[![Flag of United Kingdom beside the Scotland flag.](https://storage.googleapis.com/scvo-cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ThinkstockPhotos-482072774.jpg)](https://storage.googleapis.com/scvo-cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ThinkstockPhotos-482072774.jpg) Next month is my one year anniversary. No I didn’t run off and get married while none of you were looking. Next month marks one year of my working on devolution and further powers for Scotland. So nearly twelve months on from the referendum, where are we? Well, we have a Bill. The [Scotland Bill 2015-16](http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/scotland.html) in fact. The end result of the [Smith Commission](https://www.smith-commission.scot/) and some draft clauses ambitiously called ‘an enduring settlement’. Understandably the Bill is of great interest to the [Scottish Parliament’s Devolution (Further Powers) Committee](http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/83008.aspx) who put out a call for evidence and SCVO duly responded. Overall, our response said nothing new. Nothing that we haven’t brought up over the last months in our [response to the Smith Commission](http://www.scvo.scot/long-form-posts/scvo-response-smith-commission/), our comment on the draft clauses, our briefings to MPs ahead of the Committee stages or indeed in [Link to Kate Wane's previous blogs](http://www.scvo.scot/author/kwane/). However, in case you need a recap of our thinking, here are the main points from our evidence to the Committee: • Foremost we noted our concerns about the continued lack of involvement of those who will be affected by the provisions within the Scotland Bill. From the start of this process of further devolution, people, in particular those who will be affected by the transfer of powers over certain benefits, the third sector and wider civil society, have struggled to effectively influence and shape the powers being devolved. Their vast experience is being lost. • We stated that there is significant room for improvement in the Scotland Bill provisions. As it stands a number of clauses are restrictive in nature and have narrow definitions of eligibility. They also, in a number of instances, fail to fully meet the intentions set out in the Smith Commission. For example, giving benefits to people with particular illnesses. However, we believe that amendments to the clauses relating to welfare, employability and equalities could allow for genuine policy innovation by the Scottish Parliament and by future administrations. We want the Scottish Parliament to be able to create not just deliver. • Of course we also flagged up the issue of Gift Aid as, with the devolution of income tax, it’s a particular concern for our sector. The issues are far too complicated to go into here (do read our briefing) but we remain concerned that they’re not being fully acknowledged or considered. • We also emphasised that the Scotland Bill serves to devolve powers to the Scottish Parliament, not to the current Scottish Government or directly to any other body. We took this opportunity to state that the Bill must not supersede the authority of the Scottish Parliament through devolving power directly to local authorities, or by devolving powers (or reserving them) with a specific government’s preferred policies in mind. The Bill is currently making its way through the House of Commons, with the report stage –where there’s another chances for amendments to be made – coming in the autumn. Hopefully some of our concerns about the Bill will be addressed then. Hopefully… --- ## About SCVO SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector. Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact. SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector. Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners. Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored, learning opportunities. SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience. Discounts and savings savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org). For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)