SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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The Scottish Compact Good Practice Guides

Advice on the Scottish Executive's relations with the voluntary sector

CHAPTER 4

Good Practice Guide on 'proofing' policies and procedures for their impact on voluntary and community organisations and volunteering

Compact background

The Compact contains a commitment on the part of the Scottish Executive and its agencies

Proofing for the voluntary sector and for volunteering

Given that it is a policy of the Scottish Executive to encourage the contribution of voluntary organisations, community groups and volunteering, it is important to ensure that Scottish Executive policies do not place an unreasonable burden on the sector or overlook its potential contribution, unless there are overriding policy reasons. Where overriding policy priorities make this impossible, these must be clearly stated when policies are announced.

The reasons for voluntary sector and volunteering proofing are that:

• the voluntary sector is an important force in society - in Scotland, it comprises some 44,000 voluntary organisations, with an income of £2 billion per year, which is 4% of GDP;
• 50% of the adult population undertakes some form of volunteering in the course of a year, contributing an estimated £4 billion to Scotland's social economy. The majority of volunteers are in voluntary organisations but a substantial proportion are in the statutory sector, as well as some in the private sector;
• the voluntary sector operates across almost every area of activity ranging from health to employment and training to the environment;
• the sector's role in the delivery of services has increased considerably in recent years;
• voluntary and community groups and volunteers already make a considerable and essential contribution to the development of policy and the achievement of Scottish Executive objectives;
• current Scottish Executive policy is to increase the levels and the range of volunteering and community involvement, e.g. through the Active Communities lnitiative and the Millennium Volunteers programme;
• voluntary groups are closely in touch with their interest groups and developing situations and can often identify and respond to changing needs more quickly than the statutory sector.

Best practice in proofing for voluntary sector interests

To assess the implications that changes in policy or procedures might have on voluntary organisations, community groups and volunteering interests it is helpful to ask the following questions:

Q How does any change impact on the voluntary or community sector?

Q How does any change impact on volunteers or make it harder for people to give up part of their time to do voluntary work?

Q How difficult will voluntary organisations and community groups find it to adapt?

Q Is there scope for exemptions or special provision for voluntary organisations or people working as volunteers?

Q Have the views of voluntary organisations, community groups and volunteering interests been sought?

Q Where there is a programme involving the provision of services by outside agencies, including voluntary organisations, are the new requirements more difficult for voluntary organisations than for statutory or private sector organisations to comply with?

Q Are the proposals constructed and presented in such a way as to get the most useful and effective contribution from voluntary sector interests?

Q Is there opportunity to promote the use of volunteers in the provision of the service? (Remember that volunteers work in the statutory as well as the voluntary sectors.)

Q Does this affect other funders and thereby have a wider impact on the sector?

Europe

It is not only UK domestic legislation that may have implications for the voluntary sector. The sector may also be affected by changes in policy and procedures arising from EC directives or proposals for legislation. Divisions should therefore ask the questions set out above, whether those proposals originate in Whitehall, Holyrood, or from Brussels.

Following proofing for voluntary sector interests, Divisions should be able to demonstrate that they have:

• taken the views of the appropriate range of voluntary sector bodies, in an appropriate manner, and to an appropriate timescale;
• taken account of these views alongside other views;
• explored the full range of options for action;
• consulted Ministers where appropriate;
• involved other funders where appropriate;
• informed the sector of the outcome of the consultation, particularly where there have been decisions that the sector may see as negative; and
• explained that there is a range of competing interests and that a negative decision in relation to the voluntary sector does not mean that the new policy or procedure has not been thoroughly proofed for voluntary sector interests.

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