Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015: update and findings report

Assessment of Community Planning

Part 2: Community Planning

Part 2 Community Planning came into force on 20 December 2016. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (the Act) made significant changes to community planning legislation, previously contained in Part 2 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003.

The Act introduced a clear statutory purpose for community planning focused on improving outcomes. Community planning became explicitly about how public bodies work together and with the local community to plan for, resource and provide services which improve local outcomes in the Local Authority area, all with a view to reducing inequalities.

The 2015 Act requires Community Planning Partnerships (CPP’s) to:

• co-operate with other partners in carrying out community planning
• prepare and publish a Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP) which sets out the local outcomes which the CPP will prioritise for improvement
• identify smaller areas within the Local Authority area which experience the poorest outcomes, and prepare and publish locality plans to improve outcomes on agreed priorities for these communities
• review and report publicly on progress towards their LOIP and locality plans, and keep the continued suitability of these plans under review
• “contribute such funds, staff and other resources as the CPPs considers appropriate” to improve local outcomes in the LOIP and secure participation of community bodies throughout community planning

It also requires each CPP to take account of LOIPs in carrying out its own functions.

Importantly, not only did the 2015 Act expand the number of public sector bodies that are subject to community planning duties, it placed explicit duties to support shared leadership and collective governance on specified CPPs: the local authority, NHS, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and enterprise agencies.

The community planning statutory guidance provided a renewed vision for community planning and set out a number of ambitious and challenging principles of effective community planning, around the following areas:

• Community participation and co-production
• Tackling inequalities
• Shared leadership
• Governance and accountability
• Understanding of local communities’ needs, circumstances and opportunities
• Focus on key priorities
• Focus on prevention
• Resourcing improvement
• Effective performance management

The Committee’s inquiry and findings

In spring 2023 the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee undertook a post-legislative scrutiny of the Community Empowerment Act 2015, including specifically Part 2 (Community Planning). The Committee’s main objectives were to look at the impact the Act has had on community planning and to explore how CPPs respond to significant events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

The Committee took evidence from a wide range of witnesses including from Joe FitzPatrick, then Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning, who gave further evidence to Committee on 5 September 2023. The Scottish Government worked closely with COSLA, the Community Planning Improvement Board (CPIB) and the Community Planning Network (CPN) to inform its response to the Committee in August 2023.

Given the robust and thorough review undertaken by the Committee, the Scottish Government has taken the evidence given and its findings as the basis for this assessment of Part 2 of the 2015 Act. The Scottish Government has complemented this through engaging with partners to understand the areas where most value can be added to enable community planning to flourish as a lever for reform. As part of the Scottish Government’s joint work with COSLA on community planning under the Verity House Agreement (see ‘Improvement Work’ for more detail), in summer 2024 the Scottish Government reviewed the response to Committee and agreed the findings which will broadly be taken forward, either within the dedicated community planning improvement work, or through wider, interconnected work by other policy areas. These are:

• streamlining complex lines of accountability
• exploring Audit Scotland’s routine audit of statutory partners other than Local Authorities, regarding the effectiveness of their participation in community planning
• addressing variation in the standard and effectiveness of CPPs and sharing examples of best practice across CPPs
• helping renew CPPs’ focus on the importance of empowerment and participation through identifying opportunities to drive improvement and share best practice, such as increasing the funding provided to the Improvement Service
• refreshing the community planning guidance and ensuring legislative and policy coherence between community planning and priorities such as Community Wealth Building and increasing regionalisation of economic development
• giving early consideration to the role of CPPs in delivering the ambitions of a Community Wealth Building Bill and explore how CPPs can best contribute to increasing regional economic collaboration and encourage collaboration between CPPs within regions
• considering amending the Act to require CPPs to invite the local Third Sector Interface and local anchor organisations to be partners
• considering whether CPPs are sufficiently funded and exploring how CPPs can direct their own resources
• commissioning research into the impact made by CPPs in improving inequalities
• better aligning of outcomes across the public sector, from the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework through to local delivery by statutory partners and considering whether Aberdeen CPP’s work to align objectives should be used as a case study and incorporated into the statutory guidance for CPPs
• fostering more sharing of and continuity in CPP leadership and exploring what training is needed to enable effective leadership of CPPs
• incorporating the role of CPPs into the Local Governance Review work being undertaken jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA

For the reasons set out in the Scottish Government’s response to Committee at the time, the following findings are not actively being taken forward because existing legislation and statutory guidance provide sufficient scope to meet the intention of the findings:

• defining the role of CPPs in any national guidance on the local response to emergency situations (such as another pandemic)
• consider how CPPs can best encourage the involvement of the private sector in community planning, for example through Business Gateway which is delivered by Local Authorities

Finally, the Committee found that Scottish Government should explore how it can support community planning by resourcing a network of local community engagement officers within Local Authorities, and by encouraging Local Authorities to ensure they have sufficient community planning officers. Under the Verity House Agreement, Scottish Government has committed to no ring-fencing or direction of funding – resourcing a network of engagement officers would run contrary to this principle. However, it is important that all partners, not just Local Authorities, support the effective and efficient delivery of community planning, including the role of community engagement. This is particularly important for those partners which have additional statutory responsibilities to support shared leadership and governance – many of whom are accountable to Ministers. Scottish Government will ensure that those public bodies that can contribute to community planning play their part.

