Scottish policy and practice update: Dec 24
This update is part of a regular series of rundowns of policy developments and reports on our work in Scotland, by CLES Senior Researcher and Scotland lead, Naomi Mason.
Looking back, looking forwards and taking stock
As I near my one-year anniversary of joining CLES as our lead for Scotland, I’ve been looking back at what has happened over the last 12 months. It has been quite a year, with political turbulence in Holyrood, Westminster and across the world, not to mention the continued global instability in our climate and economies. So – as the Scottish Budget was announced last week – I couldn’t help but reflect on both how interlinked we all are and how our local economies are profoundly impacted by global change.
“power and politics are fundamental to change”
I’m reminded that, by building flexibility, community wealth building makes our places stronger and more resilient to the fluctuations of wider economic systems. But this takes time, effort and persistence. It also takes political will and power. I’ve previously written about the opportunity that the forthcoming community wealth building legislation could bring to Scotland, and the many forms of power which our rural communities can tap into, or struggle against, so I won’t labour the points here. Suffice to say, power and politics are fundamental to change.
“bringing power from Holyrood down to our local places”
What we don’t talk about often enough, however, is the relinquishing of power. When we talk about devolution, transferring power away from Westminster to the nations or regions of the UK, we often focus on that first step away from the centre. What we talk less about is the stages beyond. Often, bringing power from Holyrood down to our local places seems to be a step too far here in Scotland. There were high hopes for this to happen over the last 25 years of the Scottish parliament, but how well it has truly benefited Scotland’s local democracy is not clear, a point which was beautifully articulated by Bill Howat in an article published last week. And there is a further question: even if power had reached our councils to a greater degree…what then? Are they even the best mechanism for delivering local democracy and decision making? Opinions differ. According to the results of a Democracy Matters consultation earlier this year, the answer is no: there is an appetite for more community-led decision making and power.
For now though, local government is considered the default mechanism by which to support our local economies and, in the Budget, I was heartened to see more money flowing to the sector – over £15bn, a 4.7% increase compared to this year’s level of funding.
“more than lip service”
Another laudable announcement in the Budget was the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap. This policy has a disproportionately negative impact on women and children – as highlighted in our research, Women’s Work, earlier this year. Thankfully Scotland already has a lower child poverty level than other parts of the UK (although at 20% it is still far too high) but taking a stance of this kind shows the commitment to tackle child poverty in the Programme for Government was more than lip service.
A big omission was the lack of clarity for the third sector over their funding landscape. Despite calls for multi-year funding which is fair and flexible, there was no mention of this in the Budget. As the sector is now the delivery arm for many essential services, is one the government wants to see grow, and is already facing a stark landscape of dealing with the national insurance rises, I know the lack of response from the Government will have been a cause for concern for many.
And it is to these communities I turn back to as I finish my reflection of the year that was. I started this series of Scottish policy updates with a blog exploring the “community in community wealth building”. It’s an area on which I have been repeatedly challenged throughout the year. I fundamentally believe that you cannot do community wealth building without thinking about community empowerment. Others in the movement do not agree: I’ve been told community wealth building is solely an economic agenda, that it is about economic systemic transformation and nothing more.
” you cannot think about economics, without thinking about society”
I even more deeply disagree with that stance now than I did when I joined CLES. To me, as an ecological economist, you cannot think about economics, without thinking about society and the wider environment within which we all exist. We cannot hope to see flourishing local economies if our people and places do not have a seat at the decision-making table, if their needs and voices are not heard and if their challenges are not recognised.
As I take stock on the last 12 months, I cannot help but also look ahead to the year to come. At CLES we will be continuing our journey to expand and develop the community wealth building movement and, as part of that, more focus will go to thinking about our local communities and what community wealth building really means and looks like for them. I, for one, can’t wait.
