Community Empowerment

In 2015, a new Act came into force called the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act which provides a new vision for community planning which is ambitious and challenging. Under the new Act, community planning became a statutory requirement with a specific duty being placed on five key partners to own and lead community planning and ensure that it works effectively. These five key partners are local authorities, NHS board, Scottish Enterprise, Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. These partners will play a key role in shared leadership, governance and accountability.

Additional Information:

Policy

• Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 
• Summary of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
• Easy to read guide to Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
• The Scottish Community Development Centre: Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act  and a 2 page summary of the act
• The Scottish Community Development Centre summary of the community empowerment bill
• Community Planning: An Update (Audit Scotland)
• Scottish Government: Community Empowerment
• Improvement Service: Community Empowerment Act 2015

Learn

• Community Health Exchange (CHEX) has written an overview containing examples of community organisations that are making use of the different parts of the Act
• Introductory guide to the act from an equality perspective by Inclusion Scotland
• Communities Channel Resources
• Audit Scotland have produced a series of guides on ‘How Councils work’
• Audit Scotland report on the role of community planning partnerships in economic development