SPEAKER 1
SDEF Access Panel Conference 2015
Speaker Gareth Allen, Third Sector Interface
Connections and the Third Sector
Third Sector Unit – Scottish Government
 Part of the Equality, Human Rights and Third Sector Division
 Within the Directorate for Local Government and
Communities
 Director General Communities
 Working across Government and collaboration
Third Sector Unit
Some of the work the unit supports
 Policy and engagement
 Supporting enterprising third sector organisations and social
enterprise
 Volunteering
 Charity Law
 Social Investment
 Third sector infrastructure – local and national
 Communities, prevention, public service reform and third
sector
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SPEAKER 1
Priorities – Programme for Government
 Economic competitiveness and fairness
 Social justice and tackling inequality
 Democratic renewal
 Community empowerment and engagement
Key transformational role for the third sector and communities
remains central
Strategic Conversation
What future approaches might best ensure a buoyant and
sustainable third sector into the longer term?
 Frame the big challenges
 Approaches to creating the conditions necessary for a
buoyant and sustainable sector
 Ambitions for the sector
 Look up to 10 years ahead
Aims
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share understanding of current context
surface significant issues for the sector
discuss ambitions for the sector
explore the conditions necessary for a buoyant and
sustainable sector
 reflect on the roles of State, sector and communities in this
environment
 consider what relationships are necessary; and
 the conversations that need to be had to take thinking
forward
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SPEAKER 1
Third Sector Interfaces
Each local authority area in Scotland has a Third Sector Interface
(TSI) to support, promote, develop and represent the third sector:
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Community groups
Voluntary organisations
Social enterprises
Volunteering
Slides 7-11 draw on information from the website of Voluntary Action
Scotland
The TSI is also the connection between the Community Planning
Partnership (CPP) and the third sector
 CPPs are made up of public, private and third sector bodies
including the local authority, health board, fire, police,
enterprise agency and others. They are tasked with ensuring
“public services provided in the area of the local authority are
provided and the planning of that provision takes place”
Background
 20 TSIs are single agencies and 12 of them are formed of
partnerships across bodies historically associated with
supporting their local voluntary sector, social enterprises and
volunteers.
 Some of these are ‘Volunteer Centres’, ‘Centres for Voluntary
Service’ or ‘Social Enterprise Networks’. Your local TSI might
be known by one of these titles, as a ‘TSI’ or a local ‘Voluntary
Action’ agency.
 They are independent from Government but the Scottish
Government invests in four key functions
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SPEAKER 1
A set of common standards, services and outcomes
 Helping communities help themselves through the power of
volunteering
 Social enterprise development
 Supporting and developing a strong third sector – harnessing
the passion of individuals to come together to improve their
community
 Building the third sector relationship with community planning
Voluntary Action Scotland
Voluntary Action Scotland is the network organisation for Scotland’s
TSIs
http://www.vascotland.org
 What a TSI is and does
 Find a TSI
Other third sector connections
 There are a range of national third sector intermediaries which
form part of the third sector infrastructure
 They can cover, for example, particular parts of the sector, or a
particular policy area, or provide a function
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