Consultation On The Proposed Community Empowerment - Scottish ...

Theme 7: Auditing
This theme covers question 12 in the main consultation questionnaire:
Should community participation be made a more significant part of the audit of
best value and Community Planning?
3.104 Respondents from across all stakeholder groups provided views on this
particular question. The majority of these responses came from community
councils, third sector/ equalities organisations, other community organisations
and individuals. Views presented by respondents were fairly polarised.
3.105 There was considerable support among community councils, individuals, third
sector/ equalities organisations and some other community organisations that
community participation should be made a more significant part of the audit of
best value and Community Planning. Although in some cases this support was
qualified, as some respondents feared that this might create additional
bureaucracy, others were unclear how this could be measured effectively.
“The audit of best value and Community Planning could be a
key element in ensuring a robust mechanism to challenge
and scrutinise implementation of the legislation.”
(Community Development Alliance Scotland)
3.106 A number of these respondents referred to the ‘best value community
engagement toolkit’, which already provided a framework for community
engagement audit. Some respondents suggested that specific indicators for
empowerment and its effectiveness could be added to this toolkit and linked to
the wider equalities outcome indicators.
3.107 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations was keen to see community
participation play a greater role in Audit Scotland’s best value review of
Community Planning. They were of the view that more intensive auditing of the
process could encourage public sector officials to place greater value on
participation. However, they suggested that the focus of the audit should be on
the quality rather than the quantity of participation, and also on how effective
community participation had been on influencing decision making.
3.108 Glasgow Housing Association made the point that access to information to
enable community engagement should be a critical part of the audit process and
suggested that Scottish Government needed to consider how the audit of best
value and Community Planning could cover the breadth of the Community
Empowerment and Renewal Bill proposals.
3.109 Community planning partnerships and local authorities were least supportive of
the proposal, as many felt that this was already covered as part of the current
audit of best value arrangements and it would just lead to increased
bureaucracy. Others suggested that this was already being looked at as part of
the wider review of Community Planning.
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