community empowerment and the scottish government
TRANSCRIPT
Community Empowerment and the
Scottish Government
Programme for GovernmentOur ambition is for Scotland to be a country where every person, regardless of circumstances: • Has the right to take part in debating and shaping the
society that we live in and the decisions we take. • Can influence the decisions that affect them and their
families and can trust in the decisions the people they elect make on their behalf.
• Has opportunities and support to lead their own change, with others and on their own.
• Has a voice in their local community and be able to play their part in making it a sustainable and enjoyable place to live.
Christie Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services - 2011
• effective services must be designed with and for people and communities
• work closely with individuals and communities to understand their needs, maximise talents and resources, support self reliance, and build resilience
• embed community participation in the design and delivery of services
• prevention and tackling inequalities are key
Why Co-production?Because you get a better result if you involve people
Why Assets?Because building on strengths works better than compensating for weaknesses.
Why Improvement?Small-scale tests of change - measure the success of these - scaling up where tests show positive results.
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
• Legal framework that will empower community bodies through the ownership of land and buildings and strengthen their voices in the decisions that matter to them.
• Also cements the focus on achieving outcomes and tackling inequalities.
Community ownership
• Asset transfer – right to request public sector land and buildings where community can make better use of them.
• Community right to buy – extended to urban areas. Right to buy abandoned, neglected and detrimental land without a willing seller.
• Supporter involvement and potential right to buy football clubs.
Participation• Community planning must involve community
bodies at all stages• Participation requests – community body to put
forward proposals to improve outcome of a public service, on their own terms
• Participation in public decision-making – power for Ministers to make regulations
Outcomes and inequality
• Scottish Ministers required to set outcomes, public services required to have regard to them
• Community planning to focus on achieving locally determined outcomes and reducing inequalities
• Participation requests focus on outcomes• Inequalities to be considered in participation
requests, asset transfer and allotments / food-growing strategy.
Funding• Empowering Communities Fund - £20m each
year• projects by community organisations to promote
inclusion and tackle poverty• developing community organisations to become
more resilient and sustainable anchors• supporting PB & charettes • developing community leaders• peer-to-peer skills and learning exchange
etc…
Participatory Budgeting
• “local people having direct decision-making powers over part of a public budget”
• Can develop engagement, confidence and capacity
• Accesses local knowledge and addresses local concerns and priorities
• Builds understanding of difficult decisions• SG providing consultancy support for 20 LAs
undertaking PB in 2015/16
Are Councils Engaged? January 2015 to Date
PB Consultancy Support
SG Part Funded
20 Local Authorities in 2015/16
• Glasgow• Edinburgh• Fife• Midlothian• West Lothian• North Ayrshire• East Ayrshire• South Ayrshire• Angus• Aberdeen• Aberdeenshire• Perth & Kinross• Argyll & Bute• West Dunbartonshire• South Lanarkshire• Highlands• Western Isles• Moray• Shetlands• Orkney
Any Support Tools?
January 2015 to Date
PB Website LivePBScotland.scot
PB DIGITAL TOOLS
• Democratic Society exploring digital tools to support PB
• Funded by the Scottish Government
Evaluation and Impact
• SG Funding a two year PB Social Research Programme
• Impact on Communities, Services and Democracy
• Relationship between PB and Inequalities
• Informs developing national policy
Building Capacity
• Investigating a Learning Programme for Scotland
• PB Expertise locally available
• Sustainability
PB is here to stay!
A STRONGER SCOTLAND
THE GOVERNMENT’S PROGRAMME FOR SCOTLAND 2015-16 (1 September 2015)
“ We want to ensure the momentum to increase participation and involvement in decision making is maintained. To make that happen we will work with local authorities to develop and pilot council-wide participatory budgeting processes. This will mean that local people will take more decisions about a larger proportion of available budgets”.
Community organisersEmpowering Communities FundWorkforce: Skilled Worker, Skilled Citizen
Strengthening our Communities
CitiesCommission on Local Tax ReformIslands Land ReformTravelling Cabinets
Reform Programmes e.g. Raising Attainment; Health & Social Care
Fairer ScotlandHealth And Social Care: Transformational Change Plan NPF RefreshUnconventional Oil and Gas
Asset TransferPublic participation Rights for communities
Enabling Communities
Turning Community
Empowerment Act into
practical action
National Participation Programmes
to signal listening
government
Developing Strategy &
Programmes for long term
change
Rebalancing power – structural
levers
Building the capability,
collaboration & creativity of
People
What can CLD do?
• The Act must reach those who are not already empowered
• Building capacity, leadership & sustainability
• Awareness of rights & available mechanisms