Policy blog

SCVO response to Programme for Scotland 2018/19 Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) responded today to the Scottish Government’s Programme for Scotland 2018-19: “There’s plenty in the Programme for Government that will make a... Read more

Universal Credit (UC) is the UK Government’s new benefit system for working age claimants, replacing six ‘legacy’ benefits - JSA, IS, HB, ESA, Work and Child Tax Credits - with a single monthly payment. UC Full Service, which is predicated on claimants managing their account... Read more

With our children and grandchildren now returning to the classroom, many of us will be thinking about how they are getting to school and back in a way that is healthy and safe. Is it easy for them to walk, scoot or cycle to school? If not, what might make it easier and what would... Read more

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has joined forces with other leading third sector organisations to highlight concerns over the effect of Brexit on volunteering numbers. Alongside Volunteer Scotland, SCVO has prepared a letter to the Home Secretary Sajid... Read more

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP Home Secretary Home Office 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF 15 August 2018 Dear Home Secretary, The Contribution of Non-UK Citizen Volunteers The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national membership organisation for Scotland’s... Read more

How can the sector most effectively engage with Scotland’s political parties to progress their policy proposals? SCVO decided to ask the experts by hosting a series of, ‘Meet the Researcher’, events for members of SCVO’s Policy Officers Network. At the events, members have the... Read more

The Scottish Government has recently published their updated plan to tackle smoking in Scotland – “Raising a Tobacco-free Generation: Our Tobacco-Control Action Plan 2018.” The Plan centres on the Scottish Government’s priority that, by 2034, an entire generation of Scottish... Read more

Gender pay gap of Scottish voluntary sector May 2018 Download the PDF - Gender pay gap briefing May2018 All organisations with 250+ staff were due to report on their gender pay gap by 4 April 2018. The UK Government has published the full data set of organisations submitting... Read more

Recent OSCR research found that good governance is one of the top things that promotes trust in charities. People want to see charities are being ‘run well’. They want to know that the money or time they choose to put into an organisation is well looked after. In fact they expect... Read more

A landmark report on the UK’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been published. ‘Measuring Up’, produced by UKSSD, paints a gloomy picture of the UK’s performance, whilst highlighting successes across the 17 SDGs that tackle issues from improving health... Read more

At this start of 2018, the third sector was rocked by a fall in public trust and damning headlines of unacceptable charity failures. In reality, public trust in charities is still high in Scotland - 73% of those questioned in an SCVO survey in November 2017 strongly or tended to... Read more

Concern for the environment has never been greater and the way we use our natural resources is firmly in the public spotlight. The concept of a circular economy is one way to minimise the strain on natural resources and help eradicate waste by keeping resources and products in... Read more

Nicola Sturgeon fields new team as transfer window closes For Scottish Politics fanciers (yes, that includes both you and I) the last 24 hours have felt like premiership transfer deadline day. With Twitter tuned to #ScotReshuffle and thumb over the refresh button, we were treated... Read more

Growing up in Ecuador, I’ve witnessed the difficulty that marginalised communities face trying to access basic health services and quality education. I learned that the implications of these inequalities are vast, leading to higher prevalence of disease, homelessness, and... Read more

Volunteers’ Week is absolutely an important thank you to volunteers across Scotland and for the contribution they make to communities and society. But it is also a great opportunity to say thank you to, and recognise, those who help people volunteer and make volunteering happen... Read more

National celebrations will recognise the contribution of Scotland’s diverse volunteer community and encourage more people to get involved Thousands of charities, voluntary and public sector organisations are gearing up to celebrate the vital contribution made by volunteers across... Read more

Organisations across the third sector invest significantly in developing solutions to the challenges that face people and communities in Scotland. Highlighting these policy solutions to political parties is central to making many of these ideas a reality and improving the lives... Read more

Paths for All recently commented on Scottish Government proposals for a strategy to tackle social isolation and loneliness and build stronger social connections. We were pleased that the strategy recognised the value of our work to develop and deliver an action plan for the... Read more

Do you want to help transform government? Imagine a country where citizens and governments come together to solve the most pressing challenges we face; where the decision making process is transparent and accountable, and where you have a real say in the policies and services... Read more

