Author: Nourish Scotland

Scotland has extensive social infrastructure to support our wellbeing. From public libraries, parks and leisure centres, to housing and the NHS, the state invests in and maintains institutions and systems for our collective benefit. Yet, very little is in place in relation to food.

We believe we need a new piece of social infrastructure – a public diner – to make it easier for all of us to eat well.

Public diners are state-supported restaurants which offer nutritious price-capped menus.

They operated in the UK under the banner of ‘British restaurants’. At their peak in 1940s and 50s there were approximately 2,500 of these operating throughout the UK (nearly twice the current number of McDonald’s). Similar models can be found in other countries, for instance Mexican Wellbeing Public Diners or German and Dutch Mensas – subsidised canteens aimed at students and university staff, but open to the public.

How did the public diners operate in the UK?

Public diners were state-subsidised. The Treasury and the Ministry of Food ran a grant programme open to businesses and local authorities. A quarter of the capital grant could be used for start-up costs, such as equipment.

Public diners had a clear economic model. Although grants were awarded to get these enterprises off the ground, any future funding was conditional on the venues breaking even or tuning a profit. The diners also benefited from a central procurement of food, reducing the costs.

Public diners struck a balance between what people ‘should’ eat and what they would like to eat. The grants offered by the government were conditional on certain nutritional criteria, corresponding to the current Eatwell Guide. But, there was a tension between the government’s nutritionists, who were keen for people to eat more veg, and restaurateurs whose priority was to offer customers what they wanted to eat (meat and pudding!).

Public diners were desirable places to go to. They saved time and energy spent on cooking, making life easier particularly for women. The diners were designed as places where anyone – that is ‘you and I’ – might dine. They were well decorated, inviting, contemporary. Food historian Bryce Evans describes them as “centres of civilization where people looked forward to go and dine”.

What could public diners do for us today?

Public diners could provide a valuable avenue away from crisis response and charitable food aid and towards a universal approach. They could form an important part of our social infrastructure, alongside public libraries, leisure centres, and schools. They could become a valuable part of community life, enhancing social cohesion and reducing loneliness. They have the potential to contribute to many of the Scottish Government’s policy objectives including 20-minute neighbourhoods, ending the need for food banks, local food growing strategy, community empowerment, the Good Food Nation ambition, and healthy diets. They are firmly in line with the human rights centred approach which the Government wants to progress.

Author: Karin Goodwin, The Ferret

This article is part of our Mind the Health Gap project, funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator – a fund supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This Ferret story was also published with Sunday National. Our partnerships with other media help us reach new audiences and become more sustainable as a media co-op.  Join us to read all our stories and tell us what we should investigate next.

The skies are grey and foreboding at Edinburgh’s Portobello beach but for the nine regulars from The Ripple Project’s weekly outdoor swimming group that is of no consequence. “We just pretend it’s the Med,” laughs one of the group as they head for the water in their swimsuits. There are shudders and squeals of cold as they enter the sea, but they insist the sense of wellbeing it provides makes it worth pushing through the chill factor.

The rise of wild swimming in Scotland, especially since lockdown – along with the industry that’s sprung up around it, from dry robes to expensive retreats – has been meteoric. But this cold water swimming group is a bit different. There’s an emphasis on community bonding and having fun – they refer to themselves as the Reservoir Frogs – but there’s also a serious aim of making health and well-being accessible to all. 

The Ripple Project is based in Restalrig, Lochend and Craigentinny, some of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Here, says the group, there are challenges for many people in getting out into nature. The lack of affordable transport and equipment, combined with the fact many struggle with limiting physical and mental health conditions, are all factors.

In recent years some claim nature prescribing, in which a doctor or link worker recommends a “dose” of nature-based activity, could be one way to help tackle this health inequality. It’s also known as green prescribing – or blue in the case of outdoor swimming – with the prescribed “course” done as part of a group or individually.

Currently people from the most affluent areas live 24 more healthy years than those from the most deprived. Tackling this with the help of nature prescribing is an approach The Ferret has been investigating as part of our year-long solutions journalism project, Mind the health gap.

Three of the swimmers are here “on prescription” having been referred by their doctor or community link worker (health workers providing social, emotional and practical support and attached to GP practices). They believe nature prescribing should be more widely supported across the country so that more people could benefit.

The majority of patients who were prescribed time in nature reported experiencing benefits, with many expressing their intention to continue with the prescribed nature contact.

Scottish nature prescribing was given a springboard in 2017 thanks to a partnership between NHS Shetland and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). A pilot with five GP practices in Edinburgh and the Lothians followed in November 2020.  

Over five months 350 Edinburgh and Lothian patients were prescribed a dose of nature – either through wild swimming, walking, community gardening or other activities – for 32 different conditions. The majority of prescriptions – 69 per cent – were given to support mental health conditions but 17 per cent were to support physical health conditions and 10 per cent for both. Almost three quarters of patients said they had benefits, with the majority saying they would continue with the prescribed nature contact.

The Edinburgh initiative included the Ripple’s local St Triduanas Medical Practice and its salaried GP, Dr Eva Mahler, now joins this swimming group one Thursday a month for a dip while offering health advice in a less traditional setting.

“People with chronic conditions and also people living in areas of deprivation can have much higher levels of mental health problems,” she says. “But there’s something so enjoyable about being around nature, that makes you feel good. You’re getting daylight and vitamin D, which helps with your diurnal rhythms [the body’s responses to the 24-hour cycle].

