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CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY Consultation Paper
 MINISTERIAL
FOREWORD
We have set out in "A Partnership for a Better Scotland" our vision of a Scotland
which cares for its people and where opportunities are increasing for everyone,
enterprise is rewarded, and people have confidence in their communities and
in public services. This requires a devolved Scottish government that focuses
on the issues that matter to people most, is outward looking and confident,
and delivers real and sustainable improvements in our quality of life.
The Partnership Agreement demonstrates our determination to work with all sectors
of the economy and with communities across the country to create a Scotland
of which we can all be proud, one where the economy grows year on year, where
that economic growth is sustainable and where there is opportunity for all.
However, for the Scottish economy to grow and economic success to be achieved
in the long term, it will be essential to develop and sustain a higher level
of entrepreneurial activity. We need to do more to encourage and support enterprise
and responsible risktaking - and develop a real culture of enterprise. Entrepreneurship
is complex - it is not just about start-ups and small firms. To reach our economic
vision, we also need greater entrepreneurship in our larger firms, in our public
services and in our social economy. This will contribute to a better Scotland
where there is greater self-confidence, wider and deeper prosperity, and sustainable
jobs.
Our future economic success will depend on our ability to tackle cultural and
social barriers to entrepreneurship; and to promote innovative, imaginative
ways of mobilising labour, capital and business ideas such as co-operative enterprises.
Our Partnership Agreement commitment to establishing the Co-operative Development
Agency can play a key role in carrying forward that agenda. I will be looking
to the Agency to help promote, create and develop dynamic and sustainable co-operatives
in a number of sectors of the Scottish economy because of the benefits they
can bring to the economy as a whole and to our social well being.
The Scottish government believes that co-operation and mutuality provides both
the private and public sectors with a modern and innovative way of delivering
services.
The co-operative is a form of enterprise which can also provide important advantages
at the micro economic level - for example the benefits of size, including economies
of scale.
Co-operative enterprise can also be a means of providing high quality services
for users, who can also be members, and can influence the type of service provision
in responding directly to customer needs.
Crucially, co-ops can also help Scotland continue to adjust to the needs of
the knowledge economy. In many co-ops members have a real influence over management
decisions - and participatory management can help generate those crucial intangible
assets of knowledge and skills on which our future economic prosperity will
depend.
And of course Co-ops can also contribute positively and significantly to our
social and community objectives - addressing these and economic growth in a
mutually reinforcing way - both through the direct provision of employment and
through the delivery of services in places and ways not reached by more conventional
businesses. The Executive has adopted this approach in housing policy and in
successful models of community development.
Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self responsibility, democracy,
equality, equity and solidarity, and on an ethic of honesty, openness, social
responsibility and caring for others. It is essential that these principles
and values provide the foundation stones on which the Scottish Co-operative
Development Agency is built.
Within this consultation document we have set out ideas about the scope of
the Agency, its focus and priorities, the type of body it could be - with options
on the model, and its relationship with the Enterprise Networks and with other
active players in this marketplace. We expect that the Agency will act as a
first-stop shop for those seeking access to the expertise, advice, training
and resources required to support the establishment of new co-operatives, and
that it will also offer support services to enhance the growth of existing co-operatives.
Responses to the consultation process will help inform our development of policy
and determine the shape of the Agency. I intend to consult widely on the functions
and priorities of the new Agency, and would welcome views on any aspects of
our initial proposals.
I firmly believe that the implementation of this Partnership Agreement commitment
can deliver a new and exciting chapter in the history of co-operative enterprise
in Scotland, and I look forward to hearing the views of others.
Lewis Macdonald, MSP
Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
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