Community Wealth Building Bill Steering Group minutes: June 2022

Attendees and apologies

•  Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth (Chair)
• Martin Avila, Chief Executive, Community Enterprise in Scotland
• Colin Borland, Director of Devolved Nations, Federation of Small Business
• Ian Bruce, Chief Executive, Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (substitute for: Anthea Coulter)
• Malcolm Burr, Chief Executive, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
• John Cairns, Social Impact Manager, Balfour Beatty (substitute for: Naila Wood)
• Gillian Cameron, Programme Manager, Supplier Development Scotland
• Rob Davidson, Strategy Manager, Community Wealth Building, South of Scotland Enterprise
• Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
• Emma Fyvie, Senior Management Development, Clackmannanshire Council (substitute for: Nikki Bridle)
• Ian Manson, Chief Executive, Clyde Gateway
• Dona Milne, Director of Public Health, NHS Lothian
• Emma McMullen, Senior Manager Economic Policy, North Ayrshire Council (substitute for: Caitriona McAuley)
• Valerie McNiece, Programme Manager, Glasgow City Council
• Mags McSporran, Head of Social Enterprise Development, Highlands and Island Enterprise
• Sinead O’Donnell, Project Manager, Fife Council
• Morag Watson, Director of Policy, Scottish Renewables
• Darah Zahran, Social Economy Manager, Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Government officials

• Stephen White, Head of Community Wealth Building
• Neil McInroy, Community Wealth Building Advisor to the Scottish Government
• Tracy Jackson, Community Wealth Building Policy Manager
• Julie McLachlan, Community Wealth Building Legislation and Policy Manager
• Lorraine Wylie, Senior Policy Officer
• Laura Bremner, Senior Policy Officer

Apologies

• Nikki Bridle, Chief Executive, Clackmannanshire Council
• Anthea Coulter, Chief Executive, CTSI 
• James Dunphy, Director of Access, Learning and Outcomes, Scottish Funding Council
• Ian Gibson, Chair Business Service Association, Scotland
• Euan Leitch, Chief Executive, Scotland’s Regeneration Forum (SURF)
• Barbara Morton, Director, Sustainable Procurement
• Caitriona McAuley, Head of Service (Economic Development and Regeneration), North Ayrshire Council
• Duncan Thorp, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Social Enterprise Scotland
• Naila Wood, Head of Social Impact, Balfour Beatty
• Uzma Khan, Vice Principal Economic Development and Innovation, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, University of Glasgow 

Items and actions

Welcome from the Chair

Mr Arthur welcomed attendees to the second meeting of the steering group and noted apologies received. Mr Arthur provided a brief update on several key events in relation to CWB over the past month including the Parliamentary debate on CWB. The Minister highlighted that meetings have taken place with a number of organisations regarding CWB with further engagement planned over the summer months and welcome any additional suggestions for stakeholder engagement from steering group members.

Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed by the steering group and it was noted that these can now be shared with networks. There were no further comments regarding the terms of reference which had been re-circulated.

Presentation by Neil McInroy and discussion on potential ideas for legislative change

Mr Arthur invited Neil McInroy, CWB Advisor to the Scottish Government and Senior Fellow for Global Advancement of CWB at The Democracy Collaborative to provide a presentation on community wealth building focusing on potential ideas for legislative change based on his views as a CWB advisor.

Neil McInroy facilitated a discussion following the presentation and the steering group provided feedback including:

General

• legislation should be empowering however should also ensure accountability for any duties
• general CWB duties could be considered however there needs to be a clear definition of who duties are applied to
• economic development is currently not a statutory function for local government
• need to ensure that Scotland is able to fulfil the requirements of the legislation, and potentially with guidance, policy and wider support providing the groundwork for this
• reducing duplication in legislation and decluttering the landscape could be a benefit of CWB legislation
• there are linkages with the Community Empowerment Act
• building capacity in the public and local private sectors is key to efforts to retain and grow population

Spending

• geography should receive more a prominence in relation to procurement to grow the number of contracts won by local businesses, there is a potential risk this may be considered anti-competitive
• CWB provides an opportunity to review procurement legislation and policy
• price/quality ratio still plays a significant factor in procurement
• ease of access to procurement opportunities for smaller organisations is an issue
• high standards in community benefits should be consistent across sectors
• anchor organisations without an economic development function rely on local authorities to support with supply chains

Workforce

• progressive recruitment approach which considers geography and diversity

Land and property

• local land trusts have worked well in places
• need to ensure regeneration considers local supply chains so local businesses can benefit from investment in places
• funding for enabling the purchasing of land by communities should support post-ownership capacity building to ensure benefits maximised

Inclusive ownership

• need to ensure that the differences between the range of plural ownership models and their capacity to participate in areas such as procurement are recognised

Finance

• CWB principles and standard criteria should be built into funding and funding assessment criteria

Mr Arthur and Neil McInroy thanked the steering group for their valued contributions

Summary of written feedback from steering group and proposals for community wealth building pillar 'breakouts'

Mr Arthur invited Julie McLachlan to provide a summary of the written feedback received from steering group members. A summary of the feedback will be circulated to the steering group following the meeting and further feedback on the questions issued would be welcome

Julie McLachlan highlighted that pillar focused workshops for steering group members will be held later in the summer and suggestions for contributions are welcome

Engagement

Stephen White discussed the planned engagement led by the Minister and officials which will take place over summer months including with anchor organisations, business, third sector, policy organisations and wider stakeholders to gather feedback in the run up to a consultation later in the year and extended an open invitation to engage with the SG team

The steering group welcomed the approach being taken to engagement across interests and sectors.

Any other business and date of next meeting

There were no further items raised. The next meeting will take place in September. Mr Arthur thanked steering group members for their participation in the meeting

Actions arising 

• presentation slides by Neil McInroy to be shared – issued 24 June 2022

• feedback summary to be shared – issued 24 June 2022

• parliamentary debate official report link to be shared – issued 24 June 2022