On the 10th of March 2022, the Scottish Leaders Forum (SLF) published a report on “Improving accountability and incentives to deliver the National Performance Framework (NPF) outcomes and live the values.” The forum includes over 300 senior leaders drawn from across the public services, third sector organisations, equality groups, and organisations that are delivering public services.
Scotland’s National Performance Framework sets out ‘National Outcomes’ to achieve Scotland’s national purpose which sits at the heart of the framework. These outcomes – which include those relating to poverty, health, environment, children and young people, human rights, and more – describe the kind of Scotland it aims to create, with values of kindness, dignity and compassion, respect of the rule of law, and acting in an open and transparent way, guiding the approach.
Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, the Scottish Government is required to review the NPF every five years. The next refresh of the NPF is due in summer 2023, with consultation processes beginning in 2022. The most recent update, which took place in 2018, incorporated the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the framework. The report from the SLF, which identifies how greater collective accountability for delivery again the NPF could be achieved, seeks to inform the upcoming review.
The SLF report concludes that the status of accountability against the NPF is at best “patchy”, and that the NPF is not always actively used to shape scrutiny, funding decisions, and commissioning. The report goes on to outline how organisations across all parts of society – including design authorities, delivery agencies, enabling organisations, and scrutiny bodies – can be supported and encouraged to make changes to deliver on Scotland’s National Outcomes, covering aspects of awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement.
Link
- Read this guest blog from the Co-Chairs of the report for the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
