These refreshed pages for the National Standards for Community Engagement highlight this Government's committment to people having their voices heard in the planning and delivery of services. The standards and support materials are also available from the Scottish Community Development Centre.
The standards were launched in May 2005 and have been widely adopted in Community Planning Partnerships and in other areas of government since their original endorsement by: Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Association of Chief Police Officers, Scottish Health Council and the Poverty Alliance.
They have been recommended by Audit Scotland as good practice and their impact was the subject of a positive evaluation in 2008.
The standards set out best practice principles for the way that government agencies, councils, health boards, police and other public bodies engage with communities. They are not compulsory, but they are good practice and can help deliver the outcomes we wish to achieve.
The idea for the standards came from people on the front line of community engagement: more than 500 people from the statutory and voluntary sectors and the communities themselves were involved in developing and producing them.
The community engagement planning tool VOICE is underpinned by the Standards.