Supporting best practice in community development. community

Transcription

1 tish Supporting best practice in community development community

2 The 2011 Scottish Parliament Elections saw a sea change in the Scottish political landscape with a majority Scottish National Party administration being elected for the first time. Based on the 2011 SNP election manifesto, we investigate what this might mean for community development, community-led health and regeneration and community engagement in Scotland. Key points: Although most areas of policy (e.g. health, housing, communities) are covered in the manifesto separately, the SNP wants to take a more cross-sector approach, and bring together activity on the economy, the third sector, transport, community safety, housing, the environment and regeneration. In its manifesto, the government has made specific commitments relating to community development, engagement and regeneration as well as community-led health. These include the 250m Scottish Futures Fund, the continuation of Equally Well and Early Years, the 70m Change Fund to bring forward the integration of health and social care, the 50m JESSICA fund and more use of Community Benefit Clauses and Social Impact Bonds. There is plenty of reference in the manifesto to participation, ranging from consultation to public ownership of assets. Commitments include setting up a Carer s Parliament, in which carers will have direct say in policy issues affecting them, and the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill to enable communities to take over assets more easily. There is no explicit mention of co-production in public services. It is worth remembering the manifesto mostly covers central government spending without much mention of the overhanging issue of local government spending reductions. As the SCVO points out ( SNP policies such as the freezing of council tax for 5 years may have detrimental effects on communities further down the pipeline. 1

3 Summary The SNP 2011 election manifesto, entitled Re-elect: A Scottish Government Working for Scotland, was launched in April 2011, a few weeks before the party s landslide victory in the May Scottish Parliament Election. This election manifesto now becomes more significant given that the SNP holds a majority of constitutional seats in Scotland meaning that, in contrast to the previous electoral term, SNP proposed legislation is much more likely to be passed. Therefore it is a useful exercise to extract from the manifesto whatever relates to community development, community-led health and regeneration and community engagement in Scotland. This should help those working in community development and related fields to prepare for any changes affecting them and to be aware of any new policy developments which might assist them in their work. The briefing is structured in terms of the different sections in the SNP manifesto, and we have tried to bring out what is relevant to community development in each instance. The manifesto can be read in full at the following website address: 2

4 Scottish Futures Fund The SNP begins its manifesto by introducing the new 250m Scottish Futures Fund, which will be split into 5 separate 50m pots. These will be: Young Scots Fund focused on sports, enterprise and creativity. This will include the creation of a national centre for Scotland s Youth Companies in Glasgow. Next Generation Digital Fund rolling out superfast broadband. Sure Start Fund for pre-school children in deprived communities, including development of Children and Family Centres across Scotland. Warm Homes Fund targeted at families and communities affected by fuel poverty, including subsidies on fuel prices. This will support community owned renewable power. Future Transport Fund. Here, the SNP refers to the Christie Commission review into the future of public services in Scotland and other reviews and reforms of public services. The Government believes these will lead to efficiency savings. Employment, business etc Having already announced a 168m national skills development programme, the SNP plans to combine European Structural Funds with various contributors (STUC, third sector, Community Planning Partnerships, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council) to provide support to unemployed, low paid and disadvantaged. Community Jobs Scotland will take the place of the axed UK-wide Future Jobs Fund in investing 10m in towards youth employment in voluntary sector. The SNP wants to involve communities at an earlier stage of planning decisions, so that they are engage[d] more effectively in design of developments, and want to see more recognition within planning of the important role it has in building sustainable communities (in addition to economic growth). Infrastructure Measures will be taken to include everyone in Digital Scotland, working with suppliers and community organisations to get recycled IT equipment to lesswell connected communities at a lower cost. An options paper will be published this year. 3