Today, Wednesday 23 May, sees the launch of a pro-EU, anti-Brexit “Declaration: Scotland for Europe”. Signed by over 40 civil society figures, the Declaration marks the start of a Scottish civil society campaign in favour of staying in the EU. The “Declaration: Scotland for... Read more

Communities and charities with new ideas to tackle child poverty will be given the opportunity to bid for part of a new £7.5 million Innovation Fund. Announced as part of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, the fund, financed by the Scottish Government and the Hunter... Read more

The Scottish Government’s revised National Performance Framework is important to us all. It sets the Scottish Government’s overarching purpose and the indicators that show how the Government is performing against National Outcomes that cover economic, health, social and... Read more

Volunteers week 2018 has the strap line ‘Volunteering for All’ for all UK countries. I’m especially pleased about this, as it’s a direct take from the work being led by the Scottish Government with bold and ambitious thinking to make it the norm for everyone to be engaged in all... Read more

As you might already know, ‘volunteering for all’ is the theme for this year’s Volunteers’ Week (1st -7th June). We’ve been chatting to Louise McGinty, Volunteer Development Manager, at Quarriers about the types of volunteer opportunities they have across Scotland and hearing... Read more

People volunteer for a number of reasons and over the last few years Good HQ has been encouraging people to share their experiences of volunteering to help raise awareness of the charities they support and encourage others to volunteer too. Take a look at just some of the... Read more

On Wednesday, following a vigorous, four hour debate MSPs voted unanimously in favour of establishing Scotland’s first social security system. Around the Chamber, there were smiles from MSPs, while I, like many colleagues from the third sector, watched on from the gallery... Read more

A campaign which aims to encourage EU nationals to stay and continue to live and work in Scotland despite ongoing uncertainty around Brexit took place in Edinburgh today. Created by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the #EUareValued campaign was launched at... Read more

Universal Credit is back in the news. While there have been a steady stream of stories over the past few years about both the administrative disaster of the rollout and the misery that ‘welfare reform’ has caused recipients, the focus this week has been on how plans for a single... Read more

I was really annoyed to read that new Charity Commission Chair, Baroness Powell, thinks people trust charities no more than they trust the average stranger they meet on the street. I was even more annoyed that she said it in her first major speech in the role, and at the National... Read more

439 days. That’s how long I’ve been Project Coordinator for the Open Government Pioneers Project. It’s the longest I’ve spent in any role. I’ve enjoyed managing a project touching on so many of the things I love – policy, public affairs, campaigns, events and project management... Read more

With key votes coming up on Brexit, SCVO and the Human Rights Consortium Scotland have written to members of the House of Lords to ask them to change the UK Government’s plans to reduce our rights’ protections post-Brexit. Peers will vote on the EU Withdrawal Bill beginning today... Read more

Microvolunteering can have a big impact on your organisation if you do it right. On Sunday, organisations were taking to social media to encourage people to take part in microvolunteer opportunities to support their cause on Microvolunteer Day. What is microvolunteering? Well, it... Read more

Organisations across the third sector have welcomed the Scottish Government’s aspirations to take a rights based approach to social security and are now calling for MSPs to support an amendment to the Social Security (Scotland) Bill, on the subject of independent advocacy. A... Read more

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been with us for well over two years, and now in our third year of action, my most recent blog looked at whether Scotland is moving towards a National Implementation Plan for the Goals. It’s been some time since the First Minister... Read more

There are some things that sit on your ‘to-do’ list for weeks, maybe even months. Things that you really want to do but just never get around to actually doing. It might be starting a new hobby, signing yourself up to that dreaded half marathon or volunteering for a good cause... Read more

In response to the Scottish Government's publication of ‘Protecting what matters – what’s at stake for individuals in the Brexit talks’, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “SCVO warmly welcomes this report... Read more

As a newcomer to the SCVO Policy Officers Network, I had never considered how the Sustainable Development Goals relate to my work, and their impact on policy and priorities in Scotland more broadly. This blog will look at how this works in practice for some elements of Goal three... Read more

Engagement Officer Allan Young says that despite good progress, human rights remain under threat - and we all need to protect them. Seventy years ago the Universal Declaration on Human Rights was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, despite many setbacks... Read more

Let’s assume that you think open government is a good idea. You’d be hard placed to find someone in Scotland who would say otherwise – open sounds better than closed, right? That may be so, but do we really know what it means and why it’s a good idea? Are we sure of the value... Read more

