The Programme for this ThinkSpace event is now available on our News Page and as a download. Please share this with your colleagues and your wider communities. As spaces are limited, please book in advance by email. You can also see the Event Invitation on this website. Or read the blog which draws together the key themes on the topic of Self Directed Support.
IF – like me – you wondered why Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, was being so very complimentary to Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, you might like to download the IMF’s (annual) Concluding Statement of its Chapter IV Mission to the UK.
It makes interesting reading.
Alongside the positive signals that the Chancellor’s approach is the ‘right’ one, the statement’s paragraph 5 is tellingly titled ‘Risks are large and clearly tilted to the downside.’
If there’s a glimmer of hope for me behind the worrying headlines emanating from the Eurozone, it’s that we – as a society – might stop and think and re-imagine just what sort of a society we want to live in.
Time to hit the ‘reset’ button?
The report is also available via the following link: https://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2012/052212.htm
Edinburgh Labour has confirmed its appointments to the Labour-SNP coalition administration. The Council will agree appointments to posts over its two meetings on Thursday 17th May and Thursday 24th May. The picks announced on the Edinburgh Labour website are as follows:
| Leader: Andrew Burns |
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| Provost: Donald Wilson |
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| Convener of Education: Paul Godzik |
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| Convener of Health, Social Care & Housing: Ricky Henderson |
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| Convener of Transport & Environment: Lesley Hinds |
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| Convener of Planning: Ian Perry |
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| Convener of Licensing Board: Eric Milligan |
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| Convener of Audit: Maureen Child |
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| Vice-Convener of Regulatory (& Baillie): Angela Blacklock |
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| Vice-Convener of Culture & Leisure: Norma Austin Hart |
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| Vice-Convener of Economic Development: Gordon Munro |
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| Vice-Convener of Health, Social Care & Housing: Cammy Day |
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| Vice-Convener of Finance: Bill Cook |
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Provost and Leader will be formally confirmed at this Thursday’s full council meeting; the rest of the appointments at next week’s council meeting on the 24th.
Meanwhile, Brian Ferguson (Edinburgh-based journalist – @BrianJaffa) tweets: New SNP cllr Richard Lewis, who was born in Australia, like predecessor Deidre Brock, is the #edincouncil ‘culture & leisure’ chair.
The SNP is also expected to name Conveners of the Economic Development and Finance Committees.
All will become clear!
PEOPLE tend naturally to want progress. Humans have an in-built motivation to do better. Most of us also want progress for ourselves and for our neighbours. Some might call that community development, others social justice.
The Edinburgh Partnership has articulated its Vision for Edinburgh in terms of an overarching vision and Four High-Level Outcomes.
Now we’d like to know – is this Your vision for Edinburgh?
Edinburgh is a thriving, successful, sustainable capital city in which all forms of deprivation and inequality are reduced
High ideals, or empty words?
IT is an old platitude that ‘we get the government we deserve!’
An engaged and informed electorate will likely choose a government with policies which benefit most people. Conversely, an apathetic and disengaged electorate is likely to get a government chosen by very few, with policies which appeal to a minority. With reports of an estimated turnout in France’s Presidential first-round primary (held yesterday) of 80 per cent, I cannot help the sinking feeling i get when i read that next month’s local Council elections are expected to see a voter turnout of closer to 50 per cent.
Being strictly non-partisan and staunchly non-party political, EVOC can only encourage people to exercise their right to elect Councillors to represent their interests. To help Edinburgh’s Third Sector engage with the issues, EVOC – on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface – hosted a series of Twilight Talks where a range of Third Sector interests met prospective candidates party-by-party on successive Tuesdays between 6th March and 3rd April.
A Twitter stream using the hashtag #TwillightTalks and a series of Blogs published on EVOC.org.uk captured the key points made during the informal discussions, with each party taking the time to engage with the Third Sector.
Each party was invited to respond to the challenges set within the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto, and party representatives welcomed the opportunity to hear from the Sector as they were developing their own Manifestos for the local Council elections. To help you make up your mind, we’re publishing here links to the main parties’ manifestos for the local elections (in the order in which the parties attended our Twilight Talks.)
Happy Reading, and Happy Voting on the 3rd of May!