“You’re also increasing your aerobic activity, increasing your strength, in this case doing it with other people and making more social connections. All of those things can all be so beneficial for your mental and physical health.”

Iris Marchand, who is glowing from the cold and grinning from ear-to-ear as she emerges from the water, was referred here by her link worker. Taking a weekly plunge, as well as taking part in other Ripple activities such as walks in nature, are helping prevent panic attacks and reducing her urge to drink in a way that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings did not.

Marchand’s mental health had suffered during lockdown when she became increasingly isolated at home. “But this feels like living,” she says after she’s dried off. “Everybody in the world needs green and water and not just being confined in an enclosed space all the time.

“Everybody in the world needs green and water and not just being confined in an enclosed space all the time,” Iris told The Ferret.

“If I could go cold swimming everyday I would,” Marchand adds. “When I’m worried, my shoulders are right up on my ears but after swimming I can actually drop them down, walk straight and feel normal again.” In the water, she says, the horizon seems to open up in front of her, giving her the feeling of space she craves.

Cat Robertson, The Ripple project’s wellbeing coordinator, says that while these activities may seem simple, the impacts can be profound for a community like the one she works in. “We see people with health issues that have them going to the doctor every two or three weeks,” she explains. 

“Health challenges are far less pronounced in areas where you can afford to eat well, have lots of access to green space and fresh air and a sense of hopefulness and purpose. We want people here to have those options too.”

At The Ripple there’s a minibus to take the group to Portobello  – or to further flung locations from Loch Lubanach to Loch Morlich, a small budget for kit as well as safety, and motivation, in numbers.

“We encourage people and they tell us it makes their mood better and that they enjoy being challenged,” says Robertson. “Swimming and being outdoors isn’t going to make everything ok when you have real issues, but it really helps promote wellbeing and get people moving in the right direction.”

Her experience of the benefits of free nature-based solutions are backed by another Edinburgh-based partnership between Wester Hailes Medical practice and Grassroot Remedies, a workers co-op aiming to make plant medicine accessible and inclusive. 

“Historically herbal medicine was the ‘medicine of the people’  and only the wealthy could pay to see a physician,” explains medical herbalist Ally Hurcikova, who runs a community clinic from the local health centre. While the prescription of herbal remedies is a distinct  practice, there are elements of green, or nature prescribing here too, including growing and foraging for plants and herbs  in local outdoor spaces. 

“Today of course we are privileged to have free national healthcare, but herbalism is now a private offering with starting prices up to £70-£100 for an appointment.” Appointments at this clinic are £10 for anyone local and Wester Hailes Medical Practice make referrals when they feel like a patient might benefit from herbal support.

“It’s truly a radical approach,” Hurcikova says. “In our time running this clinic we have seen some incredibly transformative stories where people have come through the GP practice, slowly become connected to the support they need and made great leaps in their health.”

While the evidence for nature prescribing is mixed, there are an increasing number of studies that back-up the experience of these Edinburgh-based projects. In July a Wildlife Trusts report found that targeted green prescribing could save the NHS in England over £635m per year, and an evidence review by University College of London last year found nature was a “powerful tool” when harnessed by social prescribers to improve health and wellbeing.

The UK Government is now expanding nature-based social prescribing programmes in England through NHS England, Sports England and the National Academy for Social Prescribing as well as the RSPB and says its aiming to employ 1000 social prescribing link workers by 2024.

In Scotland nature prescribing has been a smaller element in NatureScot’s Green Health Partnerships launched in 2018 under the banner of its Natural Health Service initiative in North Ayrshire, Dundee, Highland and North Lanarkshire. The first three areas will continue to be funded next year by partnerships with NatureScot, Scottish Forestry, Public Health Scotland and others while the Lanarkshire project is now funded by the health board.

But GPs from across the country told The Ferret that support for nature prescribing was currently patchy with no coherent national strategy. One GP claimed he had written to his health board to request support for outdoor swimming and walking groups but did not get a reply. Others said that workloads made it difficult to meaningfully engage with the ideas of nature prescriptions.

Dr Carey Lunan, chair of the Scottish Deep End Project, which represents GPs working with Scotland’s most deprived communities, says the positive impact that access to nature has on our wellbeing had been “brought into sharp focus” during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“But access is not equal for all,” she adds. “For many of our more socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Scotland, it can be harder to make use of the enormous potential of nature to improve our mental and physical health. In densely populated urban environments, access to green space and open water is harder, and transport poverty can mean this can simply feel out of reach.”

Initiatives increasing opportunities for people to benefit from nature-based prescribing were to be welcomed, she claims. But she and others told The Ferret that there must be investment in infrastructure to ensure this was effective. “We should not underestimate the important role of community link workers in making the connections to initiatives such as these,” she says. 

There are fears too that progress made during the pandemic – when people dramatically increased the time they spent in nature due to Covid-19 restrictions – has been lost. A report released on 27 November the Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimated that 1.1 million fewer people across the UK gained health benefits from spending time in nature in 2022 compared with two years earlier.

It put the value of “lost health benefits” at about £390m and claimed this would be the level of NHS spend needed if it used treatments to achieve equivalent health benefits to those gained from time spent in nature.

