The Queen’s opening of the new Parliament in Edinburgh marked the assembly of a Scottish Parliament for the first time since 1707. Here John Griffiths looks for the signs that these constitutional changes have initiated a different type of corporate citizenship activity north of the border.
Scots have long done things differently from their Sassenach neighbours. They retain a separate legal system, as well as a distinctive and highly successful education system. There has also been considerable administrative devolution to Scotland over the last 100 years, particularly since 1939 when the Scottish Office (now the Scottish Executive) first moved to Edinburgh. Nevertheless, relatively few UK-based corporations have deemed it necessary to administer their public and community affairs any differently north of the border. That is until now.
Whitbread used to run its community programme in Scotland from Newcastle; it is now glad to have appointed a separate Regional Community Affairs Manager for Scotland, although this was as much in response to business expansion in the Highlands, as the perceived impact of political changes. Diageo, under the strap line Global Brands, Local Citizens, last year launched a Scottish arm of its charitable Foundation through United Distillers and Vintners, a major whisky producer and employer of 4,000 across the country.
The new powers of the Scottish Parliament are likely to encourage more companies to handle their affairs in Scotland distinctively from other communities in which they operate. The Scottish political system will become more visible and grow into a centre of considerable authority outside Westminster. The tax varying powers which have been afforded the new Parliament, including jurisdiction over the business rates, give it a significant carrot (or stick) with which to forge deals with the corporate sector.
Devolution also offers opportunities to improve the business environment in Scotland. It will bring government closer to business, decentralising decision-making and encouraging local initiative. The Parliament and the Scottish Executive are in a position to adopt micro-economic policies to meet specific Scottish needs. Already, the Executive is taking a different approach to tackling social exclusion in Scotland which, arguably, has different manifestations than in England.
Social exclusion
The new National Stadium at Hampden Park, Glasgow, was the symbolic venue for the launch on August 13 of a new Guide for Scottish companies. Social Exclusion: The Business Agenda illustrates how many Scottish-based companies, both large and small, are already involved in projects which deliver benefits both to local communities and to businesses themselves by working in partnership. These include:
representing the private sector on LEC Boards, as well as the new Social Inclusion Partnerships and the New Deal Employers’ Coalitions. ScottishPower has been a strong advocate of business input on the DfEE employability/welfare to work programmes which will continue to run in Scotland.
working to raise the local education and skills base, including funding schools, college courses and university research. Rolls Royce, a mainstay of the East Kilbride economy, has developed a module of its revived apprenticeship programme around involving trainees in projects with local schools.
developing local business-led regeneration partnerships. Business Support Groups have existed for all the Urban Partnerships in Scotland, with varying degrees of success. The Friends of Craigmillar on the outskirts of Edinburgh have been particularly successful in attracting business support for the local Community High School.
encouraging employees to become mentors of young people in the community, or of start-up/fledgling businesses (for example, via the Prince’s Trust Scotland).
supporting an employee volunteering scheme which links staff resources with local charitable/community-based activity (Standard Life) or providing charitable donations and matching employee fundraising for local, and regional and national (Scottish-based) charities (Whitbread in the Community).
The policy of involving the private sector in partnerships aimed at tackling poverty and disadvantage in Scotland has steadily developed over recent years. New Life for Urban Scotland, an initiative of the mid-1980s, spawned a number of Business Support Groups for targeted areas, including some of the most disadvantaged peripheral housing estates of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Its successors include the Social Inclusion Partnerships and the Glasgow Employment Zone. The purpose of publishing Social Exclusion: The Business Agenda is to demonstrate what some companies have already achieved and to illustrate how others can follow their example.
Overcoming barriers
Several factors which have traditionally prevented or weakened the effectiveness of corporate involvement are particularly acute in Scotland. One is geographical location – whole areas, both entire sub-regions like the Highlands and Islands, as well as parts of the inner-cities of the Central Belt, are bereft of large companies which are committed to community participation.
