Author: Scottish Government

Volunteering For All

Volunteering in Scotland is already making a crucial contribution to building social capital, fostering trust, binding people together and making our communities better places to live and to work.

Action to increase volunteering participation for all and to address inequalities is vital to continue to expand opportunities for more people to volunteer and participate in society. Although an estimated 51% of the adult population in Scotland has volunteered at some point in their lives, 49% have not. An increase in volunteering will also make a considerable contribution towards our individual, community and national economic and social well-being, particularly in the face of demographic and societal change.

The annual value of volunteering in Scotland is estimated to be £2.26 billion.4 Volunteering is clearly of great social and economic importance to the people and communities of Scotland. Within these communities, there are often those who are more likely, or more able, to volunteer than others. Volunteers in Scotland are more likely to be:

•             female

•             self-employed/part-time employed or in education

•             from higher socio-economic and income groups

•             from rural areas

•             from less deprived areas

•             healthy and non-disabled

This demonstrates the under-representation of disadvantaged groups in volunteering due to their exclusion from formal volunteering opportunities. This matters because it is important that volunteers and volunteering represent the population of Scotland and all of the interests that their volunteering serves. Furthermore, we know that the health and wellbeing benefits from volunteering tend to be greater for those who are marginalised.

There is also a heavy reliance on a ‘civic core’ of highly engaged individuals who provide the majority of volunteering hours in Scotland. In 2016, 19% of all volunteers delivered 65% of all volunteer hours – that’s 225,000 adults contributing 102 million hours of the total 157 million hours volunteered in 2016.

But we cannot be complacent in our reliance on this core group of volunteers. Our population is changing. We are becoming more diverse, and more people are living for longer, often with longer term health conditions. By 2041 there will be 428,000 more people aged 65+, but 144,000 fewer people of working age.8 The proportion of adults with long-term health conditions is increasing too: from 41% in 2008 to 45% in 2017.

In addition, more people will be working for longer and may be caring for longer – either for elderly family or for their own dependants as older family members, who might have once been relied on to support childcare, are working for longer – suggesting those from the younger end of the ‘civic core’ may not feel able to contribute as much. Already there is evidence emerging from the pre-retiral age group (45 – 59 years) of a decline in formal volunteering participation rates over the period 2007 – 2017: from 34% to 30% for females and from 33% to 28% for males.

All this change comes at a time when new technology poses both huge opportunities and different challenges for volunteering practice. Digital volunteering is growing but many smaller organisations have neither the resources nor infrastructure to support new ways of working. And there will be an ongoing need to balance the benefits of digital help with the face-to-face engagement that is so critical to so much of volunteering practice.

So, we cannot only rely on the same ‘civic core’ of people, or on their contributions coming in the same ways. Without acting to attract and retain a more diverse pool of volunteers, volunteer involving organisations may well lose capacity. Without taking action to engage and support people of all ages and backgrounds to volunteer throughout their lives, communities will lose out on their talents. And without celebrating and promoting the benefits of volunteering to everyone, those individual benefits will not be enjoyed by those at most risk of missing out.

Author: SCA

The Community Learning Exchange is a fantastic opportunity for communities to learn through the exchange of ideas and the sharing of common solutions.  When community groups make visits to other communities, the most valuable part is often meeting new people with similar interests and gaining new insights and perspectives on shared challenges.  Visiting groups come away armed with new ideas and approaches, and host organisations have the opportunity to explain their project to a new and interested audience, often seeing their own projects afresh through new eyes.

What will the exchange fund?

The Exchange will fund up to 100% of the costs of a visit by members of one community to another community project up to a limit of £750, including a host fee.  In exceptional circumstances (where travel distances are greater or certain aspects of the visit are particularly expensive) this limit can be increased.  Similarly, visits out with Scotland, but within the UK, will be considered where a similar project does not exist in Scotland.

