on an annual basis and the accounts should be broken down to show how much had been spent on fundraising and how much had gone to charity.

"So the percentage that had gone to this company would immediately have leapt from the pages of the accounts and called out for scrutiny right away."