Chamber and committees

The importance of promoting and developing social capital: broadly defined as the skills, confidence, support networks and resources of local people, was highlighted as part of the Scottish Executive’s community regeneration statement, Better Communities in Scotland: closing the gap.

Since then, the Executive has provided resources to support a wide range of community engagement activity which can contribute to building social capital in the most disadvantaged communities.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Communities Scotland is currently developing National Standards for Community Engagement. These have been developed in a highly participatory way involving people from communities, the voluntary sector and statutory agencies. They set out good practice in engaging communities in the planning and delivery of services, including the need to agree timescales for engagement. The final version of the standards will be available in the near future.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Infrastructure and the confidence and desire of people to engage are important elements of social capital. The Scottish Executive has provided resources of around £3 million per year since 2001 specifically to help support the development of infrastructure in our most disadvantaged communities.

The Scottish Executive measures (a) social exclusion through its Closing the Opportunity Gap targets. Further details of the targets and the indicatorsused can be found at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/closingtheopportunitygap/

The Executive’s guidance on Regeneration Outcome Agreements provides a menu of indicators which can be used in relation to (b) regeneration, depending on local circumstances and priorities. A copy of the guidance is available at:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/upload/CRF-guidanceonROAsAugust2004.doc.

Scotland’s three Pathfinder Urban Regeneration Companies are alsodeveloping appropriate indicators to assess their progress and learn lessons.

The Scottish Executive does not have agreed indicators of (c) social capital. However, in the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) leads a SocialCapital Working Group whose remit it is to examine and develop a framework for themeasurement and analysis of social capital, including agreeing a harmonised setof questions for use in government surveys. Further details can be found at: www.statistics.gov.uk/socialcapital/.

The Scottish Executive does not have a definition of a “model citizen”.

Joined-up action on employment, education, health, community safety and other issues is required to address social exclusion within vulnerable communities. Each of Scotland’s 32 Community Planning Partnerships is developing a Regeneration Outcome Agreement (ROA) to set out how the Executive’s Community Regeneration Fund and partner’s own resources will be used in the most deprivedcommunties to deliver the most appropriate actions. The Executive is complementingthe actions set out in ROAs through a range of activities and resources. Furtherdetail on these can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Social-Inclusion/17415/targetj#top.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The redevelopment of the Granton waterfront is being led by Waterfront Edinburgh Limited. This is a Joint Venture Company created by the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian. The Board of Waterfront Edinburgh Limited includes three elected members from the City of Edinburgh Council. This representation includes the elected members forGranton and the neighbouring Pilton ward, in addition to the elected member withexecutive responsibility for economic development and social inclusion.

This is major industrial and brownfield redevelopment project which is expected to span over 12 to 15 years. The development plans for the area are based on a masterplan that was published in December 2000. The masterplan was developed in consultation with various stakeholders and community groups and included in excess of 15 separate workshops sessions.

In addition to this, development in the area is subject to the usual planning requirements with regards to public consultation. The three major landowners that make up the waterfront site have all arranged public exhibitions of their proposals.

It is recognised that a development of this scale and nature will have a significant impact, both on the communities immediately adjacent to the waterfront area, and also to the city and city region as a whole.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Communities Scotland monitors the effectiveness of community participation in different ways depending on circumstances. For example, Regeneration Outcome Agreements being prepared by Community Planning Partnerships will need to set out the nature and extent of community participation in key decisions. Also, Communities Scotland’s regulation and inspection function looks at tenant participation as part of its inspection process. It is widely accepted that effective community engagement builds capacity and enriches the democraticprocess.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

The redevelopment of the Granton waterfront is being led by Waterfront Edinburgh Limited. This is a Joint Venture Company created by the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian. The Board of Waterfront Edinburgh Limited includes three elected members from the City of Edinburgh Council.

This is major industrial and brownfield redevelopment project which is expected to span over 12 to 15 years. The development plans for the area are based on a masterplan that was published in December 2000. The masterplan was developed in consultation with various stakeholders and community groups. In addition to this, development in the area is subject to the usual planning requirements with regards to public consultation.

The Scottish Executive uses the commonly held definition that community can mean either communities of place or communities of interest. The important thing is to ensure that the practical application of our definition is wide enough to cover the diverse range of communities which we serve.