The Exchange will also fund follow up support between organisations.  This might be as a result of a learning visit when it is recognised that more specific and on-going help, support, or advice is required. This can be through face-to-face meetings, by phone, e-mail, or skype. Funding for this kind of additional support will need to be negotiated separately.

How to apply

The Exchange operates primarily through the networks that comprise the Scottish Community Alliance.  The exception to this rule are Scotland’s community councils. Since the demise of the Association of Scottish Community Councils, there has been no umbrella body for community councils.

Applications to the Exchange are processed through one or other of the networks’ designated members of staff. The exception to this rule are community councils who should apply directly to the Exchange Coordinators.  Applications can be made at any time for visits throughout 2019 and up until March 2020. Funding is limited, and once it has been committed no further applications will be accepted.

For guidance about the Community Learning Exchange click here and an application form click here.

Please remember, applications must be endorsed by a network that is a member of SCA unless your organisation is a community council.

Author: A&DS

A Caring Place: Report (March 2019)

Scotland is changing and with these changes come both opportunities and challenges.  We are living longer and although this is undoubtedly positive, it also challenges us to think about how we ensure that we live not only longer, but that we live well.  

Our demographic future is very much now as we need places where we can care and be cared for in supportive and adapted environments that have people and their well-being at their heart. With social isolation and loneliness being identified as major public health issues, especially for older people, we need to seriously reflect on how we can adapt and improve our town centres to help combat those challenges.

This report sets out the work that we have been coordinating, together with Scotland’s Towns Partnership, to respond and support the Scottish Government’s work around Town Centre Living. 

How could we use town centres more effectively?

The project came about from a simple question which asked  –  how we could use our town centres more effectively?

From this, we began to explore what might be the essentials for creating caring places – especially with a focus on ageing and the provision of care. This exploration challenges us to re-imagine our town centres as places to live meaningfully and to feel connected. Through rethinking what it means to care for our people, we can also take the opportunity to care for our places.

This report also captures some of the output from workshops from an event we held in 2018. From this event, we identified 10 Principles of a Caring Place which place user needs at the heart of decision-making, service provision and investment in our places.

These principles include:

•             friendly and accessible transport;

•             accessible quality environments;

•             digital and physical connectivity;

•             housing choice;

•             design for re-purposing and integrating technology;

•             relationships, support and mentoring;

•             accessible and diverse amenities and services;

•             empowered carers and care models;

•             preventative and holistic healthcare options; and options for meaningful work and activities.

Our ambition is to bridge the social, environmental and technological needs of our changing communities, and the untapped opportunities offered by the places we already live in.

Exploring Place Through Personas

Throughout this report, we follow the lives of four personas – Richard, Elizabeth, Angie and Helen. Creating these personas has helped us focus our thinking on how the places meet the needs of a specific group of people at four different scales: Housing infrastructure, Community Infrastructure, Green Infrastructure and Transport & Digital Infrastructure. We explore how town centres can be adapted to support us as we get older and what a caring place could look like.

Architecture and Design Scotland suggests opportunities to re-think streets, spaces and buildings to support new models of care which make best use of public and civic resources and connects people. The focus is on the quality of experience of the built environment to support the needs of different people and support a prevention and early intervention approach to wellbeing. This reflects the Scottish Government’s Place Principle where we take a place-based approach to spatial and community planning to create the conditions for joined-up and thriving communities.

We want this to be the start of a conversation, and we welcome your contributions and your examples of existing good practice. We hope you find this report helpful and that you join us in the continuing discussion about creating Caring Places.

Download the Report here: A Caring Place: Report (March 2019)

Author: Scottish Land Commission

Scottish Land Commission have published this protocol in support of the Scottish Government’s Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement, and in particular the principle that “there should be greater collaboration and community engagement in decisions about land”.  The Scottish Land Commission are keen to develop case studies of of where community engagement has been successful or where it has been less so. 

Author: SCDC

Are you a community organisation working across Scotland in and with disadvantaged communities? If so, this will be of interest.