“Green space really is our natural health service,” Julie Proctor, chief executive of Greenspace Scotland says. “But many green health and nature prescribing projects are struggling with short-term funding and budget cuts. This can make GPs and link workers reluctant to prescribe green health activities as they need certainty that the projects will be there to support their patients. More investment is needed to expand nature prescribing and to ensure that everyone can enjoy easy access to good quality greenspaces.”

Back on Portobello beach people are dressed again and ready to go when the skies suddenly open. The group rush off the beach, laughing and euphoric, to take cover. Then they stand, watching the rain, enjoying a moment of stillness.  “I think some people forget how important it is to just let go and observe a tree, the sunshine or the rain,” says Iris Marchand. “To stop over-thinking – even for a moment.”

This article is part of our Mind the Health Gap project, funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator – a fund supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This Ferret story was also published with Sunday National. Our partnerships with other media help us reach new audiences and become more sustainable as a media co-op.  Join us to read all our stories and tell us what we should investigate next.

Author: Keith Findlay, P & J

An Orkney charity had nearly £120,000 stolen by cybercriminals and could easily have lost a lot more.

Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust (REWDT) twigged what was going on and acted as quckly as possible to stop the fraudsters diverting even more cash from its bank account.

But by then the online swindlers had already “made off” with a large sum that, fortunately, was later recouped from the bank.

Trust manager Stuart Williams said a member of staff took a phone call from someone purporting to be from the trust’s bank.

Scammers ‘very personable’

The initial caller and another person involved in the scam – both “very personable”, with southern English accents – queried a recent VAT payment to HM Revenue and Customs.

They quoted the right amount, suggesting “they were who they said they were”, Mr Williams said, adding: “They were very clever in how they handled it.

“They said there were security concerns, and needed to clarify some bits and bobs.”

From there, the con merchants persuaded the staff member to help them set up an online chat facility.

It was through this they gained enough information to plunder the trust’s savings and transfer cash elsewhere.

A series of late night transactions, each conveniently below the maximum that was allowed by the bank, left the community trust £119,000 worse off the next morning.

“It was not a pleasant feeling,” Mr Williams said, adding it took all of that day and most of the next to alert the bank, stop more cash leaving the trust’s account and get the ball rolling on reimbursement.

Rousay, Orkney. Image: Rousay Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust.

Mr Williams continued: “We managed to stopped other payments that had been set up and eventually got it all back.”

Locations linked to the fraudulent transactions suggest the perpetrators are based overseas, he said.

Caithness police “jumped into action immediately” and investigations  are ongoing, he added.

Mr Williams said it was no wonder there was a stigma attached to reporting such crimes. He and other staff at the trust were left feeling “foolish” despite having been “duped by professionals” who knew exactly what to say to gain their trust, he added.

He continued: “They get up every morning to defraud people and are very good at it. We’ve learned a lot.”

The cybercriminals went to work late at night. Image: Shutterstock

Police Scotland confirmed inquiries into the scam were “ongoing”.

REWDT was launched in March 2007 to take forward a projects on the islands of Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre, which are home to a community of about 260 people.

“Our aim, broadly, is to help our three beautiful islands to be both vibrant and sustainable,” the trust’s website says.

What does the community trust do?

The trust’s projects to date include new community gardens and WiFi centres, while it has also sought ways to make homes and community buildings warmer and cheaper to run.

Revenue and energy supply are boosted by a wholly-owned 900 kilowatt wind turbine.

REWDT also organises the annual Rousay Lap half marathon and Peedie Lap 5K fun run.

Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust’s wind turbine. Image: Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust

Mr Williams said: “Experiencing a cyberattack has a profound and long-lasting effect on people, and it’s important to receive the right support and guidance afterwards.

“Cyber criminals are skilled at deceiving their victims, and there needs to be a greater awareness of what they’re capable of.

“Our organisation was the victim of a targeted attack by criminals who knew exactly what to say to persuade us to part with important details.

They get up every morning to defraud people and are very good at it.”

Stuart Williams, Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust

“Thankfully, our outcome was a positive one and we received a full refund through our bank. But the personal impact on the team has been immense.”

Police Scotland assistant chief constable Andy Freeburn said: “Cybercrime and frauds are more sophisticated and have huge repercussions for victims, as we’ve seen from cases like Stuart’s, which remains under investigation.

“Police Scotland continues to develop the skills, training and equipment to respond effectively to cybercrime.”

Scammers will try to fool you into revealing key information. Image: Shutterstock

Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland (CFCS) is the organisation devoted to tackling cyber and fraud crime north of the border.

It says reported incidents of cybercrime in Scotland have doubled between 2019-2020 and 2022-2023.

Police Scotland receives 18,000 fraud calls a year.

Business email compromise, chief executive impersonations, and crypto and investment fraud make up the bulk of these crimes.

Cracking down on scammers

CFCS, which supported REWDT after its cyberattack, has called for a new collaborative approach to  cracking down on the scammers.

Organisations can find themselves vulnerable to cyberattack regardless of size, with smaller firms, public organisations and charities equally vulnerable, the group said.

It added: “The Orkney-based Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre Development Trust, for example, was targeted earlier this year.

“Its story emphasises the importance of victim support for those who’ve experienced cyber and fraud crime.

“This crime was reported to Police Scotland and continues to be investigated by specialist officers.”

Image: Shutterstock

A six-month trial of a cyber and fraud multi agency “triage hub” resulted in the recovery or interception of fraudulent transfers totalling more than £3 million.

