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INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
On 9 November 2007, Glasgow won the race to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The Scottish bid attracted unprecedented levels of support from over 1.75 million individuals and organisations, and the full support of all political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament. The detail of the bid is contained within the Candidate City File, which can be found at www.Glasgow2014.com.
The Games Organising Company has already been set up and detailed preparations for the Games are underway. The Games will take place from 23 July - 3 August 2014, and will be a great sporting spectacle that will be remembered for a long time. However, the Scottish Government has always made clear that hosting the Games is not just about hosting a two-week sporting festival.
We cannot just sit back and expect the Commonwealth Games to bestow a positive legacy on Scotland. Equally, the Games are not an overnight solution to all of the challenges facing us today. However, hosting the Commonwealth Games presents Scotland with great opportunities to make material improvements to people's lives.
Some of these improvements will be obvious - physical regeneration of the East End of Glasgow, for example. But hosting the Games also presents us with opportunities to improve people's health, to help get people into work, to increase the confidence and international profile of Scotland and to make Scotland a more environmentally-friendly nation to live and work in.
This document sets out the Scottish Government's framework for ensuring that Scotland, as a nation, benefits as much as possible from Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and, where possible, from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
WHY CREATE THIS FRAMEWORK NOW?
The Games may be over six years away, but in order to successfully secure benefits from the Games, it is important that we identify where we see these benefits, and how we intend to make them a reality, at an early stage.
It is also very important that all of Scotland feels ownership of these Games, and of the need to take advantage of the opportunities that hosting them offers us.
This document is not a detailed, step-by-step action plan. By consulting now, we aim to ensure that as many people as possible can contribute to the development of such a plan to secure the benefits of the Games.
Success in securing these benefits will require the concerted, co-ordinated and focused efforts of central Government, local Government, the third sector, businesses, schools, volunteers and others. By planning for this work now, we will allow for five clear years of activity before the Games in 2014.
This document has two main purposes. Firstly, it is to make sure that we are getting the basics right. Have we identified the right areas where work is required to secure benefits? Are our priorities right? Are the general principles of how we will go about securing these benefits right?
Secondly, it is to allow for a wide and inclusive discussion of the methods by which we should seek to secure these benefits, and how we will measure progress in achieving our aims. We have very deliberately refrained from producing such detailed plans at this stage because we believe that many other bodies and individuals will have valuable contributions to make to this planning.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE GOVERNMENT'S PRIORITIES?
The Commonwealth Games in 2014 offer a wealth of opportunities for Scotland. However, the Games cannot be considered in isolation.
The purpose of the Scottish Government is: to focus the Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.
To achieve this purpose, we need to work together to deliver the Scottish Government's five key strategic objectives - to make Scotland Wealthier and Fairer; Smarter; Healthier; Safer and Stronger; and Greener.
By harnessing the power of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and, where possible, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to help us to achieve these objectives, we can secure meaningful, lasting benefits for Scotland.
The potential benefits from the Games which are identified in this document all further the Scottish Government's five strategic objectives and each can be linked to at least one of the Scottish Government's 15 National Outcomes (listed on page 56). These benefits, along with suggested ways of achieving and measuring them are set out in the following sections of this document.
We would encourage everyone to participate in developing a national plan, but this should not preclude other organisations from working to meet their own specific objectives for the Games.
WHAT NEXT?
We invite you to take part in a discussion about our approach to securing benefits from the Games, to help shape our priorities and in particular, define the actions that you would like to see prioritised by the Scottish Government in the run-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
This process reflects our commitment to consult and involve as many people as possible in the development of our plans. This will help us to build and sustain a consensus behind the approach we take.
A particular focus of this consultation will be how the Games can make a difference to young people in Scotland, how they would like to be involved and what they would like its lasting legacy to be. We will work in partnership with Young Scot to ensure that young people's views are taken into consideration, but comments from young people on this paper are also very welcome.
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