Paper 1
SCVO POLICY COMMITTEE
Wednesday 18th March 2009
Augustine Church Centre, Edinburgh
Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday 10th December 2008 at Cosla, Edinburgh.
Present: Alison Elliot (Convener), Helen Tyrrell (Vice-Convener), Alex Cole-
Hamilton, Chris Robison, David Griffiths, Liz Rowlett, Florence Edmond,
Gregor McNie, John MacDonald, Julie Hogg, Kirsten Gooday, Margaret
Murdoch, Morna Wilson, Nancy Taylor, Niall Smith, Penny Brodie, Simon
Jaquet
Apologies: Alan Dickson, Brian Pearson, Deepak Gill, Eliane Reid, Ella Simpson, Ian
McLaughlan, James Jopling, Kenneth Simpson, Lindsay Hall, Gareth Allan,
Martin Sime, John Ferguson, Tim Hencher, Paul White, Stephen Maxwell
In Attendance: Lucy McTernan, Ruchir Shah, Peter McColl, Susan Ramsay, Jackie
Petitqueux, Nancy Fancott
The Convenor welcomed everyone to the ‘Big Thinking’ session and introduced Caroline Sawyers, Senior Policy Officer from the Big Lottery Fund who would be speaking to the meeting.
Caroline thanked the Convener for the introduction and explained that she would be involved in analysing feedback from the various consultations being held across the UK. She then explained the background to the ‘Big Thinking’ programme and spoke of the main issues for the voluntary sector. She particularly encouraged Policy Committee members to log onto the website www.big-thinking.org.uk and complete the questionnaire both for the UK and Scotland (10 questions in each section). Caroline then thanked SCVO for the opportunity to speak to its Policy Committee and looked forward to seeing SCVO’s submission to the consultation.
The Convener thanked Caroline for the interesting presentation and the meeting broke for lunch.
Business Meeting
The Convener opened the meeting by extending a special welcome to four of the five new members who had recently been elected – Julie Hogg, Florence Edmond, Kirsten Gooday and Nancy Taylor. Brian Pearson had been unable to attend and sent his apologies. After other apologies were read, there was a round table introduction and the Convener moved to the first item on the agenda – minutes of 1st October 2008.
1. Minutes of Wednesday 1st October 2008
Approved
2. Matters Arising
#3 - State of the Sector
Ruchir gave feedback. A meeting of the sub-group had now been held and various options had been discussed. Both the format and themes had now been decided.
3. Co-options to Policy Committee
The Convener explained that Policy Committee could be a larger body if we chose, as our Memorandum and Articles allowed up to a total of 8 co-optees if there was a lack of representation in specific areas of interest. She directed members’ attention to the accompanying paper which identified those areas and to which the Intermediaries network had recommended another two be added (education and women). The meeting was asked if there were further recommendations and Helen Tyrrell suggested a European/International representative while David Griffiths backed the suggestion of a grass roots member and the extension of village halls representation to include rural development. Given the increasing number of suggested co-options Alex Cole-Hamilton thought there was a risk the PC could end up too large a body and wondered if SCVO should change the way in which its Policy Committee was made up. Rather than have an open election would it be better to identify all the relevant interest areas and ask the sector for a representative from each one? Lucy said a previous review of governance had considered this scenario but it had been turned down as it was not seen as democratic though there may be a case for the Mgt Board to review our governance. Penny Brodie suggested that the Policy Committee not fill all 8 places, especially if specialist advice was needed in the future and no co-opted places were left. A general discussion took place and Chris Robison said he understood that he sat on the Policy Committee as a representative for the sector as a whole and not for his own field and there was general agreement on this. David Griffiths commented that he understood a co-optee place was only given when a particular ‘expert’ was required for a particular issue. He did not feel that a place should be given ad hoc to anyone who chose not to stand for election but said they were willing to be co-opted. SCVO advertised that it had a mandate to speak on behalf of the sector because its committee was elected but 8 co-optees would make up more than 25% of the committee. Lucy picked up Penny’s suggestion that not all of the available places be used and asked the meeting to consider whether some of the interest groups could be merged in order to cut down the number. Niall Smith pointed out that since Lindsay Hall had been elected to the Policy Committee, this gave it 2 representatives from rural areas/village halls so no co-option was now required for those areas. It was agreed that a grass roots member should still be co-opted and Lucy/Paul White would endeavour to identify one which had an arts or advice background. Europe, Social Enterprise and the Environment were identified as areas to be covered but it was agreed that no decisions on specific individuals would be taken that day and the matter would be referred back to the Management Board. Lucy was asked if co-options were always for the full 3 year term and she replied that they could be for a 1 or 2 year period only. The question on the capacity in which members sat on the Policy Committee was raised again and Lucy explained that they were there to represent the sector as a whole but a balanced view was necessary, hence the mix of organisations.
