Story from todays herald : Public sector blasted for use of gobbledygook Daniel Sanderson Scottish Political Correspondent Tuesday 27 January 2015 PUBLIC bodies risk alienating their communities by constantly using gobbledygook phrases that normal people do not understand, a MSP has said. Kevin Stewart said that witnesses from the public sector giving evidence to Holyroods Local Government and Regeneration Committee had used terms including third sector interface and partnership-framework when talking about community engagement. Mr Stewart, who leads the committee, said the phrases can act as a barrier for people getting involved in decisions affecting them. In a report, the committee has said that new legislation designed to give a stronger voice to communities would need to be improved if it is to meet its goals. Mr Stewart added: For the Bill to truly empower, public authorities must avoid gobbledygook phrases which cannot be easily understood. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill aims to provide local communities with the power to participate in local decision making through participation requests. It also sets out powers for communities to take ownership or management of lands from public authorities into community control. Mr Stewart said: During our consideration of the Bill we met with folks in communities across the country who said time and again that they wanted to be more involved in the decisions being made about them. There can no doubt this Bill is generally a welcome boost towards putting power in the hands of communities. However, for a Bill which is designed to empower, we were struck by the requirement that only groups with a written constitution could submit a participation request. This seems out of step with the whole ethos of the Bill. The committee expressed concern that local communities are not sufficiently involved in the decisions being by Community Planning Partnerships, which are designed to bring together the police, NHS, councils and other public bodies to foster a joined-up approach. CPPs were too focussed on a top-down approach, the committee said. The report recommends that the Bill should require CPPs to actively seek input directly from the community
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:57:27 +0000
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