Policy Update #GYVH
Posted: 03 October 2023, in News
Get Your Voice Heard (#GYVH) is the name of Social Enterprise Scotland’s policy work.
We understand that policy can be complex and difficult to engage with so we aim to make your life easier with Get Your Voice Heard!
Our core aim is to empower our social enterprise members to influence policy at all levels – in order to build a bigger social enterprise economy in Scotland.
We take a Partnership for Policy approach of joint policy work with other organisations wherever possible.
For policy questions or how to get involved with our policy work contact: andy.paterson@socialenterprise.scot
Policy news updates
Latest policy blog The new Programme for Government and social enterprise
LATEST NEWS
Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill
Independent Review of Social Care Scrutiny
Investing in nature – New funding to help projects grow.
Who we’ve met recently. We recently met with the think tank the Jimmy Reid Foundation to discuss the coming Land Reform Bill coming through the Scottish Parliament, as well as the part Fair Work will begin to play in Scotland’s economy. We also met with ASPA as they hosted Steve Richards and Mark Diffley, giving their thoughts and analysis on the coming UK general election. The Local Policy Innovation Partnership with the University of Stirling also met and we collaborated on phase 2 of their forthcoming project concerning efficient water usage across Forth Valley and Scotland.
Big current theme…Practical policy action to benefit people. We’re aware that good legislation from the Scottish Parliament doesn’t always translate into practical implementation in local communities – so we’re looking at better ways to monitor and track progress and ensure all local areas benefit from policy reforms! We recently met with parliament officials to discuss improving the “post-legislative scrutiny” processes such as the new review of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
Letter to the First Minister. Social Enterprise Scotland joined around 200 civic society organisations to call for more practical action in building a wellbeing economy.
Procurement and accessing markets – There’s a lot happening in the world of procurement right now, more updates soon! Our joint procurement survey with SCVO gained 40 useful and informative responses and the information is being used to inform government policy-makers.
National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). As part of the broad Scottish Government approach to economic transformation there’s a strand to specifically review social enterprises. Action 44 in the NSET is to ‘undertake and publish a review of how best to significantly increase the number of social enterprises, employee-owned businesses and cooperatives in Scotland, supporting regional regeneration and the wealth of local communities’. We took part in the first steering group meeting for the review and we’re working with colleagues to strengthen the social enterprise voice.
Scotland’s National Performance Framework affects all of us. Social Enterprise Scotland recently responded to a Scottish Government consultation on Scotland’s National Performance Framework (the NPF). The National Performance Framework is Scotland’s official wellbeing index and sets out the type of country The Scottish Government wants to see.
New charity reforms. Take a look at the new OSCR reforms now approved by the Scottish Parliament, that affect every registered charity in Scotland.
A Human Rights Bill for Scotland consultation. A planned new Human Rights Bill will incorporate international human rights standards already signed and ratified by the UK into domestic law in Scotland.
UK General Election. We’re working in partnership with Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and others to build a strong policy platform before the upcoming UK General Election, in order to influence UK political parties and ensure that social enterprise is a key solution in building the economy.
Community Wealth Building is the new approach to local economic development in Scotland. The Scottish Government recently launched a consultation on Community Wealth Building (CWB) Legislation. We held a series of events to make sure that social enterprises have a pivotal role in the consultation process and beyond. For more information on what Community Wealth Building is and why this consultation is important, please read our recent blog here and see our consultation response. Also take a look at our blog on reducing poverty.
Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill. The new Bill aims to introduce measures to help develop a circular economy. This includes: Publishing a circular economy strategy, developing circular economy targets, reducing waste, increasing penalties for littering from vehicles, making sure individual householders and businesses get rid of waste in the right way and improving waste monitoring. See Circular Communities Scotland.
A long-term policy approach for Scotland. Sarah Boyack MSP recently launched a consultation on a Wellbeing & Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill. The Bill would see the introduction of a Future Generations Commissioner in Scotland, tasked with putting wellbeing at the centre of big decisions by introducing longer term thinking & speaking up for the people that come next. Read our blog on the proposal Taking action to protect future generations.
The Social Enterprise CPG. Our national policy forum for social enterprise. We had to postpone our recent meeting due to parliamentary business running over in a busy last few weeks! We’ll reschedule the meeting after summer recess. The CPG is an open forum and everyone is welcome to take part. To receive CPG information you need to subscribe to our free news updates.
Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-2026. The 10 year strategy has a series of Action Plans, designed to develop and grow social enterprise in Scotland.
The SES core policy priorities are:
A Fairer Economy – This includes Community Wealth Building, the wellbeing economy, business purpose, and social procurement.
Fair Work and Business – Including advocating for the Living Wage, an employee voice, purposeful work and supporting measurement.
Environment & Climate Emergency – Covering the Net Zero ambition and pathway, green enterprise, and environmental protection.
Equalities, diversity, and inclusion – Advocating for a more diverse workplace and supporting strategies to improve on this among other areas.
View all our previous consultation responses.