5 Health The Health budget will be protected in real terms and efficiency savings (which will be encouraged) will be reinvested. Equally Well is to be continued in order to tackle health inequalities. Prevention continues to be a focus with respect to alcohol, tobacco and obesity and Minimum Pricing Bill is to be introduced on re-election. 70m Change Fund to bring forward the integration of health and social care, with 3 rd sector and carers as key partners (from % of Change Fund will go towards supporting carers). Other support for carers includes making more progress towards setting up Carer s Parliament, in which carers will have direct say in policy issues affecting them. Investment in self-directed support will go up by 1.4m to 3.4m for Housing A national strategy on housing for older people is to be published to help to ensure that there is enough specially adapted housing of older and disabled people in Scotland. In addition the Scottish Futures Fund sets aside 50m for a Warm Homes fund (see above). Justice CashBack for Communities is to be extended by reforming Proceeds of Crime Act to invest more in sport and culture for young people in disadvantaged communities. Funding to be continued for Community Payback Orders will attempt to increase community involvement in sentencing through establishment of Sentencing Councils. The SNP will invest the same amount as before in frontline drug treatment to shift emphasis from management to recovery. Early Years The Early Years Framework is to be continued with 45m for vulnerable children and young people and a special emphasis is to be put on prevention. As mentioned above, the next parliament will include 50m from Scottish Futures Fund combined with 6.8m Early Years and Early Action Fund to support young people. Early Years is to be incorporated into Single Outcome Agreements. Similarly, the SNP aims to make Getting It Right for Every Child a national approach through legislation obliging local authorities and health boards to use this framework. Education Learning communities are to have more funding devolved and also more autonomy. Communities are to be given stronger rights within Schools Consultation Act so that better consultation surrounding closures. A new 4

6 strand of Climate Challenge Fund will be Junior Climate Challenge Fund which will fund sustainable development activities by young people in their communities. Communities The SNP s intention to freeze council tax is mentioned in this section in addition to plans to consult on how to replace this with a fairer system. As well as current consultation on funding regeneration, the 50m JESSICA Fund, starting this year, is to be used for urban regeneration (funded by European Investment Bank). Through consultation with communities and partners the government will set up 3 Social Impact Bond pilots whereby investors are rewarded for work they fund once the social and economic benefits have been established. Furthermore, the SNP intends to increase the use of social and charity banks and micro finance, and also join up funding streams so that communities can apply for funding for different areas at once. Community Benefit Clauses, already used in Commonwealth Games and Glasgow Southern General Hospital contracts, are to be extended to public sector more generally with help of Sustainable Procurement Bill in the next term. A Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill is proposed to enable communities to take over assets more easily. The SNP states this will make it easier for communities to take over underused or unused public sector assets, and include measures to enable communities to deal more effectively with derelict or unused property in their area. This will act as a catalyst for a wide range of community activities and enterprises. In addition, the SNP intends to make Community Councils more effective and empowered. A further policy is to develop a pilot project which will allow communities to submit proposals for local transformation that encompass a range of potential funders and work with funders to develop mechanisms for more effective multi-agency response with regard to regeneration. The manifesto commits to investing in, and making easier, community ownership of renewable energy, and to ensure that projects on public land benefit communities. One proposal is for a Future Generations Fund which would be an investment for communities futures using energy revenue. A system is planned whereby grants become loans if a community renewable project is successful, and the Scottish Futures Trust is encouraged to explore how to fund renewable heat schemes for housing. Another proposal is that income generated from Crown Estate renewable projects in Scotland will eventually be invested directly into communities. A further intention is to support community resilience and set up Resilience Week in Scotland with Red Cross. On this matter, the SNP states that we 5

7 want to ensure our communities are prepared for and ready to withstand serious or crisis events. Community radio is to be encouraged to expand. The SNP wants to encourage a social partnership between communities, individuals and private sector in order that decision making is more bottom up. Sport & Commonwealth Games A commitment is made here to increase the number of Community Sports Hubs from 35 to100 by Furthermore, the SNP will encourage communities to apply for social enterprise funding in order to gain community ownership of local sports facilities. 6

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