On International Women’s day Sheghley Ogilvie looks at issues around gender equality, from ‘every day sexism’ to the serious social problems that stem from basic inequality. This week I went for lunch with a friend. We chatted about this and that and as we all do from time-to... Read more

On Thursday March 15th next week, a stramash of people frustrated with the way political decisions are made will descend on the Mac in Belfast. They will be binded by their concern for democracy, and the way in which society is being increasingly sidelined by greedy and power... Read more

I recently spoke at The Gathering, the annual event for Scotland’s charities and third sector organisations, run by SCVO. Alongside me on the panel were Dr Kendra Briken from the University of Strathclyde and Rhodri Davies from the Charities Aid Foundation. The question we were... Read more

What is the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)? Often referred to as the ‘women’s bill of rights’, CEDAW is a core international human rights treaty devoted to gender equality. CEDAW spells out in detail women’s human right to... Read more

The pace of progress must accelerate to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That’s according to the latest report from the UN on progress across the world. Now in our third year of action, these words ring true for Scotland as well. Our country’s commitment to the... Read more

I work for the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). We provide advice to NHSScotland on which health technologies offer the best treatment for the people of Scotland. Health technologies can be anything from a wound dressing to a hip replacement. We do not look at medicines... Read more

This year's Gathering was another outstanding success. Two days of stalls, workshops, showcasing, networking, learning and celebrating. Near 3,000 people visited over two days at the SEC and I'm sure every one of them took away at least one nugget of information that will serve... Read more

Survey finds that the public’s trust in charities has dropped, but also highlights some positives, and areas for improvement OK, given that this week is The Gathering and a celebration of charities, let’s start with some good news! Trust and confidence in charities remains high... Read more

The stark message from SCVO’s latest trust figures is that general trust in Scottish charities is down - from 82% in 2016 to 73% in 2018. It is difficult to understand all the factors influencing trust, but one thing is clear - negative media stories continue to be a much... Read more

Why is it that, on average, people born only miles apart in Scotland can have vastly different health outcomes? How do we address these differences and ensure that living a long, healthy life is not a postcode lottery? Who is doing this work and how do we best support them? Those... Read more

Over 100 charities, campaign groups and civil society leaders have joined forces to launch a new Scotland Declaration on Human Rights, calling for leadership to protect rights in the face of Brexit, as new research published today shows considerable public support for human... Read more

The next 12 months will see the UK begin to shape its future relationship with the European Union and set out domestic arrangements to either replace, replicate or re-design existing EU-wide frameworks and institutions. At the moment, discussions are dominated by the technical... Read more

Scottish Social Security Committee vote not to amend Bill to include ‘due regard’ duty This morning (Thursday 8 February 2018), the Scottish Social Security Committee continued to consider the many amendments (over 200 at my last count) lodged at Stage 2 of the Social Security... Read more

With the UK's talks with the EU reaching crunch point, the Prime Minister has 'categorically' ruled out staying in the Custom's Union - a decision caused by the chaos and politics in her own party and her failure of leadership, rather than the result of any thought to the... Read more

A joint statement issued today* by the national third sector bodies of devolved nations Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales details various measures they feel are essential to avoid or minimise the potential harmful impacts of Brexit. The key recommendation from Northern Ireland... Read more

When the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into being, they marked a tectonic shift in how the UN considered global problems – that they are just that – global – and affect all of us. This has the potential to revolutionise how different actors and sectors across the... Read more

Research published by the IPPR Scotland today (31 January 2018) has found that the proposed income tax cuts on lower earnings, through a new Starter Rate, will not be effective at supporting the poorest households in Scotland, and will not help the Scottish Government to meet its... Read more

A national network co-ordinated by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has issued an open letter to government bodies asking them to evidence their commitment to delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Scotland. Scotland’s Sustainable Development... Read more

The Prime Minister has guaranteed that the UK will participate in Erasmus+ until 2020, but what happens next is far from certain. Theresa May has recently guaranteed that the UK will retain access to the Erasmus+ programme until 2020. This was largely touted as good news but... Read more

The Scottish Government are creating plans to tackle our nation’s obesity problem and create a healthier future for Scots. They are seeking views on their ambitions on diet, activity and healthy weight strategy which includes increasing opportunities for people to be more active... Read more

