The new revised National Standards for Community Engagement were launched on Thursday 29th September 2016 by the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Kevin Stewart MSP, in Kelty Community Centre in Fife. The Minister said that communities across Scotland are becoming involved in every aspect of decision making and that engaging with communities leads to better decisions. He welcomed the revised National Standards for Community Engagement as a framework for supporting the participation and empowerment of communities.
First developed in 2005, the Standards are key principles for effective practice which support community engagement and user involvement in Scotland, in areas ranging from community planning to health and social care. In so doing they are intended to complement and support Scotland’s developing community empowerment landscape and in particular the implementation of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
In 2015 and 2016, SCDC and What Works Scotland were commissioned by the Scottish Government to undertake a participatory process to review and update the Standards in light of the current context. Visit http://www.voicescotland.org.uk/ for more information.
