National Asset Transfer Action Group minutes: May 2025

Attendees and apologies

 

• Kathleen Glazik (Chair), Community Empowerment, Scottish Government

• Malcolm Cowie (Secretariat), Community Empowerment, Scottish Government
• Rebecca Carr, Forestry and Land Scotland (online)
• Sandra Holmes, Highland and Islands Enterprise
• Linda Gillespie, Community Ownership Support Service (COSS)
• Iain Mulholland, South Lanarkshire Council
• Pauline Bradshaw, Glasgow City Council
• Sarah Kimmet, Perth and Kinross Council (online)
• Maureen Burgess, Fife Voluntary Action (online)
• Elizabeth Doherty, Scottish Community Alliance
• Dr Dani Hutcheon, Glasgow Caledonian University
• Julie McLachlan, Place Based Service Change and Delivery, Scottish Government
• Christopher Robb, Community Empowerment, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Marco Meoni, Property Division, Scottish Government
• Helen Emery, NHS Highland
• Dave Thomson, Community Land Team, Scottish Government
• Allan Roberts, Transport Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions 

The chair welcomed online and in person attendees to the meeting. The chair welcomed Julie McLachlan, Head of Place Based Service Change and Delivery Unit in the Scottish Government, who was attending her first meeting of the group. Apologies were noted and minutes of last meeting are below. 

Action outstanding: Linda Gillespie to share information on post-acquisition support work with the group. 

Linda highlighted the increased demand of asset transfer post-acquisition support needs required by groups, particularly on facilities management. This service is in high demand with community organisations seeking support through advice from the COSS Facilities Management Adviser and a series of targeted workshops. COSS’s collaboration with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations on the Village Halls Handbook has been successful as it provides guidance on governance and facilities management, net zero and digital.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 26 July 2024 were agreed and have been published on the National Asset Transfer Action Group webpage. 

Review of parts of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

The Chair reported that a review of asset transfer was one of three reports published by the Scottish Government on 31 March 2025 as follows: 

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015: Update and Findings Report

Findings Report: Review of Participation Requests - Part 3 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

Findings Report: Review of Asset Transfer - Part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 

The chair referred to the discussion paper shared with the group prior to the meeting relating to the asset transfer report which included a number of questions. This included how asset transfer data gathering can be improved, how evidence of impact can be undertaken and the feasibility of updating the statutory guidance. Other work identified included the need for robust information on relevant authorities published registers of land, more clarity on arm’s length executive organisations (ALEOs) and asset transfer, asset transfer guidance alignment with the Scottish Public Finance Manual and work to address inequalities such as sharing learning from the Barmulloch central hub model of support piloted in Glasgow. The chair invited Malcolm Cowie to provide an overview of findings.

Presentation: review of part 5 asset transfer 

Malcolm provided a summary of key findings and next steps. The review found the legislation was viewed positively by relevant authorities and community organisations as it provides a more rights supported route to the use of public land and buildings for community benefit. Although the asset transfer process can be complex at times, it has provided a framework that is driving up consistency nationally. The review found that although appeals and reviews can be complex and time consuming, the majority of these decisions have been upheld and the process is working well. The review also noted the value of peer support to new and emerging groups looking to take on community assets. A UK wide report also found Scotland to be the most advanced nation for community asset acquisition due to the legislation in place and learning should be shared with other nations around the UK. 

The review highlighted that the peer support model to help new and emerging groups engage with asset transfer developed in Barmulloch Glasgow could be adapted across Scotland. It noted updates may be required to the statutory guidance to include case studies and Q and A and that it should be aligned to the Scottish Public Finance Manual. The review was unable to report on quantitative levels of asset transfer activity due to different local recording practices and that decisions on asset transfers can sometimes span reporting years making it challenging to record data. Work is required to gather robust data that accounts for this in order to better understand its impact. Transparency was highlighted during the review with more robust information required on relevant authorities registers of land and greater clarity on local authorities use of arm’s length executive organisations.   