This week, the Scottish Government launched the new Investing in Communities Fund with grants of up to £250k available for over 3 years.

The £11.5 million Fund is a new streamlined communities fund to tackle disadvantage, poverty and inequality that encourages community-led development, design and delivery of sustainable local solutions addressing local issues, circumstances and aspirations across a broad range of community led activity.

You can find more information by visiting the Empowering Communities Programme webpage here and download guidance, help notes and the application form here.

If you have any questions regarding this guidance and/or the application process you can contact the Investing in Communities Fund Team by email at: InvestingInCommunities@gov.scot

This fund is informed by Scottish Government’s Regeneration Strategy published in 2011

Author: David Bookbinder, GWSF

Mike Bruce’s article on paying housing association board members was thoughtfully put together, but, as I’m sure he’ll have expected, can’t go unchallenged.

Scotland’s housing association sector has always been a diverse one, and time will tell whether it ever becomes more than a handful which pay some of their board members. The long-standing commitment to the principles and practice of voluntarism is the DNA of the community controlled housing association (CCHA) sector but goes well beyond that part of the movement and, critically, doesn’t in any way signify a reluctance or inability to modernise.

Mike suggests that Kelly Adams might have given the issue a more positive spin in her original article (which noted that Scottish associations were ‘continuing to resist’ board remuneration) by acknowledging that the number considering payment was slightly increasing. I too would argue that Kelly’s wording was skewed but for a different reason. The words ‘continuing to resist’ could be taken as suggesting a luddite-like stubbornness in not bowing to the inevitable.

The CCHA sector has indeed, as Mike notes, been well served by a governance model based entirely on the input of volunteers. But sticking to that model doesn’t mean, as Mike implies, that we’re standing still in the challenging financial and regulatory environment we all face.

Quietly and organically, CCHAs have been looking at the mix of experience and skills they need to ensure a healthy board/management committee into the future. Some have chosen to advertise, and this has often led to them being able to bolster both the number of board members (some local, some not) and the range of skills and experience available to the association.

One continuing trend is for staff members of one association to serve on the board of another. Apart from being good staff development, this could be said to bring a ‘professional’ perspective to a board without compromising the voluntary ethos.

This ongoing refreshing of boards is genuine change. It may not always have been easy to achieve, but it has meant really effective succession planning whilst maintaining voluntarism. Right now I see no reason to believe such an approach won’t stand us in good stead for a very long time to come.

It’s not for GWSF to criticise individual associations which take a different view. But when we read that over 80% of larger English associations pay their board members it’s genuinely difficult to disentangle this from the undeniable commercialisation of much of the sector down south, where mega-mergers continue and the lines between associations and private housebuilders become ever more blurred.

OK it’s few years ago now, but I recall Julian Ashby, of the then Homes and Communities Agency, saying that there was no correlation between board pay and effectiveness. There have been and might again be some failures of volunteer-run housing associations, just as there have been failures within housing associations and private companies (including banks) with paid board members.

The issue of staff being part of the board is somewhat different from that of paying non-executive board members, but is part of the same debate. It’s worth noting that it has sometimes been cosiness between staff and board members which has caused serious governance problems in some associations, even without those staff being actual members of the board.

I do struggle to see how having staff on the board avoids conflicts of interest and achieves an appropriate separation between the governing body and staff, and between the operational and strategic. Nice, though, to be able to vote through your own proposals.

Big turnover and large loan portfolios can be managed by well-paid staff and judiciously appointed advisers where needed. Yes, the board needs to fully understand what’s going on and be able to ask the right questions, but it doesn’t have to include treasury experts to be effective.

Each to their own – we’re all independent bodies, thankfully. But I find it hard not to believe that moving towards paid board members can all too often mean a greater preoccupation with number-crunching and a move away from properly understanding what a local community really needs to thrive when so many of its people are facing incredibly difficult times.