In 2015, the First Minister confirmed that the Scottish Government would be one of the first anywhere in the world to commit to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, both at home and overseas. Since then, all 193 UN member states have signed up to the 17 goals that seek to... Read more

As charities and CASCs, we do not need to worry about recent changes to income tax bands – and nor, in the main, do our donors. Unless you were otherwise engaged with, oh, I don’t know, Christmas shopping last week, you may have noticed the draft Scottish budget being announced... Read more

John Downie, Director of Public Affairs for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said: “Today’s Scottish Government Budget was a landmark one, with the Scottish Government quite radically overhauling the tax system. We welcome the introduction of a more... Read more

Responding to the announcement that facilities run by council arm’s-length bodies will continue to benefit from charity relief from non-domestic rates, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “This decision flies... Read more

A further twenty three organisations from across Scotland have been granted funding for innovative projects which aim to reduce the impact of welfare cuts and poverty in Scotland. Earlier this year, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Angela... Read more

In response to today’s (Wednesday 22 November 2017) Budget announcement by the Chancellor Philip Hammond, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said: “Predictably, The Chancellor’s budget statement today did nothing to... Read more

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) are asking Scottish and Welsh MPs to back the cross-party amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill drafted jointly by the Scottish and Welsh Governments. While both... Read more

In response to today’s (Thursday 2 November 2017) publication of the Scottish Government’s ‘The Role of Income Tax in Scotland’s Budget’ discussion paper, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said: “SCVO welcomes the... Read more

A few weeks ago, SCVO asked us to write a short blog about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Specifically, the SDG concerning gender equality and its link to the rest of the goals. For those unfamiliar, the fifth of the 17 SDGs commits member states to achieving gender... Read more

In recent weeks, Theresa May has resembled the dismembered Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Despite receiving seemingly fatal blows, she somehow survives and carries on regardless. Think what you may of the Prime Minister, her determination is something to behold... Read more

Speak to anyone who has been to a child’s birthday party, to a pipe band competition or a demonstration, and they’ll tell you that more ‘voices’ make you sit up and take notice. This is something that the Scottish voluntary sector knows well. Collective campaigning is our norm... Read more

Most of us have goals that we seek to achieve, either set by ourselves, by who we work for, or both. Common, shared goals are important in delivering real change and none more so, in my opinion, than the global ones for sustainable development set by the United Nations in... Read more

It’s hard to argue with the idea that we all want to live in a more peaceful, fairer world. But is that achievable? The answer is yes, and we have a road map to get there too. The internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 overarching goals which can lead... Read more

Saved from the chopping block by May’s post-election weakness, Phillip Hammond was yesterday able to jump to the dispatch box to deliver another budget and, alas, another u-turn. This time, the roll-out of Universal Credit got a face lift of sorts. The changes include: • The... Read more

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) apply to every country in the world; they recognise that we only have one earth, there is no umbilical cord to provide us with extra resources, there is no extraterrestrial land fill site where we can dispose of our waste. Today, the... Read more

At the weekend I picked up on the story of the Grimsby Seafood Trade having a meeting at Westminster demanding the area receieves Free Trade status after Brexit. It caught my eye because Grimsby was a town that overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU. Grimsby voted 70% to leave... Read more

Policy makers must provide support to the sector to underpin tough legislation on alcohol “This is not a silver bullet.” That’s likely the line we’ll hear most from MSPs and health professionals in the coming months, as minimum unit pricing for alcohol is introduced in Scotland... Read more

With Big Ben currently out of action, the assembled masses of the House of Commons are set to put on a ding-dong of their own. Later today, we will see the beginning of the committee stage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. And it looks like it might be a show worth... Read more

Would you be surprised to hear that Scottish grant-making trusts and foundations gave £300million to Scottish charities last year? Or that the amount donated by grant-making trusts has doubled in the last decade, up from £128m in 2007? Or that it now accounts for 6% of the sector... Read more

Scotland’s Third Sector Governance Forum was set up in 2009 after a roundtable meeting to discuss findings from study into leadership and governance that showed that boards consistently rated their organisational effectiveness higher that the CEO and staff of the organisation. At... Read more