FACED with tough choices and the urgent need for action on Welfare Reform, what would you do? Caught between UK Welfare Reform explicitly driven by the imperative to save money on one hand, and the emerging impacts of the financial recession and low/slow growth which drive up demand on the other – what provisions will the Scottish Parliament put in place to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society?
When the Scottish Parliament withheld legislative consent (in part) to the UK Welfare Reform Bill it agreed to set up a Welfare Reform Committee recognising that Scottish legislation would be necessary. At the end of March the Committee invited written views on the general principles of its Welfare Reform (Further Provisions) (Scotland) Bill.
The circumstances are unique and the Bill itself is ‘enabling’ legislation. This means that respondents have little substantive content on which to respond.
Despite the narrow focus, however, Welfare Reform was considered to be of significant import for us to gather views to inform a principled, strategic submission.
We published a mini-briefing on the process and invited representatives of the city’s Third Sector to a ThinkSpace discussion event to gather people’s views on the Bill and on Welfare Reform more generally.
The submission we sent to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee sought to make a small number of high-level points we wished the committee to take into consideration.
We recognised that the Committee would be faced with difficult decisions and that it would need to find the right balance between the need to act urgently and the imperative not to act in haste. We invited the Committee to think carefully about the evidence that would inform its decisions, and we urged the Committee to adopt an enabling approach that built on the skills, experience and wisdom of Housing Associations, Local Authorities, and Scotland’s vibrant Third Sector.
Finally, we made the point that any discussion about the role of Welfare within contemporary Scotland was to be welcomed – in the hope that a recognisably Scottish ‘solution’ could be found which meaningfully included the Third Sector and wider Scottish Civil Society.
AT the last of EVOC’s series of #TwilightTalks, where the city’s Third Sector met Councillors and prospective Councillors, representatives of the SNP committed themselves to working with the Third Sector to find more sustainable ways of funding the vital services the Sector delivers.
On behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface, EVOC hosted a series of evening discussion events where a range of representatives from a spread of organisations met up with the main political parties – one at a time. The last of these, on Tuesday 03 April saw four prospective Councillors from the city’s SNP group, Frank Ross joined Councillors Ronnie Cairns, Stuart Roy McIvor and Rob Munn in a frank and honest exchange of views.
In welcome, EVOC Director Ella Simpson re-iterated the key challenges within the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto: the need for creative, effective Leadership; the need for Trusting relationships; a commitment to Fair Employment which sustainably improves quality of life; a clear recognition that Social and Environmental costs and benefits are as important as Economic outturns; and the challenge to Make Co-Production the Norm.
Cllr Ronnie Cairns was enthusiastic, ‘Your Manifesto’s Fantastic,’ he said, encouraging us to look out for the SNP’s manifesto which was due out soon.
Picking up on the theme of Partnership, Cllr Rob Munn committed the group to working with the city’s Third Sector – a valued resource (‘Without volunteers,’ Cllr Cairns added, ‘Edinburgh would grind to a halt!’) – to develop new ways of sustainable funding.
Frank Ross took the opportunity to express an interest in Social Impact Bonds as a ‘very strong potential source of finance,’ and laid down his group’s commitment to Fair Employment in the shape of a Living Wage for all Council-funded workers.
Much of the conversation centred around funding that evening. Third Sector colleagues challenged the candidates on Competitive Tendering, annual contracts, and the broader impacts of uncertain funding on Third Sector organisations, staff and often-vulnerable service users.
The candidates were united in their frustration with the Alternative Business Models approach, ‘unsure if the sums actually add up,’ and reliant ‘on officers’ advice.’
The floor expressed some frustration, too. The points were passionately put that the Sector did offer Value for Money, that it was flexible and responsive, and that the diversity of Third Sector activity in, with and for communities builds the rich social fabric which makes good places.
‘Third Sector organisations have felt as if we have had a gun to our heads,’ the floor spoke up against a too-narrow focus on driving down costs.
In turn the candidates recognised that lessons had been learned, that keeping dialogue open was essential to achieving our shared aims, and that engaging in the semi-formal #TwilightTalks event had been useful.
