Open Government Partnership

Case study: Private Purpose Trusts in Scotland

September 7, 2026 by Open Government Team No Comments | Category Uncategorized

An unexpected challenge from outside government turned a “finished” piece of legislation on trusts into a collaborative effort to tackle corruption in Scotland. Open Government enabled risks in Scottish legislation to be spotted, challenged, and acted on.

Read the full story and hear from the people involved below.

What is a Private Purpose Trust?

A private purpose trust is a type of trust set up to do a specific job, rather than to give money or assets to named people. For example, it might be created to look after a building or carry out a particular task. Unlike most trusts, it is mainly about achieving that purpose, not about benefiting specific individuals, although people might still benefit from it in some way.

Spotting the problem

The issue of Private Purpose Trusts (PPTs) emerged from an X post by Dan Neidle, Founder, Tax Policy Associates Ltd.

“Private purpose trusts have been widely used abroad for tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions-busting. They’ve never been permitted in the UK. But Scotland is about to introduce them. This seems a serious mistake.”

This was then picked up by Juliet Swann, Nations and Regions Programme Manager, Transparency International UK and Scotland’s Open Government civil society committee Chair. However, raising the issue was a bit uncomfortable.

As Juliet put it: “You want to assume a law is made for a reason, so asking ‘are you sure?’ can make you feel like a troublemaker.”

But this case shows that concerns don’t always come up during formal processes. In this instance, the legislation had already passed through Parliament.

Open Government in action

Open Government networks provided a route to act quickly and collaboratively. Ministers were contacted, officials engaged across teams, and conversations expanded to include HMRC, UK Government colleagues, and serious fraud experts.

As Jill Clark, Private Law Unit, Scottish Government reflected:

“We were very much in listening mode.”

Working together

Discussions between the Private Law Unit and Juliet focused on one shared goal.

“We don’t want to make Scotland a haven for corruption.” (Juliet Swann)

That shared intent helped build trust and enabled more open conversations.

What began as a specific issue triggered much wider collaboration within government and beyond it:

“We don’t feel isolated because we’ve got Open Government colleagues as well.” (Jill Clark)

There was also a recognition of the value of external input:

“That’s been really helpful to get a different perspective on things.” (Jill Clark)

This reflects a core Open Government principle that better outcomes come from bringing in voices from outside government.

Lasting impact

Unfortunately, the nature of Private Purpose Trusts means transparency is challenging.

The immediate decision was to leave the provisions on the statute book but not bring them into force. This is providing time to consider the wider risks and solutions.

Crucially, the experience did not end there. It has fed into:

• ongoing work through the Open Government Action Plan
• the development of anti-corruption activity
• stronger links between policy teams and civil society

Why this matters

For Juliet, this experience reinforced the value of Open Government:

“By sharing my concerns through Open Government, the approach became collaborative and together we’re solving the right problem in the right way.”

For government, it demonstrated something equally important:
that openness to challenge leads to better policy.

Collaborate on anti-corruption

If you are interested in collaborating with Scottish Government on future anti-corruption and accountability work please read our post outlining upcoming work and roles for civil society.

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