The release of the Paradise Papers during Living Wage week is something of a stark reminder of the inequality that still exists in the UK. While the wealthiest in society are able to stash money overseas, many are still fighting to receive a fair wage for a day’s work. Living... Read more

In the run up to the UK Parliamentary general election in June, a number of voluntary organisations got in touch with us worried about the rules for non-party campaigning at the election, and how they might apply retrospectively. But in many cases the organisations were not... Read more

Scotland’s levels of obesity are the worst in the UK and we are among the heaviest nations in Europe. As an adult, it is now more normal to be overweight or obese in Scotland than it is to be a healthy weight. While if you look around any primary school playground in Scotland... Read more

Happy #LivingWageWeek! This week sees the announcement of the updated real Living Wage, calculated according to the cost of living. The Living Wage increase will mean a payrise for hundreds of thousands of people. There are now 3,600 accredited Living Wage Employers that have... Read more

Until now the political appetite to use the Scottish Government’s tax powers could best be described as limited. Ministers were naturally cautious around the new tax powers – tax is complicated – and alongside the tribal political dynamics we have in Scotland any debate on tax is... Read more

In September 2015, Scotland joined 192 other countries and adopted a set of 17 ‘sustainable goals’ which then came into force in January 2016. The vision – and commitment – is that over the next 15 years “countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight... Read more

Feel you don’t have a say in important decisions? Do you despair at Trump, or flinch at the oncoming car-crash of Brexit, but don’t know what to do? Well why not join a local meet-up group and get involved in Open Government? If you haven't heard of it, Open Government is a... Read more

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is calling for third sector organisations across the country to put supports in place to encourage EU nationals on their staff to remain in Scotland. According to the Office for National Statistics, 117,000 EU nationals left... Read more

When a cross-party group of MEPs warned Home Secretary Amber Rudd that the UK Government's plans to force EU nationals to add their names to a register in the transition period immediately after Brexit would be illegal, you do continue to wonder at the UK Government's appalling... Read more

I recently attended the Corra Foundation’s conference on funding (Corra being the relaunched Lloyds TSB Foundation and a large funder here in Scotland). The day – entitled ‘Change convention: a space to explore how to create positive change in uncertain times’ – kicked off with... Read more

Yesterday saw the start of Challenge Poverty Week, an annual campaign designed to raise awareness of anti-poverty work in Scotland. Bringing together a whole host of campaigners, community activists and people with lived experience, Challenge Poverty Week 2017 is not to be missed... Read more

On September 25th 2015, Scotland, along with 192 other countries, adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Upon looking at the set of goals, two that struck me the most were the goals... Read more

Following the publication of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) first annual report on generosity earlier today, SCVO Chief Executive Martin Sime said: "The people of Scotland make an enormous contribution to our communities through supporting and working for good causes which... Read more

You could be forgiven listening to today’s Ministerial statement on the award of contracts to deliver Fair Start Scotland – the new devolved employment support service which will commence from April 2018 – that the third sector had won the bulk of the contracts. Take it from me... Read more

The campaign to devolve employability services to Scotland lasted more than a decade. It was based on the simple proposition that local control would be better, complementary work could be aligned to deliver a better service and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which... Read more

On this day in 2015, 193 UN member states gathered in New York to sign up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s the closest the world has come to a global strategy for tackling poverty, inequalities and climate change, and the SDGs have quickly become one of the world... Read more

Scotland’s third sector have made clear the grave concerns we hold around the potential loss of human rights protections we all enjoy as part of the EU, the rights of EU citizens living here and the future of EU funding – which so many charities rely on to undertake the great... Read more

Do you seek to influence or lobby MSPs, Scottish Ministers, Scottish Special Advisers or the Permanent Secretary? If so, then by early next year you will need to register any ‘regulated lobbying’ with the Scottish Parliament’s lobbing register. If you are coming to this new, read... Read more

I think it’s fair to say that this is one of the most interesting times I have lived through in terms of an ever changing political landscape. It feels to me that, since the independence referendum, we haven’t known from one week to the next how policy might suddenly shift and... Read more

Earlier today (7 September 2017), the Scottish Government announced details of the £10m Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF), one of the activities funded by the apprenticeship levy. The fund will be open for applications from 11 September 2017 and access will be on a first... Read more