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A review of the Scottish Executive's Policies to promote the Social Economy
FOREWORD
1. The social economy plays a significant role in Scottish society and in the economy. It has an income of about £2.2 billion - or about 4% of Scotland's GDP, it employs 100,000 people and involves 700,000 volunteers in over 44,000 voluntary organisations, including some 22,000 charities.
2. Social economy organisations are independent of the state, have primarily social objectives and their surpluses are reinvested for that purpose. Many of these organisations have established themselves as important contributors to the delivery of public policy objectives in areas such as housing, child care, community care and the New Deal. They play an important part in stimulating the development of vibrant local communities and in delivering public services. In carrying out these tasks they can provide added value and are particularly effective in working with those excluded or disadvantaged groups where other organisations might find engagement difficult.
3. Over the past four years, the Scottish Executive has substantially increased support for the social economy. We fully acknowledge the contribution that social economy organisations play and we recognise they could play an even stronger role in improving the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland.
4. This report sets out a strategic framework for strengthening social economy organisations which builds on the sector's achievements to date. Good relationships between social economy organisations and the public and private sectors are vital if we are to use their complementary strengths. In activities as diverse as renewing neighbourhoods, providing training and support for unemployed people, and helping disadvantaged communities fight the scourge of loan sharks, key social economy organisations have already shown that they are particularly well equipped to contribute to the front-line delivery of our strategic objectives. We will consider how such organisations might, in future, be actively commissioned to do so.
5. Scottish Ministers are keen to encourage a wide range of organisations to involve themselves in tackling poverty in Scotland. We have made significant advances since 1999, through initiatives such as making 137,000 homes warmer through the Warm Deal and expanding child care provision with help from social economy organisations. However, we acknowledge that there is more we can do by using the capacities of social economy organisations when we bring partners more closely together.
6. Community Planning provides the framework to foster vital partnerships and together with Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs), we are putting life back into disadvantaged communities. We believe that extending the involvement of strengthened social economy organisations in these processes can only deliver better results in local areas. Social economy organisations should be key partners in taking forward community regeneration.
7. This review of our policies provides clear evidence of our continuing commitment to the sector and establishes a framework for stimulating the development of social economy organisations. We will discuss with the sector the steps that might be taken to remove some of the current funding anomalies which inhibit growth. Ways of securing greater stability of funding for social economy organisations will form part of this consideration and we will continue to work in partnership with them to encourage the sustainable growth of the sector.
8. We will develop further guidance to assist social economy organisations and other partners such as Scottish Enterprise and Communities Scotland to ensure there is no duplication of effort and to ensure that all the organisations contributing to the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland are clear about what role they can most usefully play.
Margaret Curran MSP
Minister for Social Justice
January 2003
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