Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to align its fair funding principles with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) definition of fair funding, which is defined as "a long-term, flexible, sustainable, and accessible approach to funding".
The Scottish Government is committed to progressing a Fairer Funding approach for the third sector to improve the transparency and consistency of our funding relationships.
Improving grant-making practices across the Scottish Government is a significant undertaking and we are at the beginning stages of this process. The measures that we have prioritised to date – early notification of funding, increased multi-year agreements, improved relationship practices and grant conditions – do align with the SCVO’s principles. However, we have been clear that the implementation of Fairer Funding within the current financial context is challenging and that our ability to deliver on every aspect of SCVO’s ask is constrained.
I set out progress towards our priorities, the challenges that we have met and our next steps, in a letter to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee of 20 May and have committed to keep them updated as our work continues.