Welcome to All Things Scotland
This week, LGIU Scotland reviews useful resources, everything local government related in Holyrood and relevant new reports.
This week, Alice Creasy & Ben O’Hickey from WSP’s Net Zero Cities and Natural Capital teams reflected on the role that cities must play in tackling the biodiversity crisis. To read the full blog, check here.
With the 2023 to 2024 Scottish Budget set to be announced on the 15th December 2022, LGIU Scotland has prepared a tailored array of briefings to help understand the budgets implications for local government.
- For the wider budgetary context, the Scottish Parliament released Scotland’s GDP for the third quarter of 2022.
- Scotland’s public finances – unprecedented challenges for 2023-24. This briefing uses Audit Scotland’s recent report, Scotland’s Public Finances – challenges and risks, to explore the difficult choices acting Finance Minister, John Swinney, faces in preparing the 2023-24 Scottish Budget.
- Autumn Statement 2022 – the key announcements for local government. This briefing summarises the most relevant highlights from the 2022 Autumn Statement for local government, including funding promises for education, social care and levelling up development and an increase to the National Minimum Wage.
The Week in Scottish Local Government
Housing
Funding to build affordable homes. Social landlords will now be able to access loans to build more affordable housing as a multimillion pound investment programme reopens to applications.
Enhanced support to make homes warmer and greener. Homeowners can now apply for a standalone grant of £7,500 from the Home Energy Scotland Scheme to install heat pumps.
For more on housing, check out this briefing which examines the challenge for councils in ensuring that the housing needs of communities are met.
Devolution
Reforming the House of Lords made headlines this week following the release from the Labour’s Brown report. Containing key lessons for devolution and Scottish local government, these two perspectives provide a Scottish lens to the Brown report.
- Centre of Cities looks at the suggestion that Scottish local government should adopt the mayoral or metro mayor model for city regions.
- Professor Mitchell analyses the Brown report from the wider unfinished constitutional reform embarked by New Labour in the Holyrood.
To understand more on devolution and future trajectories, check out this LGIU publication from our Head of Research on prospects for devolution in the 2020’s.
Climate
Climate Change Committee’s focus on Scotland. The core conclusion of this two-part reports is that the Scottish Government lacks a clear delivery plan and has not offered a coherent explanation for how its policies will achieve Scotland’s bold emissions reduction targets.
Check out this LGIU post Alice Creasy & Ben O’Hickey from WSP’s Net Zero Cities and Natural Capital teams on the role that cities must play in tackling the biodiversity crisis.
Policing
The 2022-23 Quarter 2 Performance Report highlights Police Scotland’s highlights the intense pressures facing Police Scotland.
Society
Worlds First online HIV prevention service. People at risk of contracting HIV will find it easier to get pills to prevent infection as the world’s first online clinic is set to be developed next year.
Planning
Lockdown’s impact on Scotland’s street. New analysis by BBC data team reveals the big changes to the retail and hospitality sectors across the country since lockdown.
For more on the challenges facing Scotland’s towns and high streets, find out all the key learnings and case studies from this years Scottish Town Partnership conference.
Key Local Government insights from Ireland
At LGIU we know that places are unique; but so many of the challenges faced by local governments are shared with their colleagues across countries and across continents. To keep local governments up to date on good practice and innovation across these islands, this week we have prepared three key briefings that capture local government innovation in Scotland.
Cork County Council: A month in the life. In this briefing, Cork County Council provides an insight into their October of 2022, including their work on infrastructure projects, environment and sustainability initiatives, housing and community.
Mixed-methods area profiling and reflections urban regeneration. This briefing paper recounts experiences of compiling a socio-economic profile of neighbourhoods that were included in an area-based urban-regeneration initiative in Tralee, County Kerry
Stay tuned
Next week, LGIU Scotland will keep you informed and bring you analysis of the budget next Thursday with key local government implications and more in depth analysis to follow. There will also be in depth briefings on the UK Government budget.
Finally, LGIU Scotland congratulates Edinburgh City Council and East Ayrshire Council for their success at Public Service awards 2022. Read more about local government successes here!
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