Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, panel. Like a couple of other colleagues on the committee, I was previously a councillor—in my case, for 15 years. I also chair the cross-party group on social enterprise, so I have a real interest in the third sector.

The issue comes down to where community planning sits in local councils and localities, where the third sector comes in, and how third sector organisations feel involved. The feedback that we had from events that we held is that the picture is very mixed across Scotland. It is about consistency and models of good practice. Where do you see the third sector playing that role, not just in being part of decision making but in delivering services as well?

That is important, and those are good examples. You said that there is a link with the local authority but also with local communities. There is an element where that is kind of missing.

Anna, from Orkney’s point of view, is that more difficult? I suppose that the TSI is on a slightly different scale, but does that make it more difficult or easier in your experience?

Thank you. I will stop there, convener—although the subject is fascinating and I could talk for hours about it.

Yes. It came out earlier that the views are very mixed. Some TSIs feel that they have good involvement with the council, but some third sector organisations do not feel that they have a good relationship with the TSIs. That might be something for the committee to take away and discuss.

My questions are on the role of the third sector. I chair the cross-party group on social enterprise, so I have quite a lot of interaction with the third sector. It is fair to say that third sector organisations across the country had mixed views on their involvement in community planning not only at the local authority level but down at the locality planning level. I know that there will be questions on locality plans later.

What are your thoughts on and experiences of that? How do you involve third sector organisations? How could things be improved across the country? As I said, the signal from the third sector was very mixed in that regard.

I will go to Jennifer Lees first and then open up the discussion to anyone else who wants to come in.

Does Michelle Crombie have any comments in that regard from an Aberdeen point of view? One key question for me is how you build that capacity. There are the TSIs and there is the third sector below that, but how do you build capacity within the sector for it to try to develop itself, not just its core actions? How does it develop itself in community planning roles, for example?

Is that discussion happening at a thematic level?

Oliver, can you respond to the same question?

That is spot-on—it is exactly what I was looking for. We get feedback from people who come to the cross-party group on social enterprise that Glasgow City Council is very supportive. The key thing is that the support infrastructure is there for organisations for funding and to help them to adapt and change if they are not successful. That response is really helpful.

Shaw Anderson or Evonne Bauer might want to come in on that. I have only one question.

I turn to Bernadette Monaghan and Shaw Anderson for Glasgow City Council’s point of view. One of the key issues is how to improve public outcomes through community planning, the TSIs or the third sector. I think that you have touched on that. How do you engage in that side of things?

I go back to Michelle Crombie’s point. It is about trying to make the community aware of where improvement needs to be, what it needs to do and how it plays a role, for example. Does Bernadette Monaghan or Shaw Anderson want to touch on that particular element, working with the third sector, and delivering on the ground?