Scottish Government Debate: Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26

Angela Constance S5M-03898 That the Parliament values the work of Scotland’s social enterprises to reduce disadvantage and inequality through their work with communities and individuals; acknowledges the excellent partnership working of organisations across the public and third sectors to deliver Scotland’s world-leading support for the social enterprise sector; recognises the work of the many committed individuals who embrace this more inclusive way of doing business and who work together to find new avenues towards social improvement; notes the ambitions of the Scottish Government and social enterprise sector over the next 10 years, as set out in Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26, which focuses on the three priorities of stimulating the sector, developing stronger organisations and realising market opportunities; supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to the internationalisation of the social enterprise sector, and looks forward to 2018, when Edinburgh will again host the international Social Enterprise World Forum, marking 10 years since the inaugural event in Scotland. Dean Lockhart S5M-03898.2 As an amendment to motion S5M-03898 in the name of Angela Constance (Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26), after "social improvement" insert "; acknowledges that the Scottish public sector now has the legal framework and, if it chooses to do so, can revolutionise the way it contracts goods and services from social enterprises; looks forward to the development of a robust, cost-effective, accessible and independently verifiable social impact measurement tool; recognises the preventative spend impact of social enterprises and notes that more work must be done to fully understand this in relation to the innovation of public sector services". Richard Leonard S5M-03898.1 As an amendment to motion S5M-03898 in the name of Angela Constance (Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26), after “market opportunities” insert “; welcomes the role that social enterprise can play in rebuilding the economy and creating new forms of local ownership in energy, land and the mainstream economy; is concerned that cuts to local government and enterprise agency budgets may lead to pressure to reduce the level of support for social enterprise; believes that, in order to develop, effectively deliver and monitor the new social enterprise strategy, the Scottish Government should set clear targets, timescales, actions and resources for all aspects of the strategy and report regularly to the Parliament on how these are being met”. Andy Wightman S5M-03898.3 As an amendment to motion S5M-03898 in the name of Angela Constance (Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26), after "Parliament" insert "believes that social enterprises, cooperatives and employee-owned businesses should be at the heart of the economy, challenging the status quo of current business models that do not put people before profit; agrees that government support for businesses must be conditional on the delivery of social and environmental goods such as the living wage, environmental responsibility, the recognition of trade unions and equal pay."