Scottish policy and practice

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.

The good, the bad and the opportunities

Last week was a busy one for policy and fiscal announcements in Scotland. Tuesday morning started positive, with the launch of Developing Scotland’s Economy: Increasing the role of inclusive and democratic business models, a report committed to in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. But later that day the fiscal pre-budget announced budget cuts and difficult economic decisions around public spend, while Wednesday saw the launch of the 2024-25 Programme for Government (PfG). As the title of this blog indicates, the three announcements produced quite a mixed bag of policy and legislation and there was a lot for those of us concerned with the future economy of Scotland to digest over the weekend.
“Scotland could soon claim a world first”
Starting with the positive, we at CLES are delighted to see community wealth building legislation coming forward in the PfG. Scotland could soon claim a world first by delivering this ground-breaking legislation which supports a framework for economic development practices which challenges economic extraction and supports local economies to flourish. If this legislation can unlock opportunities for Scotland’s SMEs to bid for public sector contracts, as well as making it easier for those in the third sector to undertake them too, then the economic opportunity to encourage wealth to flow to our local places will become far easier.