Scottish Government Prevention Unit: Areas of Shared Interest

Area of Shared Interest 5 – Working across Silos (Public, Private and Third Sectors)

Introduction

This Area of Shared Interest focuses on how prevention can be delivered through the collective action of different actors across society, including the public sector, private sector, third sector, communities, volunteers and individuals themselves. While governments and public services have a central role in prevention, many of the factors that influence outcomes and demand for public services lie beyond the direct control of the state.

Understanding how these different actors interact, and how responsibilities and incentives for prevention are shared, is critical to developing effective and sustainable preventative systems.

Why we are interested in the topic

Many of the drivers of poor outcomes occur outside traditional public service settings. Factors such as employment, housing, social connections, community participation, income, education and the availability of local services and amenities all influence health, wellbeing and life chances. As a result, prevention cannot be achieved by the public sector acting alone.

The public sector is often responsible for responding to the consequences of poor outcomes, but opportunities to intervene earlier may sit elsewhere. Employers can support healthy working environments and employee wellbeing. Housing providers can help prevent homelessness and poor health. Third sector organisations may be better placed to engage people who do not routinely access statutory services, particularly those experiencing disadvantage or exclusion. Volunteering can also play an important preventative role by strengthening social connections, building community resilience, reducing loneliness and providing routes into support before needs escalate.

There is also growing recognition that preventative approaches require collaboration across systems. Complex social challenges such as poverty, substance use, poor mental health, loneliness, unemployment and health inequalities are shaped by multiple interacting factors. Addressing these challenges often requires coordinated action involving public services, businesses, the third sector and communities.

Existing Work in This Area

There is a significant body of work in Scotland and internationally highlighting the importance of cross-sector collaboration in delivering prevention.

Within Scotland, Community Planning Partnerships provide a long-standing framework for local public bodies to work together to improve outcomes and address shared challenges. Approaches such as Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, Fairer Futures Partnerships, Community Wealth Building, place-based working and the development of Local Outcome Improvement Plans have emphasised collaboration across organisational and sectoral boundaries.

In the wider Scottish landscape, there are a number of organisations illustrating the role of private and third sector in prevention. This includes:

• Carnegie UK has produced a range of reports, such as their report on Budgeting for Wellbeing (2025), which argues that preventative action requires collaboration between governments, third sector organisations and businesses, moving beyond service-led models towards collective wellbeing.
• The Community-led organisations’ impact on health and well-being in disadvantaged areas in the UK report highlights the important role that community and third sector organisations can play in prevention, demonstrating how community-led, asset-based approaches can improve outcomes and help prevent needs from escalating into demand for statutory services.
• The Children’s Services Reform Research report by CELCIS (2023) found that improving outcomes for children and families depends less on organisational structures and more on effective collaboration, leadership, workforce capacity and early support. It highlights the role of public, third and private sector partners in delivering joined-up, preventative services that respond to needs before they escalate
• A range of third sector organisations, including ALLIANCE, Scottish Community Development Centre, Voluntary Health Scotland and Edinburgh Community Health Forum published a joint statement on prevention, calling for a stronger shift towards preventative approaches, greater investment in communities and the social determinants of health, and the adoption of fair funding arrangements to support the long-term sustainability of organisations delivering preventative support.
• Prosper's Healthy Working People: New Solutions report highlights the role of employers in preventing ill health and economic inactivity through workplace wellbeing, flexible working, inclusive recruitment and early support for employees. The report also makes an economic case for greater preventative investment by employers and government in workforce health.

Areas for Future Exploration

Despite growing recognition that prevention is a shared endeavour, important gaps remain in understanding how different sectors and organisations can most effectively contribute to delivering preventative outcomes.

There is scope to strengthen understanding of how partners across the public, private, third and community sectors can work together towards shared preventative goals. This includes identifying the governance arrangements, accountability mechanisms, funding approaches, data-sharing practices and measures of success that best support collective action and impact.

Further research could explore the distinct and complementary roles that different sectors play in prevention. This includes understanding which approaches are most effectively delivered by public services, where community and third sector organisations are best placed to lead, and how private sector actors, including employers, can contribute to improved outcomes and reduced demand. It also includes examining how the comparative advantages of different sectors can be harnessed through partnership working.

There is also a need for greater understanding of innovative partnership, commissioning and investment models that support coordinated action across organisational boundaries and align resources around shared preventative objectives.

Strengthening the evidence base in these areas would support more effective collaboration, help clarify the contribution of different actors to prevention, and inform models of delivery and investment that maximise impact for people, communities and public services.

Shared research and policy questions

To support the development of thinking in the area of prevention through public private and third sectors, we have established a set of shared research and policy questions set out in Figure 6.

Connecting on this area of shared interest

The Prevention Unit is connected to a range of policy areas within Scottish Government, as well as a number of external partners, who are interested in developing insights and policy around this area of shared interest.

Some examples include the Third Sector Partnership Agreement, which aims to create a formal relationship between the Scottish Government and the Third Sector and could an offer an opportunity to recognise the third sector’s role in prevention. connection across different partners is also critical to the successful delivery of systems change for Whole Family Support. The role of the private sector is also in view, with a lot of focus in particular on how workplaces can improve health and prevent negative outcomes in future, and what role the wider private sector community can play in supporting preventative investment The Prevention Unit is interested in these issues and can facilitate connections with key policy areas where appropriate on issues related to this area of shared interest.

Contact

This area of interest is supported by a network of policy areas across Scottish Government, including third sector, social enterprise and wellbeing economy. The Prevention Unit PreventionUnit@gov.scot can support coordination of contributions to ensure they reach the right teams.