Scottish Government assessment of community planning

It is clear that there are areas of excellence where CPPs are embedding the principles of the Act not only in what they’re doing but in how: demonstrating clear commitments to shared leadership (for example Dumfries & Galloway CPP), clear outcomes and aligned objectives (for example Aberdeen CPP), transparent structures that enable accountability to communities (for example Aberdeenshire CPP) and in many areas a shift from consultation to new methods that enable greater community participation (including, for example West Lothian CPP, Argyll & Bute CPP).

On the other hand, the Committee’s findings demonstrate that there are areas where community planning is less effective. It has been reflected through the Scottish Government’s engagement that this is not down to any single stakeholder: what happens at the level of local partners, national bodies and central government all has an impact.

At a local level, a CPP’s effectiveness can depend on the ecosystem of partners involved, the quality and meaningfulness of their engagement and the willingness of all partners to share leadership, accountability and budgets. At the national level, there can be variation in the consistency of the contribution to CPPs of public bodies which have the same statutory leadership duties as Local Authorities. There can be a tension between the growing focus on regional approaches (e.g. Regional Economic Partnerships) and community planning, all vying for the same limited resource in national organisations. Finally, key stakeholders, including the Community Planning Improvement Board, have told the Scottish Government that the barriers to effective community planning also stem from the Scottish Government: either from complex, overlapping reporting and accountability structures; to inflexible funding (through ringfencing or through policy direction); and burdensome reporting requirements across a cluttered policy landscape.

Community Planning as a Lever for Public Service Reform

The Programme for Government 2024-25 recognises that high quality public services improve people’s lives here and now, but also play an important role as the first line of defence against longer-term impacts that inequalities have on people, the economy, and public services.

The Scottish Government’s public service reform programme provides an overarching approach, principles and structure to improve public services through reform, and ultimately deliver the ambition for services that are place-based, relational and preventative.

Community planning should be a key vehicle through which public service reform can be achieved, enabling effective integration of service planning, provision and community empowerment. CPPs bring together key public services in a place and have the potential to become drivers of the shift to prevention in an area, allowing public services to act together to plan with partners to improve outcomes in communities, in turn reducing the demand on the public purse.

The Verity House Agreement sets out the importance the Scottish Government and COSLA place on community planning. It recognises CPPs as a critical mechanism for the alignment of resource locally, focused on prevention and early intervention, and delivering our shared priorities. It commits the Scottish Government to ensuring that those public bodies that can contribute to community planning, play their part, including in involving local third sector and community bodies in promoting and improving wellbeing. And it reaffirms the role of Scottish Government Place Directors as ambassadors for Local Government and CPPs across portfolios and programmes, building a strong understanding about place-based leadership and the local plans that focus on shared priorities.

At the conclusion of the Local Governance Review the Scottish Government will have agreed detailed models to transform community level decision-making in Scotland and establish alternative governance arrangements in three rural and islands authorities. This work will create more opportunities to further re-invigorate and extend community planning as a vital tool to enhance the collective impact of public services.

Improvement work

In response to the Committee’s findings and to deliver on the commitments in the Verity House Agreement, the Scottish Government and COSLA have prioritised a shared focus on community planning to create the conditions for it to enable place-based reform. The Scottish Government will:

• build a shared understanding and commitment to place-based leadership and local plans which focus on shared priorities, through engagement at senior levels with all CPPs, through Place Directors, the Scottish Leaders Forum and other networks
• encourage increased accountability, and facilitate sharing of information, learning and best practice. This will be done through engagement and joint working to build relationships and networks between those working in community planning

The Scottish Government and COSLA have worked closely with partners including the Community Planning Improvement Board, community planning managers and the Improvement Service to develop the programme of work to deliver on these aims through four main workstreams:

Accountability

Complex lines of accountability and the lack of independent scrutiny of most public bodies’ performance in respect of community planning were key findings in the Committee’s inquiry. At the same time, Local Government report shouldering the leadership burden, even though other public bodies also share specific governance duties under the 2015 Act. The Scottish Government will work with the community planning statutory partners sponsored to strengthen the expectations of them as active, effective members of their CPPs, co-operating and contributing such funds, staff and other resources as the CPP considers appropriate to achieve its outcomes.

In addition, the Scottish Government is working alongside Audit Scotland and partners to investigate a method of accountability and scrutiny which expects CPPs to actively participate in planning for a place, holds them jointly and individually accountable against agreed outcomes, and empowers them to deliver.

