The Report of the Christie Commission on the Future of Public Services in Scotland, published on 29 June, calls for radical reform of Scotland’s public services, in both delivery and culture. It identifies unprecedented challenges to the public sector in terms of sharply reduced budgets and increased demand from a changing demography and growing social need.The Commission’s report argues against structural reform of any service in isolation and against any ‘top down’ reform of public services. It concludes that nothing less than an urgent and sustained programme of reform embracing a new collaborative culture will allow Scotland to deal with a situation in which budgets will not return to 2010 levels for 16 years. It therefore has a lot to say that supports the argument for community development approaches. It calls on the Scottish Government, local authorities and other stakeholders to take forward an urgent, coherent and sustained programme of reform to give effect to its recommendations.

All of the “key objectives” of the proposed “reform programme” have clear implications for community development work. These objectives are:

• “public services are built around people and communities, their needs, aspirations, capacities and skills, and work to build up their autonomy and resilience;
• public service organisations work together effectively to achieve outcomes – specifically, by delivering integrated services which help to secure improvements in the quality of life, and the social and economic wellbeing, of the people and communities of Scotland;
• public service organisations prioritise prevention, reduce inequalities and promote equality; and
• all public services constantly seek to improve performance and reduce costs, and are open, transparent and accountable”.

The challenge for people involved in community development must now be to be sufficiently clear about the relevance and effectiveness of what they can offer for it to be included in such a programme.

The recommendations about the proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill have not yet attracted much discussion but are potentially far-reaching.  Although they appear specific, they would require a great deal of work from people like CDAS members to make them a workable reality:

“(4.40-4.41)While we recognise that the acquisition of assets can be a catalyst for community development, we believe that a new Bill must include a more comprehensive incentive to community empowerment. We recommend that in developing proposals for a … Bill the Scottish Government explores the potential of the Bill to promote:

• significantly improved community participation in the design and delivery of public services;
• and action to build community capacity, recognising the particular needs of communities facing multiple social and economic challenges”

Reactions

COSLA has warmly welcomed the report and given its full backing to its findings and recommendations, saying that “in terms of a route map this is a journey that local government is both willing and able to travel. … We are pleased to see the link between circumstance and demand for services at last being recognised.  For this reason we are also pleased that the report recommends more spend on prevention and that there is a real focus towards integration, decentralisation and localism”.

COSLA’s proposals for immediate action by councils are:

• strengthening Community Planning and making it more accessible to communities
• focusing more of council spend on early intervention rather than solving problems that have already occurred.
• continuing with the sectoral reform already begun
• benchmarking improved performance to ensure best practise is shared.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has called on the Government to act on the Christie Commission’s emphasis on putting people first by prioritising preventative spend.  They are looking for the Government to put people and communities at the heart of public services, support the most vulnerable and prevent need from arising.

The Scottish Community Development Centre  has welcomed the report’s emphasis on the need to tackle persisting inequalities in Scottish society and the need to engage and work with local communities and individuals in order to build their capacity, resilience and independence.  It is preparing a response in order to engage with national and local policy makers to develop real and practical actions that will help take forward the commission’s recommendations.  If you are interested in taking part in a discussion of this please contact andrew@scdc.org.uk or phone 0141 222 4837.