Democracy Matters: route map to reform

Democracy Matters: A Route Map to Reform

Democracy Matters is central to the Local Governance Review which was set up by the Scottish Government and COSLA to understand how we can better share power and resources between national and Local Government as well as our communities.

Democracy Matters began with two phases of engagement with communities and the public sector which encouraged people to come together and discuss questions on the future of decision-making where they live. The process reflected the diversity of Scotland’s communities, and a wide range of organisations joined the national conversation, from local community groups to national third sector organisations. We supported the inclusion of children and young people and people from over 34 countries took part, with some participants responding to a government consultation for the first time.

This widespread engagement is a reminder of the importance of local democracy to people’s daily lives, and the potential positive change that reform could have by including more people in the decisions that matter most to them. Our findings from those engagement exercises reflect an ambition to design our democratic infrastructure in a way that enables everyone to influence the decisions that matter to them. They also tell us what support communities need to take their next step in their empowerment journey at their own pace and in their own way. Making sure we have the right governance arrangements in place and greater deliberative and participative methods to meet communities’ needs is critical to achieving an inclusive society and economy, as well as to improving our health and wellbeing, and upholding every citizen’s human rights.

To help us to turn the engagement findings into proposals for change, we brought together leaders from the public sector, equalities groups, the third sector and academia through the Democracy Matters Steering Group. The group, chaired by the Minister for Public Finance and the COSLA Vice President played a critical role in developing ideas for how the current system could be improved and this work helped us to set a pathway to reform.

The Route Map sets out a direction of travel for enhancing local democracy and the work needed to deliver it. There continue to be significant points of difference in public views in the scale and pace of reform, how local governance structures should change and what approach should be taken to the further devolution of power and resources. The work we will take forward will further develop our understanding of what can make the biggest difference to communities and implement a model for reform that is locally responsive.

The implementation of the Route Map will be a decision for the next Administration, in partnership with COSLA, following the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections. This work is further bolstered by the Scottish Government’s Public Service Reform Strategy which commits to more local empowerment through the Local Governance Review.