Author: OOTB

Out of the Blue Arts and Education Trust is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Springing from nowhere (hence the name!) into a small gallery space in the centre of Edinburgh in 1994, Out of the Blue has since grown many branches and now enliven and animate five buildings in Edinburgh.  This includes the legendary Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith and the iconic Bongo Club in the city centre. Since 1994, over two million people have come through our doors to work, create, exhibit, perform, eat, drink, dance, teach and learn. 

Each Out of the Blue building has a creative purpose in its own right, but collectively they drive the growth of the Creative Industries in Edinburgh and Scotland by providing opportunities for employment, education and enterprise. The buildings provide spaces for studios, workshops, classes, exhibitions, music practice, recording, performance, rehearsal, events, meetings, theatre, music, visual arts, architecture, designers, screen printers, social enterprises, jewellery makers, and more.

Rob Hoon, Out of the Blue Manager said:

 “Out of the Blue’s spaces resist classification. Our buildings are not simply artists’ studios, or ‘creative hubs’. Our spaces are unique, reflecting a model that has developed over 25 years, and reflect a hybrid of arts, participatory education, enterprise, creativity, and community development. There is cross fertilisation between these areas which support individuals and collective initiatives. This in turn has economic, health and educational benefits for individuals and their communities.”

Phil Denning, Chair of Out of the Blue Board of Directors said: 

“As we look ahead to the next 25 years, we want to embed this creative ambition across the communities we work in, to continue to make spaces where everyone can flourish, and to harness the magic that Out of the Blue has already captured for so many people across the city.” 

Ally Hill, Manager of The Bongo Club said:

“The Bongo Club has been pushing the boundaries of the Edinburgh scene since 1996 as a nightclub, live venue and all-round artistic hub with a street-level-headed attitude and an international reputation.  Through the loyal support of the community (and the Council), it’s overcome threats to its existence and is currently in its third incarnation, occupying the cavernous spaces below the Central Library, on Cowgate.  World class international talent perform throughout much of the year and the roll call of high profile names lining up to lend their support during the last ‘Save the Bongo’ campaign bears testament to this enduring international status.” 

Throughout our 25-year history we have seen many success stories from those using our spaces to bring their creative vision to life; from Young Fathers first meeting at the Bongo Club and now creating music at Out of the Blue’s Music Studios, to young people training in our cafe and now planning to run an urban cook school at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall.

We take on spaces and turn them into centres of imagination and enterprise, such as the Abbeymount Studios for craft and design in the old school at the top of Easter Road. We start enterprises such as Out of the Blueprint and run them with young people to offer income generating opportunities for them to create comics and exhibitions.

Out of the Blue is an organisation that has made a significant impact on the city of Edinburgh and the communities it thrives in, as well as contributing to the wider arts sector in Scotland.

For an organisation to have started from a mission to find and develop creative space, to evolve as a sustained social enterprise with multiple branches is something to celebrate.

Out of the Blue provide studio and production space for Edinburgh’s cultural community.

We generate opportunities for everyone to participate in the arts by fostering innovative and accessible creative projects.

Author: Robert Armour TFN

Emergency food parcels distributed by Scotland’s foodbanks have increased by nearly a quarter in the last year. 

The country’s biggest network, the Trussell Trust, said its food banks provided more than 210,000 packages to people in crisis in 2018-19, a 23% rise on last year. 

It said universal credit was the biggest factor in people seeking emergency food aid

 Some 42% of referrals were due to the new benefits regime which can leave claimants going months without payments. 

Laura Ferguson, operations manager for Scotland, said: “What we are seeing year-upon-year is more and more people struggling to eat because they simply cannot afford food. A 200% increase in just five years is not right. 

“Ultimately, it’s unacceptable that anyone should have to use a food bank in the first place. No charity can replace the dignity of having enough money to buy food.

“Our benefits system is supposed to protect us all from being swept into poverty. 

“Universal Credit should be part of the solution but currently the five-week wait is leaving many without enough money to cover the basics.

“As a priority, we’re urging the government to end the wait for universal credit to ease the pressure on thousands of households.” 

Worryingly 70,000 of the 210,605 three-day emergency food supplies given to people in crisis went to children.

 Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “It is just wrong that in our society a growing number of people, including children, are going hungry because of our consistent failure to get to grips with poverty. 

“When the use of food banks reaches a record high we are beyond the language of warning signs and wake up calls. Unless we take bold action to solve poverty we risk undermining what we stand for as a country.”

 A Department of Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: “It is not true to say that people need to wait five weeks for their first payment. Universal Credit is available to claimants on day one.

“It cannot be claimed that universal credit is driving the overall use of food banks or that benefit changes and delays are driving growth.

“The trust’s own analysis shows a substantial fall in the share of parcels being issued due to benefit payment delays.

“The best route out of poverty is to help people into sustainable employment which, with record employment, we are doing.”

Author: COAST

Isle of Arran community and COAST were accused of ‘rabble rousing’ yesterday by a Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) spokesman as 160 islanders entered a public consultation event requesting that their questions about a proposed marine open cage, salmon mega-farm be answered openly, jointly and transparently.

In the last week Sir David Attenborough has come out against fish farming and accused the controversial fish farm industry of threatening the survival of wild salmon.

When Craig Anderson (SSC CEO) and Marc Browne (SSC Head of Site Development) refused the request from the community for an open Q&A session Mr Robert Cumming (local resident) stood on a chair and asked for a mass walkout, so as not to legitimise the event, now considered a box ticking exercise.  The disappointed throng, who had come from all over the island, then booed and left the building and many recorded their opinion on an exit poll.

Paul Chandler (COAST Executive Director) said:

“The COAST exit poll had 89% against, 10% undecided and 1% in favour of the new salmon farm; an overwhelming majority opposing the farm.’ He went on to say that ‘There was a clear lack of leadership from Craig Anderson and no understanding of the collective communication that was required. I told him and Marc Browne that this was not good enough as a ‘community consultation’.”

Some of the social media comment by members of the coastal community reflected the disgust at the lack of backbone shown by the senior company representatives present:

“Walked out of their meeting today on Arran. About 100 people attended but they would not speak to us collectively or allow a question and answer session. Glad they were booed by the local residents.”

“I’ve just got home from an open consultation meeting arranged by this company on a new proposed salmon farm off Arran, where they refused to take any questions from the large crowd assembled… so walked out in disgust!”

Author: Scottish Government

Open Government Partnership

Scotland’s membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) supports our commitment to openness, transparency, and citizen participation across everything we do as a government.

Our second OGP Action Plan promotes trust and co-operation between government and civil society.

About open government

The OGP aims to secure commitments from governments around the world to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

After launching in 2011 with eight founding governments, the OGP now has more than 90 member countries, as well as hundreds of civil society organisations.

When governments join the partnership they must endorse the Open Government Declaration and commit to the following principles:

·         increase the availability of information about governmental activities

·         support civic participation

·         implement the highest standards of professional integrity through administrations

·         increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability

Scotland in the OGP

In 2016, Scotland was selected as one of 15 pioneer governments around the world to join a programme to bring new leadership and innovation into the OGP at all levels of government.

We developed the first OGP Scottish Action Plan in partnership with civil society to set out how we would use the opportunity to improve the lives of people living in Scotland, to learn from others, and to share our experience of Open Government. We delivered the first Action Plan over 2017.

We have been invited to speak at a number of international conferences, and the Scottish Civil Society Network Chair has been selected to attend the International OGP Steering Group.

Second OGP Action Plan

Our second OGP Action Plan was published in January 2019 and contains five commitments to be delivered by September 2020. This follows approval by the Open Government Steering Group and Scottish Ministers.

In response to independent recommendations regarding our first Action Plan, we took the following actions in developing our second:

·         improving governance via an OGP Steering Group co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations and the Chair of the Scottish OGP Civil Society Network

·         widening our public consultations

·         using open planning methods that allow others to view our progress and get involved