Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office, Edinburgh - Briefing Document Eight

Email SCPO

Parliamentary Officer:Rev Graham Blount
Phone:
0131 558 8137

Briefing Document No 8 - Page 1 of 4

Supporting Active Communities

"We need nothing less than a step change in public involvement in the community. Let those of us who believe in the power of community reclaim the idea of doing good and wear it as a badge of pride." (Tony Blair, January 1999).

The Active Community initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in January 1999. It sets out (a) to promote the value of community involvement (b) to encourage more people to become involved as volunteers and in community action, and (c) to support public, private and voluntary agencies so that they recognise the important contribution that active communities make towards planning, policy making and service delivery.

A Scottish Active Communities Working Group was set up by the Scottish Executive to develop this strategy for the active community in Scotland. They see their work as building on a strong sense of "co-operative values" in Scotland, and on the strength of civil society. Their report, now published as a consultation paper, emphasises the role of voluntary groups and volunteering in combating social exclusion: "Our vision is of a society built around communities of place and of interest, in which it is known and accepted that people can and do freely engage in shared action leading to improved quality of life for themselves and others. Our mission is to create a long-term strategic framework that will make it easier for all those who wish to engage in volunteering and community action to do so." (s14)

To achieve this, four objectives are identified:
1) To bring about more positive attitudes, at all levels, towards volunteering and community action
2) To locate volunteering and community action at the heart of policy and practice
3) To broaden the range of people involved
4) To increase the number of people involved.

Twenty-three action points are identified to carry out objective one, divided among those directed at changing the public's view, the policymakers' view, the attitudes within the voluntary sector, the private sector, the professions, the media, and the attitudes of the public sector. They want bodies involved in funding the voluntary sector to emphasise the use of volunteers and urge that "good practice and success stories about involving volunteers and the community should be disseminated".

Fifteen action points are devoted to objective two, mainly concerned with increasing the inclusion of volunteering at policy level not only in government but also in corporations, local authorities, and in the voluntary sector itself.

Broadening the range of those involved in volunteering is recognised to be a complex and expensive procedure, and the first few action points of objective three address how to make agencies aware of just what type of changes will be needed to increase the range of volunteers. The other action points are concerned with enlisting support to help volunteer recruitment develop in specific communities, such as among the elderly, ethnic minorities, and the disabled.

Before the goal of increasing the number of volunteers in Scotland, the Group feel a comprehensive survey is needed to assess accurately how many people are involved at present. Therefore the first action point for objective four is the establishment of such a survey. There is also an emphasis on improving practice in recruiting, encouraging, supporting and training volunteers.