Latest Sector's role in the economy news & opinion

Dear First Minister Congratulations on your election as First Minister of Scotland. I very much look forward to working with you again in this new role, and I am very pleased that Shirley-Anne Somerville has retained her role as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice. We were... Read more

Last week brought another Spring Budget – and it all felt a bit like Groundhog Day, didn’t it? Pre-election giveaways caught the headlines – against a backdrop of low growth and productivity. Disappointingly absent from the Chancellor’s statement was recognition of the... Read more

If it now feels that the political conversation on Levelling Up has moved on, last week was a reminder that funding is still being distributed in Scotland. The Chancellor announced £80million for the ‘expansion of Levelling Up partnership programmes in Scotland’ in the Autumn... Read more

SCVO's policy and public affairs team braced ourselves for a busy start to the year – you may recall my blog from December. We've needed to continue to raise the profile of immediate issues affecting voluntary organisations, such as the escalating energy costs and lingering high... Read more

Scotland’s National Performance Framework (NPF), a policy tool that sets out Scotland's National Outcomes and 81 Indicators as specific measures of progress, is currently under review. At a time when a new policy framework or strategy emerges every week in Scotland with little to... Read more

Another day, another budget, at least that’s how I felt on Wednesday morning as I prepared for the Spring Statement. Yet, despite a glut of fiscal events over the last few months, the last UK Budget took place in October 2021, 500 days before our new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt MP... Read more

Today the SCDI published the report and recommendations from the The Business Purpose Commission for Scotland. As a member of the Commission, I found the discussion fascinating in exploring the role of the public, private and voluntary sectors in delivering economic, social and... Read more

Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison argues for a broader view of what it means to be a prosperous economy and advocates for the role of the third sector in supporting that. Read more

Alastair Davis argues that the social enterprise sector can only achieve exponential growth in economic impact through mainstream its products and services within consumer and B2B markets. Read more

Neil McInroy explains how Community Wealth Building could provide the practical answer to transforming Scotland's economic system Read more