Scottish Government

24.1

The Scottish Government supports a review of current best practice in capacity building work in the LGBT and other sectors.

This will be carried out by LGBT Youth Scotland as part of the National Community Capacity Building Project which is being funded by the Scottish Government and is described below [see 24.2]. It is anticipated that this will be completed early in 2009, and will help inform the work of the Community Capacity Building Project and the Community Sector Building Project as they develop.

24.2

The Scottish Government provides resources to roll out a National Community Capacity Building Project in partnership with local authorities and the LGBT community which will include funding for development staff to implement the work at a local level, and to develop community capacity through volunteering.

Over the next three years we will be providing funding to support the development of local LGBT community organisations, and the sector as a whole. LGBT Youth Scotland will deliver a National Community Capacity Building Project, which will work with local LGBT communities so that they become more visible in their local areas. In year one this will focus on Tayside and Forth Valley, and in year two, in Grampian and Highland. The project will also develop community capacity through volunteering, and will link with their funding recently received from Youthlink, to develop an adult volunteers scheme.

LGBT Youth Scotland will work in close partnership with the Equality Network who through the LGBT Community Sector Building Project will support the development of the LGBT sector, to strengthen the active participation of local LGBT groups and individuals in civic life and in decision-making structures, and to increase their engagement in consultation and involvement events at both a national and local level.

Both of these projects will be funded until March 2011. It is our expectation that providing strategic support to help build LGBT community capacity will enable local groups to engage effectively with their local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships, and to develop plans for longer-term sustainability.

24.3

The Scottish Government establishes a small grants scheme for LGBT organisations to support new work with LGBT communities.

In discussion with National LGBT organisations, we have agreed that the strategic approach to supporting the development of local LGBT community groups [as described in 24.2] is likely to be more effective than using resources to provide a small grants scheme. Therefore we will not be taking forward this recommendation. We hope that this project will be successful in helping to create stable and viable community groups who may then be better equipped to benefit from local funding sources. This is also consistent with the spirit of the new concordat with local authorities.

25.1

The Scottish Government continues to fund the development and delivery of LGBT History Month in Scotland in order to support local events and the further development of local community capacity.

We have been impressed by the growing success of LGBT history month in Scotland. This has gone from strength to strength, and this year involved over 200 events across the length and breadth of Scotland. We are convinced of the value of this work in increasing the visibility and participation of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people across Scottish daily and public life. We are also committed to celebrating their contribution to our past, present and future.

In February 2008, the Minister for Communities and Sport hosted a reception at Edinburgh Castle to celebrate LGBT history month and said: " LGBT History Month gives us the opportunity to commemorate the contribution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the life, culture and identity of Scotland, and to acknowledge the involvement of LGBT people in all areas of society. It is a time to reflect on how far we have come in recognising the rights of LGBT people, and to uncover the stories and histories of those who have been marginalised, stigmatised and victimised. "

We will fund a post through LGBT Youth Scotland until March 2011 to support the development and delivery of LGBT History Month in Scotland. The ongoing development of LGBT history month will be closely linked with a range of other projects in the LGBT sector - particularly the new community and sector capacity building programme which will be delivered through LGBT Youth Scotland and the Equality Network over the same period. Together, these projects will help to raise the profile of local LGBT communities, increase their capacity to participate in their local areas, and help develop plans for local sustainability over the longer term.

25.2

Not for the Scottish Government.

LGBT organisations, both local and national, and in particular the National Community Capacity Building Project, work closely together, with mainstream agencies, and in partnership with the various partners involved in LGBT History Month, IDAHO, Glasgay! and Pride to develop activity around a year-round LGBT cultural calendar.

26.1

The Scottish Government should, as part of the National Community Capacity Building Programme, support local youth work opportunities and encourage active participation by young people in community action, through building on existing mentoring programmes.

As noted in our response to recommendation 24.2, LGBT Youth Scotland and the Equality Network have been funded by the Scottish Government to develop new LGBT community and sector capacity building work over the period 2008-11. These projects will support local youth work and encourage active participation, particularly by young people.

The projects will also explore possibilities for building on mentoring projects where this has already been piloted, and will seek other sources of funding to support this.

26.2

The Scottish Government supports existing work with LGBT young people across Scotland, as well as supporting the development of volunteers.