Ending on a positive note, Cllr Munn assured the audience that the candidates were listening to the Third Sector, and were committed to keeping that dialogue going.
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Looking back at this series of #TwilightTalks, EVOC will assess the benefits to the sector. If you found this series useful, please do let us know. As we plan for future events in the #TwilightTalks series, please send us your suggestions for topics or formats. At EVOC we are keen that ThinkSpace – whether by way of blogs or social media or events – is a useful and usable resource for the city’s Third Sector.
See you up the Front!
ON Tuesday 27th March representatives of Edinburgh’s Third Sector met up with candidates from the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party Councillors Paul Edie and Robert Aldridge for a frank exchange of views covered in a wide-ranging discussion.
The fourth #TwilightTalks event at EVOC brought a core of committed Third Sector players together to build on the themes within the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto for Council Elections 2012, to share their thinking with candidates in the May elections, and to hear from candidates about their aspirations and expectations for the next five years.
Key themes to emerge included the unrealised potential for Edinburgh’s Neighbourhood Partnerships to strengthen local democracy and accountability, the urgent need to build and develop trust between sectors and between individuals, and the clear recognition on all sides that putting people, their needs and their assets front and centre makes for good policy.
Ella Simpson, EVOC Director, welcomed people and reminded everyone of the key themes and challenges within the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto: Leadership, Inequalities, Trust, Co-Production, Fair Employment, and the limits of Competitive Tendering. The Candidates were invited to make brief responses before questions and comments from the floor.
Cllr Paul Edie, responding, was keen to point out that the current Lib-Dem led Administration in Edinburgh has ‘provided strong leadership,’ and brought to the Council ‘careful stewardship of public finance.’ The group heard clearly that the party sees the Voluntary Sector as ‘integral to delivering Public Services.’ Cllr Edie assured the meeting that he was ‘very passionate’ about Neighbourhood Partnerships. With refreshing candour Cllr Edie told the group he ‘struggles to see what Co-Production means in practice.’
As you’d expect, the group was not short of helpful suggestions. The meeting heard the view that since ‘Co-Production was a rich and generative term,’ perhaps it was no surprise that different people had their own views on what Co-Production was and what it wasn’t. EVOC’s (and the Edinburgh Compact Partnership’s) accepted ‘definition’ was: ‘Co-Production is about equal and respectful, trusting and purposeful relationships – between policy-makers and those affected by the policy, service-providers and service-users, and between budget decision-makers and those affected by budget decisions.’
On the issue of more effective use of physical assets – schools, community centres and the like – the group heard that the newly-opened Drumbrae hub exemplified a new approach to community use of public facilities. We also heard a powerful case for a ‘community centre renaissance’ which could come simply from being open and accepting of new partners and new ideas.
Notably, Cllr Aldridge told the meeting of a growing interest in measuring the Social Impacts of their policy decisions. Underlying this theme is the recognition that public policy needs to take account of social and environmental impacts as well as economic impacts.
Returning to a consistent theme from the session, in closing Ella left us with the challenge to all of us to work together consistently to build a positive culture of Trust.
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Hosted by EVOC on behalf of Edinburgh’s Third Sector Interface, next Tuesday sees the final event in this series of Twilight Talks taking place from 5.30 – 7.00pm on Tuesday 03 April where Third Sector representatives will meet Council candidates from the Scottish National Party.
Read more about this programme of events: https://www.evoc.org.uk/blog-archive/embrace-the-change/ and view the agenda and details: https://www.evoc.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/media/2012/02/Twilight_Talks_on_a_Tuesday2.pdf
And if you’re into Twitter, please use the hashtag #TwilightTalks
OVER two days last week I was privileged to join hundreds of people keen to tackle poverty at The Poverty Alliance’s third Poverty Assembly. Details – and plenty of multimedia – via YouTube and at PovertyAlliance.org and via #PovertyAssembly for those of a twitterary bent.
I was heartened and encouraged by what I saw and heard through the interactions between civil society organisations, politicians, commentators and real live activists – with a slew of social media staff and volunteers active across the two days.
Heartened, yes. Encouraged, most certainly. But still, I left the two days hungry for more change, more urgently. The old Politics, the old Economics have served society poorly. Though there is a discernible desire to make positive change with people, for people, the alternatives have gained too little traction.
