Policy

You may also be interested in Standards Council responses to policy consultations, and an archive of the Standards Council Policy Commentary.

Strategies and Legislation for CLD

The Strategic Guidance for Community Planning partnerships: Community learning and development (Scottish Government, 2012) sets out the Scottish Government’s commitment to CLD “as a consistent, central element of public services”.

The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013 support this commitment.

Guidance for Local Authorities on implementing the Requirements also provides information on the wider policy context.

Strategies and legislation relating directly to specific aspects of CLD

The Scottish Government issued documents setting out national strategies or statements of ambition for adult literacies (2010) Youth Work (2014) Adult Learning (2014) and ESOL (2015). Many parts of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 relate directly to the role of CLD practitioners.

• Adult learning strategy 2022 to 2027
• The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
• Our ambitions for improving the life chances of young people in Scotland – National Youth Work Strategy, 2014-2019 (Scottish Government, 2014)
• Welcoming Our Learners: Scotland’s ESOL Strategy 2015-2020 (Scottish Government, Education Scotland, 2015)
• Adult Literacies in Scotland 2020 (Scottish Government, 2010)

Other Legislation, Policies, and Strategies significant for CLD

CLD has an impact on a wide range of public policy objectives and many aspects of policy and legislation affect the context for CLD practice. Because the issues of concern for communities are so varied, there’s little value in attempting a comprehensive listing of relevant policies.

Some Key issues and documents with a broad significance for CLD

The National Performance Framework sets out the Scottish Government’s Purpose, high-level targets related to this, Strategic Objectives, National Outcomes and National Indicators.

Outcomes include, for example, “our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens” and “We have strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others”

http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance

The Christie Commission Report
The Report of the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (2011) set out an agenda for the reform of public services that continues to be influential and that places central emphasis on working with communities.

Education Reform

The 2017 National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan for Scottish Education focuses on the role of schools “in delivering excellence and equity in education”.
The Scottish Government plans an Education Bill in 2018 to “empower our schools and school leaders”; and also to establish an Education Workforce Council that would take on the functions of the CLD Standards Council.

Access the consultation paper on the Scottish Government Consultation Hub

Community Empowerment and Engagement

The Scottish Government has provided guidance on various aspects of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, including:

• Asset transfer https://beta.gov.scot/policies/community-empowerment/asset-transfer
• Participatory budgeting https://beta.gov.scot/policies/community-empowerment/participatory-budgeting
• Participation requests https://beta.gov.scot/policies/community-empowerment/participation-requests/

Best practice for public bodies in engaging with communities is set out in the National Standards for Community Engagement