Pablo Mascarenhas Community and Democratic Engagement Manager Chief Executives Office Highland Council pablo.mascarenhas@highland.gov.uk Tel 01463 702247
Why Are We Here? • Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services- Christie Report • Renewing Scotland’s Public Services – Scottish Government response to Christie • Community Empowerment Act
Key Themes from Christie • Outcomes • Shift to prevention • Target inequality • Radical change in design and delivery of services • Partnership • Collaboration
• People – We need to unlock the full creativity and potential of people at all levels of public service, empowering them to work together in innovative ways. We need to help create ways for people and communities to co-produce services around their skills and networks. • Partnership – We need to develop local partnership and collaboration, bringing public, third and private sector partners together with communities to deliver shared outcomes that really matter to people.
What principles/approaches lie behind it? • Local Outcomes • Focus on inequalities • Empowerment is more than engagement • Reform is critical to quality and financial viability • Doing things “with” people not to them • Positive relationships between communities and the public sector
Community Empowerment Bill The Bill reflects the policy principles of subsidiarity, community empowerment and improving outcomes and provides a framework which will: • empower community bodies through the ownership of land and buildings and strengthening their voices in the decisions that matter to them; and • support an increase in the pace and scale of public service reform by cementing the focus on achieving outcomes and improving the process of community planning.
The Bill as introduced was divided into 8 parts. • Part 1 aims to provide a statutory basis for the use of “National Outcomes”. • Part 2 contains a number of reforms to the system of community planning. • Part 3 provides for a process to allow community bodies to become involved in delivery of public services. • Part 4 makes a range of changes to the community right to buy land, amending the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. • Part 5 provides for a process to allow community bodies to take on assets from the public sector. • Part 6 makes a number of reforms to the system of common good. • Part 7 is concerned with allotments. • Part 8 allows local authorities to set their own reliefs for business rates.
What principles/approaches lie behind it? • Local Outcomes • Focus on inequalities • Empowerment is more than engagement • Reform is critical to quality and financial viability • Doing things “with” people not to them • Positive relationships between communities and the public sector
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