Community Empowerment Bill needs a shot in the arm

I’ve been involved with the Community Empowerment Bill for around three years now and as time has passed its limitations have become increasingly apparent. I remember when it was “potentially the greatest transfer of power since devolution” but now some serious life needs to be injected into if it’s ever going to lead to real change. Sadly, participatory budgeting (the terrible name that has been given to the process where people are directly involved in deciding the budget priorities in their area) didn’t make it through to the bill. It could well have been the radical proposal required. Participatory budgeting brings together the community, improves accountability of decision making and delivers outcomes that reflect the needs of the people – what’s not to like? SCVO, in our response to a committee enquiry, have suggested that 10% of the total public sector spend in each local authority should be assigned for participatory budgeting processes. This is considerably more than has been proposed before but still less than the 18% that was committed in Porto Alegre Brazil, where the process was first developed.

Let’s be more ambitious with this bill and start giving people a real say in the decisions that affect them

The current proposal is for the Scottish Government to provide consultancy support for local authorities to establish participatory budgeting schemes. This is hugely underwhelming and won’t touch on the serious decisions taken on local priorities or involve other public bodies. To do that we need to look at core budgets and how they are spent, giving people a real say on what happens in their area. The report from the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy highlights the need for change in our democracy and suggests greater participation as a key element for reform. The Christie Commission in 2011 suggested we should build public services around people and communities. Participatory budgeting could help deliver these ambitions but it needs to be done on a scale that matters. Let’s be more ambitious with this bill and start giving people a real say in the decisions that affect them.