Democracy Matters: route map to reform

What this will achieve

To meet the challenge of democratic renewal we have been presented with, our aim is to take forward reforms that will:

• Ensure that the design and delivery of public services respond to the ambitions of people locally and are based on their priorities and needs;
• Ensure that local governance arrangements are inclusive and diverse in their representation of local people, redressing power imbalances and accelerating efforts to address persistent and deep-rooted inequalities;
• Strengthen the rights and powers communities have to take decisions for themselves in a fair and equitable way;
• Streamline and simplify existing service-planning arrangements at a local level, making best use of available resources and working more effectively to deliver what communities want;
• Build trust between and within communities and the public sector, respecting that communities know best what is needed in their local area;
• Build community capacity and local leadership to take better decisions about what to prioritise locally;

If we get this right, the changes will lead to decisions being taken more locally with communities, and introduce new ways of working between communities and the public sector as a whole. Specifically, they will help to focus the collective energy and resources on how decisions about public services are made, building greater trust between citizens and the state – with the ultimate aim of improving people’s lives and the quality of the public services they rely on. If we work with communities together with the public sector, we can accelerate efforts to address the significant challenges facing all of our communities: from tackling child poverty; achieving a Just Transition to net zero; improving health and wellbeing; and ensuring we have sustainable public services for future generations.

For these reforms to have real impact, the Route Map must be built from the bottom up, shaped by the voices and priorities of the communities it is designed to empower. This approach is not only what people told us through Democracy Matters – it also reflects the core principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which makes it clear that decisions about public services should sit as close as possible to citizens. The Charter provisions (when incorporated into Scots law) will strengthen the case for a model that puts communities at the heart of decision-making. A bottom-up design ensures reforms are grounded in local experiences, trusted by the people they affect, and capable of delivering meaningful, lasting change. Crucially, Local Government will remain the anchor within the system, providing stability, capability, and democratic legitimacy, and enabling communities to exercise greater influence and power with confidence and support to affect change across public bodies.