The Policy Committee agreed the following:
· that representatives to cover the areas of grassroots, social enterprise, Europe/International and environment should be co-opted.
· that the volunteers for co-option be thanked but their offer would not be taken up at the present time
· that the matter of the balance of co-options would be referred to the Management Board for review.
4. Big Lottery Fund Scotland consultation
The Convener referred to the ‘presentation’ which had been given by Caroline Sawyers earlier and said although the consultation would be discussed in plenary it would be helpful if a small focus group was set up to concentrate on the Scottish questions in particular.
Lucy told the meeting that the London office had prepared UK wide questions only, before there had been a belated realisation that there should be some different questions for Scotland.
A general discussion ensued and worry was expressed over the apparent closure of access to new BLF funding for approximately 2 years. Gregor McNie said he was very concerned about the UK-wide programme vs the Scotland programme as he felt the main percentage of funding should go to Scotland. Lucy replied that the Lottery Board devolved a certain percentage of money to Scotland and she was hoping this would be 100%. Alex Cole-Hamilton said he was uncomfortable with Question 7 on the Scottish section of the consultation and found it troubling that the BLF were thinking of linking funding with single outcome agreements/local agreements. Lucy shared his concern but felt the important part of the question was the latter part and members could put forward their thoughts at that juncture. Further discussion took place and the Convener then raised the question of a sub-group/focus group and asked for volunteers. Florence Edmond, Margaret Murdoch and Julie Hogg said they were willing to join the group and Peter McColl, SCVO, said he would be in touch with them at a later date.
The Board agreed that a sub-group comprising the above 3 people should take this forward and after deliberation would circulate a paper to the Policy Committee.
Discussion Items
The Convener explained that after an introduction to the agenda items (below), the meeting would break into smaller groups for discussion.
5. Global Financial Crisis and Economic Downturn
Ruchir Shah introduced the Global Financial Crisis paper. The operating environment was going to become very difficult and there would obviously be a delay in funding. SCVO had already approached the Scottish Government with specific ‘asks’ (see paper) and Policy Committee were asked if they could suggest any more.
6. Extension of Freedom of Information Act
Nancy Fancott told the meeting that SCVO needed to have an idea of what the voluntary sector thought of the Freedom of Information Act in general and whether they agreed it should be extended to include the three new categories (Contractors, Registered Social Landlords, Local Authority Trusts) suggested by Scottish Government. Since the deadline for the submission of responses was 12th January 2009 it was hoped that a decision could be taken today.
7. Pensions
Lucy said the pensions issue was a slow-burning one. The SCVO Management Board had been following developments closely and had noted specific issues for SCVO but had also acknowledged that the voluntary sector as a whole had the same issues and concerns. Some organisations were considering becoming SCIO’s when this category was available but doing so ran the risk of crystallising their debt.
The meeting then broke into 3 groups.
8. Report-back
Global Financial Crisis and Economic Downturn
Helen Tyrrell reported from the above group.
As well as the existing asks, further suggestions included support for voluntary organisations to increase volunteering opportunities (eg NHS); practical help such as a longer grace period to apply for disclosure for existing staff; pursuing the fairer funding agenda (as in continuing the 28p/£ gift aid, and the payment of grants on time).
Possible opportunities for the sector included a potential increase in volunteering, (arising from redundancies and the availability of specialist workers) increased trustee involvement (financial & legal) and greater community empowerment and engagement.
