News

Consultation on Community Wealth Building (CWB) Legislation

The Supplier Development Programme was delighted to contribute to the recent Scottish Government public consultation on Community Wealth Building (CWB) legislation, exploring which new powers, abilities and duties will enable public bodies to support CWB in their local area or region.

On January 31 2023, the Scottish Government published a consultation on Community Wealth Building (CWB), seeking views and comments on what future CWB legislation should look like. The consultation also sought feedback on how existing law and policy could be changed to advance action on CWB. 

The consultation focused on the following areas:

• A proposal for a duty to advance CWB, which provided respondents with options, as well as inviting views on which bodies should be covered, and addressing accountability and involvement of stakeholders;
• Debate about the provision of statutory or non-statutory guidance;
• Whether non-legislative measures are required to advance CWB;
• If specific actions are required to advance the items contained within the Shared Policy Programme in relation to CWB;
• If changes to the law are required to advance the pillars of CWB (spending, workforce, land and property, inclusive ownership and finance).

The consultation closed on 9 May 2023. In total 185 responses were received, of which 148 were from groups or organisations and 37 from individual members of the public.

Gillian Cameron, Programme Manager of the Supplier Development Programme, said:

"The consultation process has generated many interesting ideas on how to advance Community Wealth Building. It is encouraging to see that many responses highlight the need for more resources to make CWB happen.

"We were delighted to learn that there was a number endorsements of SDP from local authorities and other key organisations, such as Scottish Enterprise and the Federation of Small Business. These responses repeatedly included calls for increased, longer term, and secured Scottish Government investment in the Supplier Development Programme.”

Those interested are encouraged to read the summary of findings, which sets out the key themes emerging from the analysis of responses.