The Scottish Government currently supports LGBT Youth Scotland's work with LGBT young people through a number of different routes. For example:

• Unified Voluntary Sector Fund, which provides grant support to voluntary organisations to provide better outcomes for children, young people and families.
• LGBT Befriending and mentoring pilot project, to develop and extend mentoring and befriending work, and so that this can be shared more widely with other minority groups, and the youth sector more widely.
• LGBT Young People Policy and Participation Project, which aims to encourage young LGBT people to become confident and ambitious individuals within their communities, and to enable the views of young LGBT people to impact positively on issues which affect their lives.

These projects will build on existing work with LGBT young people [see also 26.1]. All of these projects are time-limited.

Regarding the development of volunteering, the Scottish Government launched the Volunteering Action Plan in November 2007. The Action Plan supports volunteering in the youth work sector through a series of measures to promote volunteering and deliver a lasting positive impact. Youth Scotland is responsible for delivering the Action Plan on behalf of the Scottish Government, in partnership with YouthLink and Volunteer Development Scotland. We are currently in discussion with Youth Scotland on progressing the Action Plan further.

26.3

The Scottish Government continues to fund the development of work to support Scotland's transgender communities.

The Scottish Government is proud to be the first Government in Europe to provide direct funding to a transgender organisation. In May 2008, we announced that we would continue to fund the Scottish Transgender Alliance ( STA) until March 2011. In addition, the funding provided to the three national LGBT organisations in Scotland for the period 2008-11 supports a range of projects all of which are inclusive of transgender people. The Scottish Government Equality Unit will actively support closer joint working between the STA and the three National LGBT organisations through an annual 'summit'. One aim of the summit will be to help ensure that the organisations are fully inclusive of transgender people across their work.

26.4

The Scottish Government develops a volunteer exchange scheme.

We do not envisage the Scottish Government developing a volunteer exchange scheme, but support the aims of the Community Capacity Building project in using volunteering in its own work to build capacity at the local level. We would recommend that the project seeks to develop links with the network of volunteer centres and councils for voluntary service, and the national bodies Volunteer Development Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Service who may be able to provide helpful advice and assistance to support volunteering activity within local LGBT groups. We would therefore encourage local LGBT groups to make full use of volunteering networks locally and nationally.

26.5

National LGBT organisations working together with transgender organisations and the Scottish Government should explore possibilities for developing a scholarship fund for two postgraduate students to undertake transgender research and study relevant human rights law.

The Scottish Government recognises the lack of evidence, research and scholarship in this area. An application has been made by the Scottish Government (in collaboration with the Scottish Transgender Alliance) to the Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC) for a joint ESRC and Scottish Government funded PhD on transgender research.

The outcome of this application will be known later in 2008. If successful the PhD will commence in October 2009.

27.1

The Scottish Government and Equality and Human Rights Commission should support the national LGBT organisations to work together and with local LGBT communities to develop a national LGBT community website.

This has been commissioned through the Equality Network as part of the Informed and Empowered Communities Project. This includes development of a website on behalf of the sector, which will have a number of audiences and purposes, including national and local LGBT organisations, LGBT communities and individuals, and public bodies and others seeking to improve their own performance on LGBT equality [see also 3.1].

27.2

The Scottish Government and Equality and Human Rights Commission should support an annual national networking and training conference for local LGBT community groups and organisations.

This will be taken forward through the Equality Network as part of the Informed and Empowered Communities Project, funded by the Scottish Government. The annual event will involve all three national LGBT organisations and will draw on each of the nine projects funded by the Scottish Government through these organisations. It will also seek to involve the wider LGBT sector including representation from local groups and LGBT individuals, and will in particular encourage participation from new and developing groups being supported through the National Community Capacity Building Project [see also 24.2]. This is consistent with our longer-term approach to provide strategic support to strengthen the involvement of local LGBT groups in their local areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with the LGBT sector. This year we supported and participated in a two-day summit involving staff from the three national LGBT organisations to improve joint working, both within the sector and with the Scottish Government. We are convinced of the benefits of working this way and are committed to continuing to support an annual 'summit' as part of our overall work to support the broader LGBT sector, and to ensure that the work we are funding has maximum impact, and demonstrably contributes towards meeting the Government's objectives.

The group believes that this work can begin within a year.

SG response: This work has already begun.