Support for the sector included shared premises/services; simplified reporting requirements for funders (via Funders Forum), standardisation of application processes.
Helen reported that the group had endorsed the findings which had come out of the financial seminar (Financial Sustainability) held on 26th November and that SCVO should be gathering intelligence by keeping track of voluntary organisations getting into difficulty.
Extension of Freedom of Information Act
Nancy Fancott reported back. There was strong support for the Act but very serious concerns were expressed about the way in which the Government was considering extending it. Given the short timescale it had been decided not to get into alternative suggestions at this stage and Lucy said she would flag up to government the inadequacy of the response period for the consultation, especially over the Xmas period.
Pensions
There was little which could be resolved by discussion and Tim Hencher said he would be grateful if a sub-group of the Policy Committee could be formed in order to look at the issues in more depth. Margaret Murdoch volunteered for the group and Lucy said an email would be sent to PC members after the meeting in order to make sure everyone had an opportunity to join the sub-group.
9. Equality and Human Rights Consultation
Nancy told the meeting that the EHRC consultation was being reported in 2 stages and the first response would be coming out in January. A group from the intermediaries network had been set up and it would look at the response prior to its general release. As far as the grants programme was concerned, SCVO would feed in work already done on this section – input for which had been given by equality groups from the intermediaries network. If anyone had specific questions or comments she asked them to contact her directly. Ruchir added that since Liz Rowlett of the Scottish Equality Disability Forum was involved in this group, he suggested that she be the link back to the Policy Committee and this was agreed.
REPORTS
10. Green Agenda
Jackie Petitqueux introduced the paper. The key role was to mainstream the green agenda so non-environmental organisations were equally important as environmental ones. A lot was happening on a UK and European level but ‘culture’ changes were needed.
Resource-wise, some important changes were occurring, eg a Climate Challenge Fund had been set up by the Scottish Government and was available for groups who wanted to make a difference locally. As a result, many community groups were becoming incorporated because they had to be constituted in order to apply for this funding.
Jackie drew attention to the bullet points listed on page 3 and highlighted in particular the recommendation that a dedicated website providing information and signposting to resources be developed. Currently no single portal was in existence and enquirers had to access the webpages of various environmental groups to look for general information.
Kirsten Gooday said she felt uncomfortable with the fact that SCVO’s work on this subject would cross over with single issue organisations which were dedicated to environmental matters but Jackie assured her that Changeworks and Scottish Environment Link who had been consulted in this capacity, were happy for SCVO to do this as we did not provide specialist advice.
The Policy Committee noted the report.
11. Localism Agenda
Lucy spoke of the important of SCVO’s current work on the localism agenda. Catherine Hughson and Alan Dickson were both members of the Joint Task Group on the Third Sector.
Peter McColl asked that the meeting note that the second iteration of Single Outcome Agreements, unlike the first, would not be signed off by a Government Minister but by the CPPs. Alex Cole-Hamilton said John Swinney always reported that CPPs involved voluntary organisations but when asked, 90% of those organisations said they had not been consulted.
The Convener asked that Policy Committee members who had knowledge of, or experience of this should feed it into SCVO so we could have a snapshot of the situation.
John MacDonald asked for further clarification on the second paragraph, ‘Changes in Infrastructure Organisations’ and Lucy said it meant that not only CVSs or VCs working in the same area should work more closely together but also CVSs with other CVSs in the same local authority area.
On the subject of funding, Kirsten asked if SCVO were putting together guidance for this, and said CCPS had been working on this for 18 months and had all the relevant parties on board, so SCVO would find it impossible to do anything similar in 2 months. Lucy acknowledged that SCVO were aware of the hard work already done by CCPS and were more than happy to co-operate. Ruchir mentioned the last paragraph and the existence of the High Level Steering Group (Audit Scotland, CoSla, SOLACE, Scottish Government, Improvement Service) and said some members thought SCVO should have been represented on this. Penny Brodie agreed and thought that if the voluntary sector had no influence on the guidelines they should certainly have an input into the High Level Group.