Leadership

CPPs are expected to demonstrate collective ownership, leadership and strategic direction of community planning, and to use their shared leadership role to ensure the CPP sets an ambitious vision with and for local communities, involving all partners and resources to deliver on it. Operating in a place-based, relational and preventative way, which CPPs are well-placed to do, demands a collaborative leadership approach.

Reflecting on what Scotland’s Public Service Leaders need and are asking in order to achieve this, the Scottish Leaders’ Forum has developed a programme of regular, events and engagement exploring what makes great place partnership working, what it means as leaders to be accountable in place opportunities.

Future events, co-designed with partners, will build upon this important conversation and will explore the critical role that CPPs play both in terms of place and in wider public service reform.

Place Directors

Place Directors are senior civil servants (Scottish Government directors or deputy directors) who volunteer for the role alongside their day-to-day responsibilities. Each Place Director represents Scottish Government in one of Scotland’s 32 Local Authority and CPP areas. They provide a bridge between local areas and the Scottish Government, providing two-way intelligence, constructive criticism and, where valuable, support for local capacity building. Their strategic role complements the more detailed responsibility of civil servants in relevant Scottish Government policy teams for testing and supporting how specific policies, services and reform programmes are taken forward in places across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has committed under the Verity House Agreement to refresh the Place Director role, and, through this work, aim to build the capacity of Place Directors to act as strong advocates for reform and place-based leadership, both with their CPP and within their own portfolios in the Scottish Government. Work is underway to engage with Place Directors and to work collaboratively with COSLA and other partners to understand the opportunities and barriers, and to co-design a role which champions relational and preventative ways of working.

Improving Performance

The Committee was clear that where there are examples of CPPs demonstrating best practice the Scottish Government and COSLA should ensure that this is actively shared across CPPs to help improve standards and address the variation in performance between CPPs. It also found that identifying opportunities to drive improvement and share best practice could help renew CPPs’ focus on the importance of empowerment and participation and suggested increasing the funding provided to the Improvement Service.

Sharing best practice, celebrating success and building a strong network of peer support are key ways to create a culture of continuous improvement. Recognising this, the Scottish Government has funded the Improvement Service to work with the Community Planning Managers’ Network to:

• support its use as a forum to develop and embed a shared vision for partnership working
• identify the current barriers and exploring ways to strengthen relationships so that more collaborative working across the CPPs can be put into practice
• provide opportunities for mutual support, capacity building, and information exchange to share and embed best practice in community planning in Scotland

A key question in strengthening community planning is understanding what difference the legislation is making, not only to ways of working, but to people’s lives. The Scottish Government will commission research to evaluate:

• Community planning’s impact on local outcomes
• The features and levers of successful community planning
• The challenges and obstacles to successful community planning

The Scottish Government will complement this analysis with engagement with stakeholders to understand whether the legislation is an effective enabler of the change – to services, systems and behaviours – for community planning to deliver.

Broader understanding of the performance of CPPs will be further enhanced by work which is being undertaken independently by the Improvement Service. Their national self-assessment project will see the majority of CPPs voluntarily participating in a self-assessment evaluation, generating for the first time a rich picture of how CPP’s are performing across Scotland. This work will be completed in early 2025 and will be undertaken every two years thereafter to support continuous improvement.

Whole Family Support

This improvement work is being further strengthened through the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Support Programme. In the Programme for Government 2024-25, the First Minister set out his commitment to introduce additional local flexibility in how existing budgets and services can be reconfigured in pursuit of a whole family approach. To deliver this, the Scottish Government has convened the Whole Family Support Programme to deliver on this commitment and to empower services at a local level. The Scottish Government’s vision is to enable services at a local level to wrap themselves around and support families in or at risk of poverty, according to the needs of the family, building integrated, responsive services focused on improving lives.

As part of this, the Scottish Government is working with Community Planning partners to set a clear vision for community planning, strengthen collective leadership and take concrete steps to remove some of the barriers identified that prevent strong collaboration and partnership working. Action is being taken to remove some of the barriers identified to community planning and reform. Most importantly, through the lens of whole family support the Scottish Government is working with partners to transform how funding, policy, reporting, accountability and data enable partners to collectively bring services together around families. Understanding how CPPs can work together to deliver this is a key part of the programme - this cannot be effectively delivered without strong partnership working. The lessons learned from this approach will be able to be applied across the system.

Wider work

The improvement work set out above is complemented by wider work in train to remove barriers and enhance systems which will have a positive impact on community planning and includes work to progress the Local Governance Review.

The Scottish Government commits to taking specific actions to respond to the assessment of community planning, including:

• taking action to remove some of the barriers identified to community planning and reform, including work to strengthen collective leadership, transform funding, policy, reporting, accountability and data to enable partners to collectively bring services together around families
• delivering the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Community Planning Shared Priority Improvement Plan