Partners including Police Scotland, leading financial institutions like NatWest, Lloyds, Metro Bank, and CFCS teamed up to share intelligence, disrupt large criminal gang activity, deliver support to victims and recover stolen cash.

Funding is now being sought to develop and expand the model into a fully sustainable charitable organisation.

‘Increasingly sophisticated’

CFCS chief executive Jude McCorry admitted current efforts are only scratching the surface of huge demand for cybersecurity.

She added: “Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

“We really can’t afford to underestimate the impact of cybercrime and fraud – both financially, as cybercrime is estimated to cost the Scottish economy billions each year.

Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland CEO Jude McCorry.

“Experiencing a cyberattack is a highly stressful event for business owners and their employees. With government organisations also at risk, cyberattacks pose a threat to our democracy and the integrity of governmental institutions.

“The startling results of our triage hub trial have demonstrated the need to dedicate
resources to tackling cybercrime, and stories like Stuart’s reflect the huge positive impact that our work has had so far.”

Author: Lesley Riddoch

They are judged the happiest people on earth, with the world’s best energy system, a GDP per capita almost a third higher than Britain, more bikes in daily use than the Netherlands, a swim just 15 mins away from every Copenhagen resident and state-run TV that changed the face of drama with Borgen, the Killing and the Bridge. Yet Denmark is small (with about half Scotland’s land mass and the same population). It has less oil/coal/gas to fuel its economy and lost an empire – just like Britain. Yet the Danes have bounced back to become the modern, eco-leaders of Europe. How did they do it?  

The new film, made with Charlie Stuart has a run time of 60 minutes. It’s the latest in the series of Nordic films that includes Norway, Iceland, Faroes and Estonia.

Quotes about the Denmark film:

“This is a truly inspiring film, showing the power of a good example. Denmark has become one of the world’s happiest and most sustainable countries on Earth not by chance, but by investing in public services, developing a vast active transport network, providing high-quality and affordable housing, and cleaning up its waterways. Progressives in Scotland, and indeed across the UK, would do well to learn from a radical blueprint with fairness at its heart.” Caroline Lucas Green MP

A tantalising glimpse of what an independent Scotland could look like — and what we deserve.’ Val McDermid, writer

List of screenings here – https://lesleyriddoch.com/events

Info about the film here – https://www.thenational.scot/news/23980384.inspiring-lesley-riddoch-denmark-film-shown-across-scotland/ 

Trailer YouTube link – https://youtu.be/GvJxLFuFr7U

Author: Andy Wightman, Land Matters

Land for the People (Scotland) Bill

This blog introduces my proposals for a comprehensive Land Reform Bill – one that goes far further than existing proposals in reforming Scotland’s land governance.

I plan to publish further blogs outlining in more detail the background rationale and details of each section of the proposed Bill. In Spring 2024, I will publish a draft bill (or as close to it as I can reasonably achieve) together with explanatory notes. Meanwhile, this blog sets out the key sections of the Bill together with a brief explanation and context for each.

The overall purpose of the Bill is to democratise land governance. In particular, it is designed to strengthen the role of local communities and local government, to secure more widespread ownership of land, to increase accountability in landownership, to protect and restore commons regimes and to fairly allocate the wealth accrued from land rights.

The Bill includes measures relating to land tenure, administrative law, fiscal policy and land markets.

The underlying philosophy of the Bill is that land is a common resource and Parliament has the responsibility to create the framework for a socially responsible, accountable, democratic and transparent system of land tenure, and associated rights of occupation and use.

Within such a system, owners and others should have the freedom to use their land in whatever way they wish. In other words we seek to correct deficiencies in the balance between private and public interests not by cracking down on individuals owners but by reforming the system within which they exercise their rights. By default this will involve greater local democratic governance.

See more

Author: Martin Stanley, Understanding Government

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” — Charles Mackay

Some readers will remember the golden period in and around the millennium when the majority in government, in regulation, and in the financial services industry were convinced of the virtues of “light-touch regulation” which had done so much to encourage innovation in New York, Frankfurt, London and elsewhere. Everyone, it appeared, believed that off-balance sheet borrowing, and the creation of CDOs, and other abstruse financial instruments had removed risk from lending, most particularly to sub-prime borrowers. The average annual return on banking had risen to 16%. What could possibly go wrong?

Groupthink is the unquestioning acceptance of possibly wrong answers simply because it is socially painful to disagree

Well… not everyone, in fact, was convinced. There were in fact a good number of perceptive commentators who did their best to warn of the forthcoming catastrophe — the 2008 financial crisis. But no-one in power took any notice for they had succumbed to one of the more common psychological problems, often called “group-think” and “herd behaviour”.

Group-think, sadly, is pervasive. It is essentially the unquestioning acceptance of possibly wrong answers simply because it is socially painful to disagree. It is particularly common in large organisations because they, of course, require a good deal of conformity. You can’t have every single person asking questions. Decisions have to be made and implemented. And if everyone you know, every newspaper you read, every person you once admired, are all saying the same thing, it takes a real effort of will, and real courage, to argue back.

So it becomes uncomfortable to be a contrarian. Indeed, dissent can lead to the dissenter becoming the subject of personal and sometimes humiliating attack. Such attacks are, by their nature, seldom reported, not least because the victim will be cowed into silence. But Camilla Cavendish, former head of the Downing Street Policy Unit under Prime Minister David Cameron, told the Today Programme in December 2016 that some officials “became very, very angry and took it viscerally personally” when it was suggested that there might have been a better way of negotiating with the rest of the EU in advance of the 2016 Brexit referendum. Questioning their strategy was perceived by them as questioning their commitment.