Malcolm concluded that in response to the findings of the review the Scottish Government has committed to four key actions. These are:  

• refreshing the remit and membership of the National Asset Transfer Action Group to consider the key findings of this report
• working collaboratively with Relevant Authorities, Community Transfer Bodies, the refreshed National Asset Transfer Action Group and key stakeholders including COSS, to explore options to strengthen the operation of asset transfers including considering proposals to update the statutory guidance
• working with Relevant Authorities, COSLA, the refreshed National Asset Transfer Action Group and key stakeholders including COSS to explore options for gathering accurate and robust asset transfer data - including information on assets transferred into community ownership (asset type and area)
• considering the value of independently evaluating the impact of community asset transfer ownership and lease on local communities and how this is contributing to community empowerment and public service reform

Members feedback on the report and presentation

Following the presentation the chair invited attendees to provide feedback on the asset transfer report and suggest priorities for the group to focus on. Members welcomed the report and noted the pivotal role the legislation has had in enabling community organisations to take on public land and buildings and its role in wider public service reform. They highlighted the good work carried out by COSS and the need to focus on supporting community groups and build capacity. Members highlighted that the legislation was broadly fine as it is and there was an interest in exploring the learning from the reports and links with Community Wealth Building. 

Members felt that improvements to asset transfer data gathering should be prioritised however cautioned on asking for more information in the asset transfer annual reporting template and suggested exploring other ways to gather this data. The chair noted it was disappointing that quantitative data could not be used in the report due to the different local data recording practices, however the report has highlighted the need to capture robust data and the Scottish Government has committed to taking this work forward.  

Action: Scottish Government will explore options to gather robust asset transfer data for discussion at the next meeting.  

Linda reported that COSS welcomed the report and the Scottish Government’s commitments but expressed disappointment about the suspension of the Scottish Government’s regeneration Regional Capital Grant Fund (RCGF), which in previous rounds has funded community owned assets, and that COSS would welcome its reopening.   

Linda commented that case studies would be helpful to support the asset transfer process and may be best placed on the COSS website. Information on the asset transfer withdrawal process could be added into the published statutory guidance to help support understanding of this part of the process.  

Members agreed that public authorities asset registers need further action however it was acknowledged that these can be costly to maintain and for some public authorities this is currently aspirational.   

It was suggested to explore possible joint evaluation work with SG land reform colleagues on the impact of asset transfer legislation on wider community empowerment and public service reform. 

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), along with a number of network partners, has been developing a framework and toolkit to allow social enterprises and other social purpose organisations to be able to measure and record their social impact. It is based on a Logic Model with indicators linked to the National Performance Framework. It was tested in a pilot with 12 social enterprises of varying size and sectors throughout Scotland. The pilot is now complete, and HIE is working with partners to review the recommendations and several options for publishing the toolkit online. It is hoped that it will be available in autumn this year. 

Julie mentioned that community empowerment and asset transfer is an important part of the new Public Service Reform (PSR) Strategy published in June 2025: Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy - Delivering for Scotland.

National Asset Transfer Action Group remit and membership 

The Scottish Government has committed to refresh the remit and membership of the National Asset Transfer Action Group to respond to these findings and actions. Scottish Government will also work with partners and stakeholders to consider any necessary updates to the statutory guidance for asset transfer. It will work with the National Asset Transfer Action Group and stakeholders to explore options to gather robust data and will also consider the value of independently evaluating the impact of asset transfer ownership and lease on communities and its contribution to public service reform.  

The chair asked for attendee’s views on updating the group’s current remit and membership to help respond to the findings of the asset transfer review and this was agreed. Attendees noted the need for new members with the right skills to respond to these findings including evaluation experience and data collection experience and possibly more representation from different types of local authorities i.e. rural, urban, large, small. New potential members from the Scottish Land Fund and Audit Scotland were also noted. 

Action: members to consider new membership of the group and any suggestions to be sent to Malcolm.

Action: Scottish Government will draft a new remit, terms of reference and potential membership for the group and share with members for consideration and agreement.

Any other business 

Iain Mulholland mentioned that he was looking to progress a Local Authority Knowledge Hub where members of local authorities responsible for asset transfer could share ideas and good practice and provide support to each other with the asset transfer process. The Hub will be able to be accessed by staff members with responsibility for asset transfers and open to all local authorities once operational.

Next steps 

The next meeting will take place on Friday 29 August 2025, St Andrews House, Edinburgh.