The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act was passed at the Scottish Parliament in the summer of 2015. Now the Scottish Government is working with a range of experts and stakeholders to develop regulations and guidance for implementation.

Dr Oliver Escobar (WWS at the University of Edinburgh) has joined the Advisory Group convened by the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, Marco Biagi MSP.

The purpose of the group is to explore options on how to implement Part 10 of the Act, concerning public participation in public decision making. This is a new regulation-making power enabling Ministers to require Scottish public authorities to promote and facilitate the participation of members of the public in the decisions and activities of the authority, including in the allocation of its resources.  A key principle of the group’s work is to make the most of existing frameworks and approaches to build capability and capacity to underpin the successful delivery of the duty.