Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 - part 5 asset transfer: findings report review

1. Introduction

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (the Act) came into force on 24 July 2015 providing a legal framework to promote and encourage community empowerment and participation by creating new rights for community bodies and placing new duties on public authorities. The Act has 12 parts, 11 of which include a mix of legislative drivers at various stages of implementation and delivery. Part 12 makes general provisions in relation to the Act and guidance developed for each Part of the Act has been published in accordance with Part 12.

On 7 September 2021, the Scottish Government committed to reviewing the Act in the Fairer, Greener Scotland Programme for Government 2021-2022 which stated:

“We will review the Community Empowerment Act, to consider how local communities can have more of a say over how local public assets are used – whether that is taking on the ownership or management of land or buildings, delivery of services to members of their community, or more say in how services are delivered, assets are used and resources are allocated.”

The review was launched by the then Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth on 21 July 2022 and work on the review was undertaken between August 2022 and October 2024. Two parts of the Act were extensively reviewed: Part 5 Asset Transfer (this report), and a separate Part 3 Participation Requests report. A Findings and Update Report for the Act is also available which provides a summary of parts 3 and 5, an assessment of Part 2 Community Planning, and an update on the other eight parts of the Act.

This report provides findings from a review of the use and impact of asset transfer requests by public authorities and community organisations. Findings will help inform what practical or statutory updates might be required for asset transfers to further empower communities.

1.1 Policy Context

Part 5, Asset Transfer Requests came into force on 23 January 2017 and provided a legislative route for community groups to buy, lease or manage public assets such as land or buildings. It was designed to encourage and support ownership and control of assets by communities in situations that recognised the public benefits that community use would bring. Whilst asset transfers was not a new process, the legislation placed new responsibilities on public authorities to respond to their requests in a transparent and timely way.

Asset transfers can be made by community organisations to public authorities which are listed in Schedule 3 of the Act. As defined by the Act, the term used for community organisations is Community Transfer Bodies and they can represent a geographical community or a community of interest. The Community Transfer Body must have a constitution which provides that it is open to and controlled by members of that community, and uses its funds and assets for the benefit of that community.

The term used in the Act for public authorities is Relevant Authorities and there are currently 95 of these subject to asset transfer legislation. The list of Relevant Authorities is included at Annex A. Under asset transfer legislation this list can change over time as public authorities can be added or removed.

Part 5 of the Act has been evaluated since its introduction in 2017 and the Scottish Government commissioned a three year independent evaluation on asset transfers which was undertaken by Glasgow Caledonian University. Their Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015: asset transfer requests - evaluation was published in July 2020 and found that asset transfers may help to address inequalities and support communities to deliver better and more appropriate services.

It recommended to maximise the impacts of asset transfers, and to achieve longer-term changes in community empowerment envisaged by the Act, government and Relevant Authorities need to take further steps to promote and support asset transfers – focusing on less-advantaged communities in particular – and to continue to improve monitoring and tracking of the results. It recommended Scottish Government ensure Relevant Authorities meet their annual reporting duties, and guidance should be developed on best value for asset transfers. The Glasgow Caledonian University evaluation recommended that Relevant Authorities should promote asset transfers wider, and deal with requests transparently and have a responsible person identified for requests.

Part 5 of the Act was also reviewed by the previous session of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee in 2021 as part of wider work that considered various parts of the Act. The Committee noted in their Community Empowerment: Taking Stock of Participation Requests and Asset Transfers Four Years On report that although the stakeholders they consulted had a generally positive view of asset transfers, the process was becoming more bureaucratic and that lease arrangements were being preferred by some authorities to ownership. They highlighted the need to clarify asset transfer best practice and for the Scottish Government to establish best value support for asset transfers.

1.2 Asset Transfer Support

The Scottish Government published statutory asset transfer guidance for relevant authorities and statutory asset transfer guidance for community transfer bodies in 2017. These documents set out the asset transfer process and focus on the points each party has to take action, including guidance for Community Transfer Bodies on completing requests and for Relevant Authorities on receiving requests. Relevant Authorities are required under Section 96 of the Act to have regard to this guidance in carrying out their functions regarding asset transfer requests.

The Scottish Government funds the Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) who provide a free to access adviser led service, and they help community groups navigate the asset transfer process. COSS also provide support to individuals regarding the asset transfer process and facilitate professional development sessions which have been well received by Relevant Authorities. COSS play an important role in driving up knowledge and capacity for asset transfers.

COSS has produced an asset transfer route map to support the process which is widely used and has been adapted by some Relevant Authorities. COSS Business Planning Support and Funding Advice provides information on business planning and various funding streams that can be accessed. They also published Managing Risk in Community Asset Transfer in December 2020 which offers guidance to Relevant Authorities when considering social value. The Scottish Government produced social value guidance in September 2021 which provides examples of best practice, signposting to support channels, and links to tools and techniques to consider social value for asset transfers, including the use of Social Return on Investment tools.

To support areas experiencing inequalities engage with asset transfer, the Scottish Government and COSS jointly funded a two year project in Barmulloch, Glasgow, that was delivered between 2021 and 2022 and trialled a peer support approach to asset transfers with a local organisation acting as an anchor organisation for Community Transfer Bodies to receive support throughout their engagement with the asset transfer process.

The Scottish Government established a National Asset Transfer Action Group in October 2020 to consider learning from evaluations, asset transfer activity and the challenges and opportunities it presents and what actions need to be taken more broadly, and by whom, to ensure that asset transfer is achieving its goal to drive change and empower communities. The group is comprised of membership from Relevant Authorities, partner organisations, and community representation, and the work of the group is highlighted within this report.