We hear talk of the new consensual politics – but we see the old, oppositional tribalism.
We hear talk of the new, person-centred economy – but we see Governments – at every level – hoping to return to Business-As-Usual (and struggling Third Sector organisations vying amongst themselves to be the most Business-like!)
On day two of the #PovertyAssembly we were invited to make a pledge for the next year. I promised to speak out more strongly to End Poverty, and to Tweet more to #EndPoverty. Expect more. I hope many who were there pledged to be greedy for good, to want more, to expect better.
The time is right for an Economy that serves People, rather than People being slaves to the Economy.
The time is right for a Politics that relocate Power with the Many not the Few.
The time is right for a Society that turns its back on the destructive and divisive values of hyper-consumerism, and rather values Human Assets and the Core Economy – caring and life-enhancing, creative and joyful.
[A version of this blog will appear on the Poverty Alliance blogsite in due course.]
FindMe: @evoc_milind
AT the third of our #TwililghtTalks on Tuesday, with representatives of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, three candidates who are currently councillors put forward the Conservative approach to Edinburgh’s Third Sector and responded to a range of issues raised by Third Sector representatives present.
Looking forward to the Council Elections on Thursday 3rd May EVOC published last October the Edinburgh Third Sector Manifesto on behalf of the Edinburgh Third Sector Interface. The series of #TwilightTalks takes forward this work – offering an opportunity for candidates to respond to the challenges within the Manifesto and to ‘set out their stall’ with a Third Sector audience.
On Tuesday 20th March EVOC played host to a panel of three Conservative Councillors – Cameron Rose, Elaine Aitken and group leader Jeremy Balfour.
EVOC Director Ella Simpson welcomed the candidates and invited them to respond to the key challenges within the Third Sector Manifesto.
To recap: Challenges for Candidates from our Manifesto include the following.
Leader of the Conservative Group on the City of Edinburgh Council, Cllr Jeremy Balfour responded on behalf of the panel. He began by reassuring us that what the candidates heard that evening would influence their thinking over the next five-year term. The Conservative manifesto was nearing completion, we heard, and we will be looking for evidence that an open airing of Third Sector issues will have influenced the party’s thinking.
Cllr Balfour went on to outline the three key points that would shape the party’s approach to Edinburgh’s Third Sector: Zero-based budgeting, Three-year funding, and a Senior Third Sector Champion.
This would mean that Local Authority spending would follow more clearly priorities shared across the whole Council, that Council-funded Third Sector organisations could depend on three-year funding agreements, and that a senior politician (possibly the Deputy Leader or the Deputy Provost) would become a ‘champion’ for the city’s Third Sector and – we were told – a ‘gatekeeper.’ [N.B. the word ‘Czar’ was Not mentioned even once!]
The first questions from the audience centred around the contentious question of Competitive Tendering. It was put to the panel that the Competitive Tendering approach to funding forced service-delivering organisations to cut costs and that services suffered as a result.
Cllr Cameron Rose said that the Conservatives were committed to Competitive Tendering in principle, but recognised that the practice had gone ‘off the rails.’ Cllr Balfour was keen to put his view that competitive tendering helped to deliver Value for Money and that the approach encouraged Third Sector organisations to work cooperatively together.
Although it was clear that there were differences, Cllr Balfour suggested that the party and the Third Sector could disagree ‘as friends.’
The last word from the Conservative Group leader was positive and encouraging. ‘Let’s meet more often,’ he suggested – ‘not just once every five years!’
If you’d like to see what’s in the party’s Edinburgh Manifesto, visit the Local Government pages of the Scottish Conservatives’ website.
Now past the half-way mark in our series of Twilight Talks, we look forward to welcoming the Liberal Democrats next Tuesday, and the Scottish National Party at the final Twilight Talks event on Tuesday 3rd April. For details of the programme and of how to book places, visit EVOC’s Events pages.
If you are not able to attend, or would like to follow the discussion from afar, we will continue to tweet live using the hashtag #TwilightTalks. You can also use that hashtag to tweet us your questions or comments to put to party representatives on the following two Tuesdays.
