The Scottish Government

Title

Social economy turnover.

National Indicator/Target

To increase the turnover of the social economy in Scotland.

Brief Description

The indicator is intended to measure the sustainable growth of the social economy as a provider of more and better opportunities for individuals and as a provider of innovative, customer-focused public services.

The social economy captures the economic activity of the third sector, which embraces voluntary and community organisations, charities, social enterprises, mutuals and co-operatives. The target will monitor the social economy by measuring the turnover of non-profit making bodies and mutual associations, allowing for the exclusion of industries clearly identified as non-social economy.

Strategic Objective(s) to which Indicator Relates

This indicator informs progress in relation to the Wealthier and Fairer Strategic Objective.

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

This is a new indicator. For the purposes of this measure the social economy in Scotland will be defined as organisations operating in Scotland that are included on the Office for National Statistics' ( ONS) Inter-Departmental Business Register ( IDBR) and have a legal status of 'non-profit making bodies and mutual associations'. It will exclude from the above those industries that are clearly not part of the third sector. The industries to be excluded will be defined using the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2003.

Turnover will be as defined in the Office for National Statistics' Inter-Departmental Business Register and will relate to the Scottish activity of the non-profit making bodies and mutual associations.

Evidence Source

The Office for National Statistics' Inter-Departmental Business Register, which carries information on non-profit making bodies and mutual associations in Scotland.

The above figures are the best official source for the social economy. The figures do, however, exclude the smallest organisations that operate below the VAT threshold and have no (paid) employees. For those that are VAT exempt, turnover is estimated based on employee numbers. It is estimated that this will be the case for around half of the non-profit making bodies and mutual associations operating in Scotland.

Further analysis of the non-profit making bodies and mutual associations category on the IDBR will be necessary to identify those industries that are clearly not social economy and exclude them from the measure. This will be done in consultation with the Office for National Statistics and, on completion, the technical note will be updated to detail the industries being excluded.

Due to the limitations outlined above, it is accepted that this is a proxy measure for social economy turnover. There is increased interest in the use of official data to measure the third sector, both within the Scottish Government and UK government departments. Scottish Government officials will liaise with the UK government on this with a view to developing a more accurate measure of the social economy for this target over time.

Baseline and Past Trends

The baseline will be as at March 2008.

Past trends for this indicator will be derived from past Inter-Departmental Business Register data, once the work on the industries to be excluded is completed.

Methodology

This indicator is the sum of all turnover relating to the social economy as shown on the Inter-Departmental Business Register. Figures will be deflated using Treasury GDP deflators so that changes can be measured in real terms ( http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/gdp_deflators/data_gdp_index.cfm). This measure will be based on a census of non-profit making bodies and mutual associations and will not be subject to revisions.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

The data for this measure will be based on the Office for National Statistic's Inter-Departmental Business Register database. This is a National Statistics data source.

Publication of Data

Scottish analysis of the IDBR is published each year through the Scottish Corporate Sector statistics:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Corporate

This release presents turnover figures for the non-profit making bodies and mutual associations.

The measure for this indicator will be a published sub-set of the above.