Response to the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill consultation

Dave Gorman, Director of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, responded to the Scottish Parliament Economy and Fair Work Committee’s consultation on the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill on behalf of the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

Submitted to Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill
Submitted on 2025-05-26 17:02:25

About you

1 Please read the privacy notice below and tick the box below to show that you understand how the data you provide will be used as set out in the policy.
I have read and understood how the personal data I provide will be used.

2 How your response will be published
I would like my response to be published in its entirety

3 What is your name?
Dave Gorman

4 What is your email address?
dave.gorman@ed.ac.uk

5 Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?
Organisation

Organisation details

1 Name of organisation
University of Edinburgh

2 Information about your organisation
Please add information about your organisation in the box below:

Founded by the city of Edinburgh in 1583, the University of Edinburgh is amongst the oldest civic universities in the world and one of the four ancient universities of Scotland. We are consistently ranked one of the top 50 universities in the world in international league tables, and placed 27th in the 2025
QS World University Rankings.

Our research transforms lives and is world-changing, and we are 4th in the UK for the quality and breadth of our research (REF2021).

The University is among the world’s top institutions for tackling the world’s most pressing environmental and social issues, we’re ranked 7th globally and 2nd in the UK for Sustainability (2025 QS World University Rankings: Sustainability). We bring people together from across the world to understand the
problems caused by issues like our changing climate, and work with local communities, businesses and governments on solutions.

Question page 1

1 The Scottish Government’s objective is to ensure consistent implementation of Community Wealth Building across Scotland. Please provide your response in the box provided.:

Yes, partially. If the Bill is passed, Scotland will be setting a clear precedent in being the first nation globally to enact dedicated Community Wealth Building (CWB) legislation. The Bill recognises that much Community Wealth Building activity is underway already, with public sector anchor organisations having already formed strong partnerships.

The passing of this Bill, with its associated obligations for Scottish Government Ministers to set out a CWB statement should embed CWB as a priority for this Government. Additionally, the proposed requirement for ‘relevant’ public bodies to develop and deliver dedicated CWB action plans should create
momentum for further action in this area, directly informed by those partners with influence in, and knowledge of, their localities and regions.

Yet, as we will address further in response to Q.3, the expectation of universities in contributing to consistent implementation of Community Wealth Building directly in relation to this Bill is currently unclear. As an example, the introductory text for this Call for Views points to the important role
universities have as anchor institutions: ‘anchor organisations can be public, private, or third sector bodies that have a large enough presence in a local area to be able to change economic outcomes. These could include local authorities, the NHS, large private sector employers, universities and enterprise agencies’.

However, the draft Bill as currently expressed omits universities from its defined ‘relevant’ public bodies. This may be because universities do not feature within the definition of public bodies used by Government, though there are other occasions when public sector duties have extended to universities.
Therefore, clarity on this would be welcome. Moreover, this Bill positions key public bodies in each region as drivers of CWB. Yet, consistent implementation of CWB will require effective involvement and consultation with, as well as buy-in from, private and third sector organisations.

No

Please explain your answer in the box provided.:

As noted above, there may be amendments worth considering within this Bill, as currently proposed, prior to it becoming law. In terms of existing laws, it would be important for institutional autonomy, including universities’ current ONS classification, to be taken into account. Reflection on ONS classification
is important for a number of reasons, beyond this particular context of the Community Wealth Building Bill.

Please provide your response in the box provided.:

The duties which would be established as a result of the passing of this Bill will go some way to achieving this objective. However, if this is a priority for Scottish Government, it will be important for this policy intent to be backed by sufficient resource. The Financial Memorandum details plans for dedicated
Scottish Government staffing resource, however, dedicated funding resource to enable capacity building will be key to incentivising the generation (and ultimately retention) of wealth.

