Last Wednesday 23rd January I attended a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Finance and Budget subcommittee, to present the case of the Third Sector in respect to the draft budget for 2013/14. Members of the subcommittee received copies of Courage to Collaborate, an analysis of the impact of the sector commissioned on behalf of the Third Sector Interface (EVOC, Volunteer Centre Edinburgh and Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network.) The evidence presented in this report was seen as informative as well as challenging, and was very well-received, factoring greatly into their deliberations.
The report, together with the online survey conducted prior to the holiday break, and the consultation event which took place on 12th December, have all contributed to the Council administration amending the draft budget as follows:
- £1.2 million to the sector, originally planned to be cut, has been reinstated
- of the £1 million originally planned to be cut from employability funding, £800K has been reinstated
The revised draft budget proposal will be published later this week, and presented officially for debate at the Council budget meeting on Thursday 7th February.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the evidence-gathering, in particular to the organisations willing to be featured as case studies within the report.
While the budget consultation is moving toward its conclusion, Council Leader Andrew Burns agrees that we are at the start of a strategic discussion about how the Council will continue to invest in the city’s Third Sector, as part of its commitment to a Cooperative Council.
Please watch this space as EVOC develops further opportunities to engage the sector in this discussion and to work in partnership with the Council.
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