Margaret Heffernan offers another interesting — almost hilarious — analysis of group-think in her excellent book Wilful Blindness.

“I’ve even heard boards discuss how, and why, they are invulnerable to groupthink, oblivious to the irony inherent in their confidence. (…) Dennis Stevenson, then chairman of HBOS, eulogised the outstanding board he chaired [at a time when] everyone knew the bank teetered on the edge of collapse. (…) [Lord Stevenson cited as evidence] the fact that, even in this crisis, ‘we are as one’. He seemed oblivious to the notion that the unity of his board may have been a contributory factor to the bank’s mess in the first place.”

Herd behaviour is not quite the same as group-think, and it is not always irrational. Anyone who succumbs to group-thought has stopped thinking for themselves. But herds often run together for a good reason, to avoid danger or to take advantage of a limited opportunity. There is, after all, nothing irrational about humans seeking to watch and learn from what others are doing. Rational investors in an efficient market will, for instance, produce frenzies and crashes from time to time.

The investor example shows that herds — like groups of colleagues — can also get it badly wrong, running too fast and too blindly into danger rather than away from it. Policymakers must, therefore, hold tight to the ability to think for themselves. They should not let their colleagues override their doubts and fail to properly analyse alternative courses of action. And, whilst they might sensibly follow a herd for a little while, they should as soon as possible start evaluating situations for themselves and, if necessary, get out of the herd before it is too late.

Diffuse Responsibility

Large organisations — and indeed whole industries — face another set of problems caused by the fact that knowledge of, and/or responsibility for, problems is often widely shared. In consequence, it is then often the case that no-one feels responsible for addressing or even highlighting the problem.

One example was the poor maintenance and terrible safety record at BP’s Texas City Refinery, where an explosion in 2005 killed 15 and injured over 170 more. The problems were readily apparent to most employees and managers but — partly under pressure to save money — no-one felt responsible for doing anything about them.

Much the same was true of American financier Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. A good many financial professionals had worked out that something fishy was going on, but none of them saw any need to do anything more than avoid dealing with him.

The diffusion of responsibility is exacerbated if there are frequent changes in management. This, too, was part of the problem at Texas City as the over-worked operatives “close to the valve” stayed put, whilst their managers generally moved on very rapidly, away from an old refinery which lacked the prestige of many of BP’s other locations. Managers were not therefore in post long enough to both understand the issues and then have the time and inclination to do much about them.

Policymakers should cherish those who question the assumptions, beliefs and behaviour of those in power

There are signs that diffuse responsibility will prove to have been a significant factor in causing the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Was the local authority, or the Tenant Management Organisation, responsible for ensuring the safety of residents? And the architects, designers, surveyors, suppliers and regulators are all arguing that it wasn’t their job to ensure that the cladding wouldn’t catch fire.

Lessons for policymakers

From this we can draw four lessons for policymakers and regulators.

First, they must themselves avoid getting caught up in group-think. They should remain alert, questioning and a little cynical, even if their questions are ridiculed by senior figures.

Second, they should cherish those who question the assumptions, beliefs and behaviour of those in power. Mavericks and dissenters may be more often wrong than right, but they should be taken seriously if their views seem to be based on real facts and perceptive analysis.

Third, governments and regulators are responsible for developing sufficient and effective tools to ensure that herds do not crash over cliffs and take lots of innocent (customer/taxpayer) victims with them.

Last, and far from least, they should ensure that regulated organisations take full responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour, and do not seek an easy and inexpensive life by assuming that potential problems are identified and addressed by others.

Author: Rhoda Meek, The National

IF the mood ever takes you to become the chair of an island development trust, can I recommend that you seriously consider something more relaxing and less fraught, like bomb disposal or crocodile training? I hear that those roles are also paid positions.

I’m only partly joking. An enormous amount is put on the shoulders of ­unpaid volunteers in rural and island communities. It is hard, often ­thankless work. The adage goes that you cannot please everyone all of the time – in these roles, you often please no-one most of the time. It’s good though, we’re told. It’s ­community empowerment.

Politicians and local authorities are ­another group with the same problem when it comes to pleasing people, and they love the phrase “community empowerment”. The go-to solution for supporting rural communities is to do a large consultation on a topic, take little heed of the results and follow up with a plan of things they were probably going to do all along.

There is ­usually capital funding attached to the plan which will “address” the topic. If communities have the staff and expertise AND play the game correctly, they get the funding. Thus, the funders conclude that our communities have been ­empowered. Job done.

Not so fast. That might be a very neat ­solution for ticking boxes, but it is a ­solution that asks a huge amount of ­communities. They become the delivery arm. And the legal responsibility rests ­almost entirely on the shoulders of volunteers. Volunteers who, in most places, are burnt out and fraying at the edges.

Now, of course, there is a role for ­voluntary groups and local committees, as there has been since the dawn of ­people living in close proximity, but there is a line where volunteer willingness ­begins to enable statutory neglect.