As an example, the considerable impact and long-term benefits which continue to result from the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal are an example of what can be achieved when anchor institutions are empowered to deliver, supported by large-scale investment. The City Region Deal’s Data Skills Gateway (https://ddi.ac.uk/what-we-do/people/) is a fantastic example of this and has reached 34,500 participants since 2018 and helped more than 1,600 people progress into jobs.

2 The Bill would place extra duties on some public sector organisations. Are these duties proportionate? Do these organisations have the capacity and resources to meet the duties placed on them? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

From our perspective, the additional duties placed on ‘relevant’ public bodies to develop an action plan within three years of the Bill being enacted seem proportionate. However, we note that Scottish Government Ministers will be required to publish Community Wealth Building guidance within 18 months
of the Bill coming into force (Section 9 (2)). As public bodies and local authorities will be obliged to have due regard to this guidance in the preparation of the action plans, timely publication of guidance is essential. This is reinforced by the (appropriate) need for wide consultation on the action plans, as noted in the Bill.

We note that the Scottish Funding Council is named in the list of ‘specified’ funding bodies, obliged to have due regard to ministerial guidance on CWB across their own corporate plan and associated delivery strategies. Given that SFC funds both colleges (which are ‘relevant’ public bodies with a responsibility for developing and delivering action plans), and universities (who are not named), this might be difficult to implement consistently without clarity on universities’ position.

As noted above, while there is much Community Wealth Building activity underway already in Scotland, further initiatives would be enabled by dedicated funding resource to underpinning the delivery of action plans.

3 Do you agree with the list of relevant public bodies proposed in the Bill? If not, how should these be changed? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

As mentioned above, universities are not included in this list, and having clarification on the expectations of universities under this Bill will be important. While it may be the case that universities are not included simply on the basis of them not meeting the definition of public bodies provided by Scottish Government, there are other instances of legislation covering public bodies which do extend to universities.

The University of Edinburgh has made an active commitment to Community Wealth Building through signing the City Region Deal ESES Community Wealth Building Framework and resulting Pledge, and this aligns strongly with our institutional mission. While we are well-placed to continue our own Community Wealth Building activity, it would be beneficial to have clarification on our position within the context of this specific proposed legislation.

The draft Bill implies that broad engagement will take place during the process of these action plans, so it is likely that universities will be consulted on the relevant action plan for their region.

Question page 2

1 Do you agree with the list of specified public bodies proposed in the Bill? If not, how should these be changed? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

Yes, we agree with this list, and, with reference to earlier comments regarding the need for clarity in relation to universities, we would suggest there is a specific need to understand whether and how universities may see changes by extension of the duty placed on the Scottish Funding Council to embed
CWB guidance across their own corporate strategy and associated delivery plans, including funding guidance.

2 Are there any ways the law in devolved areas could be changed to facilitate Community Wealth Building that are currently not proposed in
the Bill?

Please provide your response in the box provided.:

N/A

3 Are there any potential unintended consequences to the proposed Bill? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

As mentioned throughout, while we support the introduction of the Bill and its policy intent, we believe that without clarity on expectations of universities in relation to it, there is potential that this will create an additional – and crucially, separate, strand of activity in this area which could complicate existing CWB activity that universities are progressing.

Question page 3

1 To what extent will small businesses benefit from this Bill? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

Evidence suggests that adopting a CWB approach increases the amount of procurement spend going to local businesses and supply chain. Therefore, for example, this would be of benefit to start-ups/SMEs that are supported by our commercialisation service, Edinburgh Innovations.

CWB is a relatively new approach and approaches will vary across localities so we will need to understand its full impacts by building a robust evidence base. Therefore, this Bill provides an opportunity to build this evidence base, locally, regionally and nationally, and we would encourage the Bill to provide a framework to collect relevant data and evidence.

2 To what extent will local community organisations benefit from this Bill? Please provide your response in the box provided.:

Given the five principles of CWB, it is likely that local community organisations will benefit from this Bill being published:

• by encouraging participation in local decision making
• by growing anchor organisations spend with local organisations
• providing structure for community organisations to develop and strengthen an asset-based approach