Minutes:
CLES
were commissioned by the CPP MC to take forward work on a strategy and action
plan for Community Wealth Building (CWB) and the initial report and
recommendations were circulated as part of the agenda pack. Takki said the work
set out to identify best practice, some useful case
studies of how CWB may be taken forward in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute, a strategy with
recommendations, an action plan and two business cases.Ìý Takki
asked for the CPP MC to agree, in principle, the recommendations that have been
made in the initial report before the final version is agreed by the Steering
Group and returns to the next CPP MC for approval.
Takki suggested
that consideration is also given to the Steering Group undertaking more
preparatory work for the next CPP MC including whether the Steering Group has a
wider remit, to discuss how can some of the recommendations be
taken forward and how CWB should be structured.
Charlie
and Neil then gave a presentation on CWB in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute. Neil introduced
himself and emphasised that CWB is a practical economic development approach to
delivery on community economic aspirations and community ownership, not
community development. He noted the CWB qualities that are already in place in
Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute including anchor institutions, strong procurement and existing
community ownership and that these are
important in terms of the report recommendations and how to scale
up on the good things already happening. The draft recommendations have been
driven by what they have found as a result of interviews, workshops, scoping and experience of what has worked well in
other areas and he is keen to hear the feedback from the CPP MC on these.
Charlie
noted that they have had discussions with CPP partners and area groups to
identify what CWB meant to them and how they see it being scaled up and developed. He noted that the
recommendations may take time to implement and some may need legislative
support from the Scottish Government. He then provided a reminder on the 5 main
pillars of CWB (Spending, Workforce, Inclusive Ownership, Finance and Land and
Property).
Recommendations
include :
SPENDING
PILLAR
- Establishing a CPP Procurement
Working Group, bring together lead procurement officers and the VCSE sector to
update on challenge and opportunities,
- Building collective market
intelligence, working with SMEs and focussed towards the social economy,
- Publishing a procurement
pipeline so CPP partners can make procurement more accessible and clarify bid
requirements,
- CPP Meet the Buyer events,
creating an opportunity where local suppliers can engage and get feedback and
navigate the challenges of public sector procurement,
- Develop a procurement
framework, for business support organisations to pull resources and explore
good practice.
Pippa
noted that all partners need to commit to working on this, although she
understands that there are some limitations regarding tie-ins to national
procurement frameworks and was keen to understand from CLES how that has been
overcome in other areas. Takki advised there is a current review of the
Procurement Reform Act 2014 and partners may want to take the opportunity to
make submissions to the Economic Committee before it looks at this on the 28
February 2024, although he also thought it was worth exploring what can be done
within existing legislative and regulatory frameworks. Neil thought that the
Scottish Government would be interested to hear how existing policy and
legislation is hampering progress on CWB.
Andy
noted that in terms of developing a Climate Change Strategy in the area,
procurement managers are typically under pressure to deliver value in the short
term and the organisational procurement footprint is often much larger than
local operations. He felt setting up a procurement working group would provide
a joint approach and prevent the need to discuss this with individual
partners.Ìý
Samantha
felt there was so much potential for CWB to provide a transformational shift in
the power dynamic and support to communities.Ìý
She also thought the 5 pillars of CWB should underpin the plans and
strategies of CPP partners to ensure systemic change and has potential to
improve social determinants of health.
WORKFORCE
PILLAR
- Developing pathways into work programs, how can
partners come together to create good employment opportunities,
- Explore adaptations to a value based recruitment
approach, organisations that can support local people, and young people, into
employment,
- Partners mapping job families, compare and simplify
the approach to recruitment and creation of applicant pools,
- Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Employment Charters, partnering
with local business representative and organisations, acknowledging that many
may want to improve their recruitment practices.
INCLUSIVE
OWNERSHIP PILLAR
- Identifying ownership opportunities in growth
sectors, having the social economy, social enterprises, community interest
companies at the heart of sector growth,
- Employee ownership, connections between in-place
experts and ecosystem support for new start social economy enterprises and the
support of institutional partners,
- Opportunity to create links between procurement and
social and inclusive ownership within the economy.
Andy
highlighted the housing priority in the ABOIP as a great example of connected
activity as it links to climate change (mitigation and adaptation), skills
shortages in the region and potential pathways for business development and
career prospects. Pippa agreed that business opportunities was a key part of
the CWB context.
FINANCIAL
PILLAR
- Mapping alternative financial infrastructure, bring
together and understand the range of alternative financial mechanisms that
already exist and can be accessed,
- Mapping community benefits, how to pull community
benefits together for greater impact,
- Develop a local finance initiative proposal, developing
an outline business case for a local community owned finance institution to
connect with government funding streams to fund CWB.
LAND
AND PROPERTY PILLAR
- Affordable workplace strategy, grow local community
ownership in sectors and identify available business premises and future
demand,
- Vacant and derelict land, not limited to typical
workspaces but also social community sites, ensure communities have access to
properties and land without overburdening them,
- Realisation of the public estate, partners
understanding were co-location opportunities exist to free up the public estate
for use by social enterprises,
- Convening a Local Landowners’ Forum, with support
from Scottish Government policies on land reform to engage with landowners on
future land use.
Charlie
recognised there are a number of challenges in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute, but CWB can be
intrinsic to the area’s economic strategy and can be driven by the CPP to
address issues like the housing emergency and depopulation. He said that
responsibility for CWB delivery should not fall solely on the CPP, however
partners do have an important role to play and work with other groups to
promote CWB. To drive CWB forward, Charlie proposed setting up two-time limited
groups to take forward action-focussed work to build on the report. He also highlighted two case studies on building employee ownership
and building community shared ownership of the energy transition.
Pippa
thanked Charlie and Neil for their presentation. Partners were asked to submit
any comments on the report and recommendations, with the intention to finalise
that at the April CPP MC. The recommendations were accepted by the CPP MC in
principle. Rona thanked Takki and CLES for the work that has been done on this.
ACTION – Partners to submit comments on the CLES
report and recommendations on CWB to cppadmin@argyll-bute.gov.uk.
Supporting documents: