Section 11: Consulting Other Organisations
11.1 The Scottish Compact, sets out the principles established by the Scottish Executive under which Government and the voluntary sector can work together. The Compact was established in November 1999 and applies to all Departments, Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and Agencies of the Scottish Executive. The Committee has long had close involvement with both statutory and voluntary sectors.
The Statutory Agencies
11.2 Over the past two years, a Committee working group has undertaken considerable consultation with a variety of statutory bodies on their involvement with Traveller issues. Those consulted have included CoSLA, ACPOS, the Crown Office and a number of Health Boards. The Committee would like to record its particular thanks to Deputy Chief Constable Graham Bennet (Fife Constabulary) representing ACPOS, Kenny Simpson of CoSLA and Pauline Reid of the Crown Office for their positive contribution and support. Throughout these discussions, the Committee has accepted that such bodies have clearly defined remits and have to work within specific parameters, as they are accountable for their actions and performance to a range of official bodies.
11.3 Elsewhere in this report there is reference to the Committee's numerous meetings, over the years, with individual local authorities and other agencies. It should not be overlooked that, throughout, meetings of this kind have emphasised not just immediate local concerns but their place in the wider Scottish context and the need for consistent approaches.
The Voluntary Sector
11.4 For many years the Committee has also recognised the potentially valuable contribution of the voluntary sector (Appendix C - Recommendations 124-125). Indeed, the eighth Committee set itself a specific objective to pursue links with those voluntary organisations working in the field of Traveller support and advocacy, essentially to foster complementary rather than duplicatory roles.
11.5 Building on the principles incorporated in the Compact, together with the good practice already established within earlier Committees, the Ninth Term Committee has endeavoured to develop its links still further. It has capitalised on the field of knowledge and expertise available in both statutory and voluntary sectors in Scotland and on a rather more formalised basis in terms of regular meetings with individual or groups of organisations, based on definitive agendas and with reports taken back to the full Committee.
11.6 In order to do this, a further Committee Working Group has consulted extensively with relevant voluntary sector organisations. These have included the Traveller Site Managers' Association (TSMA) - with particular input from Bob Brown and Jessie Wallace - Save the Children (SCF), the Scottish Gypsy/Traveller Association (SGTA) and the Scottish Traveller Consortium (which encompasses SCF, SGTA and the Scottish Human Rights Centre (SHRC)). The Scottish Traveller Consortium was established during the Committee's ninth term of office and was seen as potentially very positive in its co-ordinating role. The Committee was pleased to welcome George Calder to represent the Consortium and hoped that it would flourish and provide the kind of overall 'voice' Travellers so desperately needed.
11.7 The Committee accepts that the chief purpose of voluntary organisations is to pursue the rights and needs of their respective client groups. At the same time, this provides potential for conflict both with the statutory agencies as well as between themselves in terms of their different agendas. Indeed, this led to some difficulties in our discussions and comment must be made at this stage that it has been very difficult to achieve a satisfactory working relationship with some elements within the voluntary sector. At times they have not treated the consultation process as the open and frank partnership hoped for, but rather as a confrontational exercise designed to pursue their own narrow agenda.
11.8 The Committee notes with regret a pattern of misrepresentation by parts of the voluntary sector of the Scottish Executive's agenda and the role of successive Advisory Committees, often undermining the voluntary work undertaken by its members. This is particularly evident in regular publications, in the public domain, which can heavily influence uninformed public perception. Such biased reporting is difficult to combat, without further jeopardising the situation of Travellers, whereas opportunities such as this end of term report are infrequent and tend not to reach the wider audience of researchers, writers and rights workers.
11.9 Any future structure to support coherence in services for Travellers must represent the broad spectrum of Travellers. Mechanisms must be found to promote genuine dialogue and positive working relationships between the voluntary and statutory sectors. Furthermore, all parties must approach such an exercise on the basis of partnership rather than partisanship, otherwise there will be little possibility of building the bridges necessary for a fair and just society for all in Scotland.
A Formal Process
11.10 As well as continuing discussion about a variety of issues affecting Travellers, a more specifically targeted consultation process was undertaken during 1999, with both groups of organisations regarding the possible options for the future. In light of the winding up of the Development Department's capital grant scheme recommendations were sought as to the future of pitch targets, the toleration policy and the Advisory Committee itself. The Committee circulated its provisional thinking on options and sought input from both the statutory and voluntary sectors.
11.11 The culmination of this consultation process was a seminar, organised by the Committee in November 1999, to which representatives of all the organisations were invited. As well as presentations on different aspects of the Committee's work over the years and on future options, it was important to obtain feedback on the Committee's provisional recommendations and discuss suggestions for alternatives. The outcome of this consultation is discussed in paragraphs 12.20-12.24.
11.12 Despite experiencing some difficulties, overall, the Committee has viewed both its more formal consultative efforts and other on-going contacts as valuable and, in most cases, constructive. Much of its thinking on the way forward, discussed in the final section of the report stems from these two approaches.