Every year the Social Justice and Social Security Committee looks at what the Scottish Government could consider when developing its Budget.
This year, the Committee has heard of concerns about funding challenges faced by the ‘third sector’.
The ‘third sector’ includes charities, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, and public social partnerships.
Increasing demand and wider economic issues are significant challenges for Scotland’s third sector:
The Committee wants to examine how the Scottish Government’s approach to fair and efficient funding can contribute to the continued effectiveness of the third sector.
A significant amount of the third sector’s funding comes from public-sector contracts and grants. This includes contracts and grants from the Scottish Government and local authorities.
Continued economic challenges mean it is unlikely the third sector’s financial outlook will improve over the short-term.
In response to these challenges, there have been calls from the sector to have access to:
The Committee wanted to hear from both funded and funding organisations and would like to understand what can be done now to make the funding process more efficient, so available funding can be used more effectively.
The call for views closed on 16 August 2024.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a summary paper of the submissions received.
Read the summary of responses (316KB, pdf) posted 22 November 2024
The Committee also received the following written submissions:
Additional views from Social Enterprise Scotland members (84KB, pdf) posted 06 September 2024
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (198KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Community Woodland Association (CWA) (94KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Consumer Scotland (85KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
CVS Falkirk and Districts Funding Officers Network (166KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Development Trusts Association Scotland (141KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Housing Options Scotland (HOS) (101KB, pdf) posted 01 October 2024
Jonathan Payne, Peter Butler and Jonathan Rose, De Montfort University (365KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Place2Be (165KB, pdf) posted 30 August 2024
Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (123KB, pdf) posted 10 September 2024
SCVO (261KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
The Poverty Alliance (293KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
The Robertson Trust (180KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
TSI Scotland Network (208KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
Youthlink (23KB, pdf) posted 29 August 2024
The inquiry was discussed at the following Committee meetings:
The Committee undertook the following engagement activities as part of its inquiry:
On Tuesday 21 August 2024 the Committee visited Dundee to hear from the voluntary sector organisations to help inform its 2025-26 budget scrutiny work on third-sector funding principles. What the Committee heard is summarised in the following notes:
Read a note of the national charities workshop (170KB, pdf) posted 07 October 2024
Read a note of the local charities workshop (150KB, pdf) posted 07 October 2024
On Friday 11 October 2024 the Committee held an online meeting with the Carer Centre Managers Network. What the Committee heard is summarised in the following note:
Read a note of the meeting with the Carer Centre Managers Network (116KB, pdf) posted 21 October 2024
The Committee published its report on 13 November 2024.
Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2025-26: Third sector funding principles
The Committee has sent and received the following correspondence during the inquiry:
Letter from Professor Graeme Roy regarding the Scottish Fiscal Commission's latest forecasts for the economy, tax revenues and social security to inform the Scottish Budget, 4 December 2024