That line is moving ever more in the wrong direction. As Tiree ­Development Trust, the community is running, ­building and maintaining a huge ­number of our own services including a fuel ­station, ­business units, a broadband service, two harbours and an upcoming ­housing ­project whilst simultaneously trying to find ways to solve the desperate lack of childcare. I discovered last week that the campervan waste point is also in our ­portfolio. That’s to name a few.

Tiree is fortunate to have a wind ­turbine which provides income for the community trust. It is an asset we have leveraged to great effect, thanks to a dedicated (volunteer) group who believed in the concept and moved heaven, earth, and a lot of rock, to get it built. It means we can run a development trust with some of our own income to make up funding shortfalls – for as long as Tilley the Turbine (bless her wee steel socks) keeps turning.

We have almost 13 members of staff – and yet we are still struggling for ­capacity. That might sound like a champagne ­problem, especially to those communities who are worse off than we are. There is no question about it – we are indeed ­fortunate. But as we do more, so ­statutory bodies expect more from us.

To run all these services in an orderly ­fashion we need the staff, but we also need a main board of directors for the Trust. We ­require four subsidiary ­companies which must all have their own boards of ­directors. For childcare and housing projects, and building business units, we needed steering groups to make sure ­community input was there at all stages.

That is eight different groups of ­volunteers who are being asked to give up time to field incoming emails, digest long ­complicated reports, and make important decisions often on short deadlines – whilst juggling jobs, crofts, kids and the complexities of their own lives – before turning out for evening meetings.

Trusts tend to be charities and there are legal responsibilities which ­directors bear. It’s not something to be taken ­lightly, and when staff capacity is an issue and things need done, it’s volunteers who step up.

Within the community, there also ­exists a plethora of other, vitally ­important groups and committees including (but not limited to): the local NFU group and Tiree Rural Development; the ­Maritime Trust; the Regatta Committee; Tiree ­Community Business; the Historical ­Society who run the museum; the Christmas ­Parties ­Committee; the Agricultural Show ­Committee; Meals on Wheels; Cùram who provide transport for the elderly or infirm, the Hall Committee; whatever the PTA is called these days, and the ­churches who all run on volunteers.

I count at least 22 volunteer groups there, and I will have missed plenty. (A few years ago, a local survey once identified 43 of themunique groups.) So, when we say that communities like Tiree are running on fumes, we’re not ­exaggerating. At the last census, our population was 650. That includes children, and our population is ageing fast.

Which is all to say, that when I read the phrase “community empowerment”, a little bit more of my soul leaves my body. It was used in the Rural and Islands Housing Plan last week, along with an announcement that a Depopulation Plan is on the horizon. I imagine there will be a lot of empowerment mentioned there as well.

On the face of it, community ­empowerment is exactly what we want. ­Communities being empowered to make decisions and drive meaningful change in ways which work for them. It sounds great – the is even a Community ­Empowerment Act to help us!

The reality is that the current version of community empowerment gets as far as graciously bestowing capital funding upon us and then expecting the rest to magically happen. No funding is easy to come by, but capital funding is a walk in the park compared to the core ­funding needed to keep the office lights on or maintain things.

We can get the shiny new minibus or the funding to build a much-needed fuel station, but the money to subsidise the operation of these things in an island ­context? No, that’s not on the table. So we do the things, and we build them – because we need them – and a voluntary board somewhere in the future will have to worry about running, insuring, and ­replacing them.

A wise man regularly reminds me: “We don’t do it because we enjoy it. We do it because it’s important.” It is important. And so we do it.

Anecdotally, the same 17% of people in any community are the ones getting things done – spread over multiple ­committees or groups. But volunteer burnout is real, and very present in the current climate. Some have incredible sticking power.

Others snap around the two-year mark.

If they all stopped tomorrow, the council and the Government would soon know about it. Creeks and paddles come to mind. Reading the Rural and Islands Housing Plan reminded me of those ill-fated island bonds … Imagine that £5 million had been labelled “capacity” and offered as core funding to existing development trusts.

Let’s say it costs £35k to fund a development worker and that there was a two-year funding offer. Some 70 different trusts could have gained some desperately needed financial confidence to deliver the things their communities need. That in turn would take a little of the weight off volunteers, as the frenetic funding ­applications slowed and time could be found for long-term planning rather than constant firefighting.

Empowerment is only empowerment if you are fully in control. Trusts and ­community organisations are shouldering a huge number of services and responsibilities which used to belong to statutory bodies but with one hand tied behind their back.

Many of us are making a decent fist of it, and progressing on lots of fronts ­despite the odds, but at what cost?

Author: James Riding, Housing Insight

Landlords are trying to reset their relationship with residents after a testing few years. Could paying them to unlock their expertise be the answer? 

Eastlight wants to be innovative. Like a tech start-up, the Essex housing association’s recently refurbished office in Braintree is designed to encourage spontaneous collaboration, with meeting booths, ping-pong tables and – of course – beanbags.

This start-up mindset was also behind an ambitious community engagement scheme that began in June 2022. For one year, the landlord paid 20 Essex residents – nine of whom were Eastlight tenants – a full-time salary and helped them to design and launch their own community projects to tackle social issues in the county.

Many housing associations run community projects, but Eastlight’s scheme, the ‘All In Incubator’, was unusual because it sourced talent and ideas directly from the community. It was therefore simultaneously a social investment scheme, a tenant engagement scheme and a recruitment programme (as two participants went on to secure permanent roles at Eastlight).

So how did it work, what did the residents come up with and how successful were their spin-off projects? Inside Housing met the architects of the scheme to find out more.

All In’s 20 participants were recruited without CVs, says James Green, director of social innovation and community empowerment at Eastlight. The housing association was looking for people with “lived experience and entrepreneurial spirit”.

“[We were] consciously recruiting a different demographic to usual, from a research scientist to someone working in Allied Carpets,” says Matt Black, head of social innovation at Eastlight. The plan was for most participants to be new to community work, with a segment who had some relevant volunteer experience.

Participants were paid a salary of £26,000.

“When we started All In, people said, ‘Is this a tick-box exercise? Is this real?’” says Mr Green. “They had to be persuaded that these opportunities are meaningful.” Expanding the scheme beyond the association and its residents was crucial to addressing this. “We didn’t want something that just focused on [our] tenants,” says Mr Black, “but the wider community, too.”

A total of 200 people from across Essex applied to All In. To whittle them down, the applicants navigated a three-month recruitment process with two rounds of interviews, as well as a team-building session.

The 20 successful participants were split into four teams of five people, and each given a social issue, such as mental health or the cost of living crisis, and an area: Braintree, Witham, Colchester or Halstead.

Eastlight provided a programme of training, coaching and mentoring. Over the 12-month training and design process, participants were encouraged to test their ideas with members of the public. They met more than 2,500 people through resident events, focus groups and door-knocking, and engaged with 3,000 residents online.

Of the 20 graduates, seven created the four spin-out projects that are taking their ideas forward. These have become independent organisations, separate from Eastlight, with their own governance structures. All four secured initial funding from Eastlight and are now seeking funding from other backers.

How schemes are run

Most of the time, resident engagement schemes are run by volunteers. “Traditionally there’s been this [belief] ‘don’t pay the residents because there’s a conflict of interest’,” says Michelle Baker, board member and Customer Influence Committee chair at Eastlight. “The biggest debate came from other residents,” who claim that “you can’t be an independent person” when you are on the landlord’s payroll.

However, she argues: “My committee members may be paid, but they still have independent views.”

The success of All In suggests that by moving to a professional model, housing associations could tap into a large quantity of previously untapped resident talent. “It makes you feel worth something,” says Ms Baker. “To have your landlord pay you means so much.” Many people are “so undervalued… it is just circumstance that holds them back most of the time”.

Research from the University of Essex, commissioned by Eastlight, found that for every £1 invested in the All In programme, the social return on investment was £6.26. Positive impacts on participants included greater purpose and increased skills and employability. Their personal and professional networks grew by 60%, while they felt 33% more positive about their community.

Eastlight’s ‘All In Incubator’ sourced talent and ideas directly from the community (picture: Steve Brading)

While the total cost of the scheme was significant – £1.2m over a year, including the 20 participant salaries – it was not outrageous. “We’re in the top quartile of housing associations for community investment, but we’re not an outlier,” says Mr Green.

For the 13 All In participants who did not stay to work on their start-up organisations, most have been able to secure full-time employment, some at Eastlight.

Joanne Jackson was one of five existing Eastlight staff members who were seconded to All In. She worked for Eastlight’s repairs department before the scheme, but enjoyed the experience so much that she is now starting a new role as a resident engagement officer.

Eastlight is currently discussing what it wants next year’s scheme to look like. The organisers still need approval from the board for the next three-year cycle.

“There were a lot of teething problems with All In,” says participant Gemma Griffin. She suggests there was “too much training when we should have been concentrating on projects”.

“They should improve the pace” next time, says Jessica Taylor, another participant. Project deadlines combined with training created a “massive amount of pressure… We had no roles for six months”, she adds.

While there are always things that can be improved, “The model clearly works,” says Mr Green. “Now it’s thinking, ‘What is this like over the long term?’”

Above all, he says, All In’s central achievement is that it “enabled people actually experiencing problems to come up with solutions”. The results were “solutions to problems you’d never come up with sitting in an office somewhere”.

Money confidence project: Trusted

Mother and daughter Karen Badenoch and Jessica Taylor run Trusted, a six-week cost of living assistance programme in Colchester that was conceived on the All In scheme. Ms Badenoch was approached by Eastlight to apply for All In.

She already had a job as a practice manager at an architectural studio, which she left to participate in the scheme. For Ms Badenoch, it was crucial that All In was “for Colchester residents, not just Eastlight residents”.

In her research, she found two groups of people with money difficulties: one group “who were always skint” and one who “had been comfortable” but were running into trouble following recent mortgage hikes. We “thought we’d put those groups together”, she says, to share advice and receive guidance from 20 guest professionals from agencies including the council, the NHS and Mind.

Around 16 people take part in each six-week course, which runs every Friday for two hours in various community venues. Participants are provided from agency referrals and advertising and include people from a wide range of backgrounds.

There are tasks to complete at home every week and supermarket vouchers are supplied to help attendees pay their bills.

Trusted’s first 10 participants made savings of more than £40,000 in six weeks. The average savings per person are £3,000, Ms Badenoch says. One attendee has started their own business, while another saved enough to book flights to see her mother in Canada for the first time in six years. Around 25 people have been through the programme so far.

For the programme to survive, Ms Badenoch says, “we’ve got to expand”. Around 70% of people who take part want to stay and help run courses, she says. Eastlight’s initial funding of £25,000 will last for six months, but she is looking for backers to “buy a programme” for £3,000 each.