Another is lack of awareness about how to participate – many companies outside the top 50 in Scotland (and even some within it) still do not appreciate how they can become involved in community initiatives. The role of intermediaries and effective brokerage services is important, as is the opportunity for business-to-business networking on corporate social responsibility issues. Scottish Business in the Community offers support and advice through its day to day activities as well as the Community Practitioners’ Forum chaired by Sally Crighton of Standard Life (see below Contacts and Further Information). Outside the main urban areas, the Education Business Partnerships supported by the Local Enterprise Companies have proved an effective conduit for business involvement in the community.
Tackling exclusion
There are a number of tools which intermediary organisations like the Local Enterprise Companies (LECs), Scottish Business in the Community, charities and other voluntary organisations might develop in order to partner more businesses in mutually-beneficial activities. These include:
Capacity Building – making available private companies’ expertise (such as business planning, marketing, financial engineering) to voluntary agencies, more explicitly linking employee volunteering to local regeneration and economic development objectives.
Business-led partnerships – Scottish Business in the Community has committed itself to supporting local councils as they take forward their Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) proposals.
Intermediate Labour Markets – many companies have within them projects that are just outside their reach, or too risky, too slow to produce a return, too long term or too innovative to undertake through their mainstream operations. Community enterprise projects with public sector support can take these on.
New Forms of Social Reporting – work being done by Tomorrow’s Company in Scotland on social reporting has proved useful to large and smaller companies. The Business Excellence Model is also a tool for assessing corporate community involvement which can benefit those companies wanting to assess their contribution to the community.
Benchmarking – companies are increasingly looking at benchmarking and measuring their social and community programmes. The Scottish Benchmarking Group of six leading Scottish-based companies is one manifestation of this.
Adopt a Charity – a number of corporate citizens have formed long-term alliances with a particular national charity or voluntary organisation and the “Adopt a Charity” model has considerable potential to be far more than a fundraising relationship, including joint human resources and organisational development projects for example. The approach will find application separately in Scotland, or even regionally, and several charities have already set up separate Scottish offices, including Scottish corporate fundraising departments, in order to exploit fully the consequences of devolution.
It’s still early days
A few months into a new system of government, it is too early to conclude whether significant numbers of corporate citizens will be handling Scotland differently from their other areas of operation. The indications are, however, that the expectations of the new institutions and the intermediary agencies which work in partnership with business will exert considerable pressure on companies to treat Scotland as it always has been, a separate country with its own ways of doing things.
John Griffiths is Policy Adviser to the London Enterprise Agency and a Consultant in Corporate Community Involvement. Copies of Social Exclusion: The Business Agenda are available from Scottish Enterprise, contact Aileen Blair on 0141 228 2068.
CONTACTS AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Scottish Parliament and Ministers – the new Scottish Ministerial Team is led by the First Minister Donald Dewar. Responsibility for social inclusion lies with Minister for Communities, Wendy Alexander MSP. She can be contacted at scottish.ministers@scotland.gov.uk
Scottish Executive – the Scottish Office in Scotland has been renamed the Scottish Executive. The relevant department for community development, social inclusion and regeneration is the Scottish Executive Development Department (SEDD). Contact 0131 244 0763 (ceu@scotland.gov.uk)
Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise – access to the network of Local Enterprise Companies, as well as business and community development programmes. SE contact 0141 248 2700 (http://www.scotent.co.uk) or HIE contact 01463 234171 (http://www.hie.co.uk)
Scottish Business in the Community – run independently of BiTC and responsible for Business Support Groups throughout Scotland as well as the Community Practitioners Forum. Contact 0131 20 3001 (sbc@sbcscot.freeserve.co.uk)
Tomorrow’s Company – the Scottish offshoot of the Centre for Tomorrow’s Company working to promote the inclusive approach to doing business. Contact 0131 558 3338
The Scottish Council Foundation – a new think tank for Scotland, providing policy analysis and briefings, including Scotland’s Parliament… a Business Guide to Devolution. Contact 0131 225 7911 (http://www.scottishpolicynet.org.uk)
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