Author: SCCS

NOW WE RISE: JOIN US TO SHOW SCOTLAND IS UNITED FOR ACTION

In 2021 over 100,000 people took to the streets of Glasgow to tell world leaders at the COP26 climate talks they wanted action on the climate and nature emergencies.

Since then, despite record breaking temperatures and increasingly devastating climate impacts, we have seen a lack of progress on action to reduce emissions, protect nature, or make the biggest polluters pay for the damage they are causing.

Temperature and Waters are Rising

2023 will be the hottest year on record. As the world heats up, extreme weather events on every continent – from floods in Brechin to wildfires in Greece – are causing mass devastation, loss of life and livelihoods in communities around the world.

The evidence is right in front of our eyes: our climate is breaking down. And, if we’re to have any hope of a liveable planet and tackling the climate crisis, we must deliver a just transition and dramatically and immediately reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Injustices are Rising

The cost of living crisis and climate crisis are driven by our reliance on dirty fossil fuels, and by the excessive emissions of the richest people. The climate crisis disproportionately affects ordinary people and communities in the global south, while those most responsible profit. In 2022, the five biggest oil and gas companies made record profits of over £150 billion. As corporations make billions, we struggle to make ends meet. Energy prices in Britain are still double what they were two years ago, soaring above wages and benefit levels and many thousands will be cold in their homes this winter.

Now We Rise!

People in Scotland from all walks of life are coming together to say we know the solutions, and we want our leaders to take robust and urgent action to implement these. We can replace the destructive fossil fuel economy with a real alternative. We can take advantage of cheap renewable energy, insulate homes, reduce energy waste and implement accessible and affordable public transport. We can create an economy that meets the needs of communities, creates secure and sustainable jobs and places the wellbeing of both people and nature at its centre.

We will stand with communities in the Global South who are suffering from the climate crisis which they did not create, and which does the greatest damage to countries already burdened by unjust debt. Rich nations must provide urgent climate finance and grants for loss and damage.

At a time when the UK Government is rolling back on climate and nature policies, and the Scottish Government will soon be publishing its new climate plan, it’s more important than ever for us to come together to show people in Scotland want action.

Join us at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on 9th December to send a strong message to decision makers that we are united for action, to tackle the climate and nature crises, secure sustainable jobs, a fairer, greener, healthier society for everyone in Scotland and justice for those impacted by the climate crisis.

Author: Pauline Hinchion, Democratic Finance / Scottish Community Finance

Overview- Dormant Bank Funds 

In 2008 the UK government passed the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts  Act passed. This primary legislation, allowed dormant bank accounts to be used for  good causes. Dormant accounts that are left unused for extended periods of time (12- 15 years) are declared inactive or dormant by the banks, eventually if remaining unclaimed the money gets distributed to third sector organisations. 

The primary legislation set out the 3 strands – Young people/Financial Inclusion/Social  Investment that the dormant bank money should prioritise. It also set out that the  National Lottery should be the distributor of the funds and finally that Scotland should  receive 8.4% of the total raised. The dormant bank started to distribute funds in 2011. 

Since the scheme started money from 35 banks and building societies are now involved  in the Dormant Bank fund. Originally predicted to bring in circa £400million, but contributions to date(2021) have exceeded this by 250% of which funds worth £800  million has been distributed into the 3 strands mentioned above. 

2022 Extension -Dormant Assets Funds 

Following a five year review, the UK government introduced a new Dormant Assets Bill  in 2021, which was enacted in 2022. This act was built on the 2008 primary legislation  but expanded the Dormant Bank scheme to include the insurance, pensions, investment  and wealth management, and securities sectors. This is expected to unlock an  additional initial £880 million for the voluntary sector via the expanded scheme. It is  expected that further assets will become eligible as they become dormant over time. 

If, like the Dormant bank scheme, the dormant assets also exceed this figure by 250%  then the monies available will be significant. (UK government 24th Nov 2021)

Between July – Oct 2022, the UK government consulted on the priority strands for the  English portion of the Dormant Assets fund. – The UK government set four strands – Young People/Financial Inclusion/Social Investment and Community Wealth Funds.  

Secondary legislation was needed to introduce the new 4th Community Wealth Funds strand. The Dormant Assets (Distribution of Money) (England) Order 2023 was approved this month (Nov 23).

In the 2022 Act, ‘community wealth fund’ means a fund which gives long term  financial support (whether directly or indirectly) for the provision of local amenities or  other social infrastructure. 

Scottish perspective: 

The Dormant bank accounts funding has so far unlocked £67.2 million for voluntary  organisations in Scotland. The bulk of this money has been allocated through the Young  Start programme. Between 2012 and 2021, The National Lottery Community Fund has  made over 950 Young Start grants, to the value of £47.9 million 

Although the 2022 Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it  remains unclear what the Scottish Government or its acting agent (National Lottery)  intends to do with the expanded Dormant Assets funds. 

Unlike in England, there doesn’t appear to have been any consultation with the wider  voluntary sector on what the main strands of the programme should be or indeed if the  4 strands adopted in England will also be adopted in Scotland. 

It may well be that the extended dormant assets funding programme continues to  prioritise the Young Start programme. There would appear to be very little in the public  domain that gives some consideration to the way the funds should be spent in  Scotland. 

Next Steps: 

It is vital that we understand what priorities the Scottish Government/National Lottery  wish to fund with the dormant assets.