Policy roundup 2024

The Policy and Public Affairs programme influenced government policy in many areas over 2024.

The Policy and Public Affairs programme influenced government policy in social care, human rights, finance, social security, mental health, COVID-19 and much more during 2024.

The ALLIANCE’s extensive written and oral evidence on the National Care Service was referred to by Emma Harper MSP and Gillian Mackay MSP in the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill Stage 1 debate, and referred to 13 times in the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s Stage 1 report.

Scottish Government officials have expressed gratitude for our constructive suggestions for amendments to the Bill, and our contribution to the NCS Expert Legislative Advisory Group.

The ALLIANCE’s evidence on Self-directed Support was mentioned eight times in the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s report of its post-legislative scrutiny of the Self-directed Support Act.

Human rights continues to be a key policy priority for the ALLIANCE. We expressed our disappointment at the Scottish Government’s decision not to include the Human Rights Bill, which we have long campaigned for, in the Programme for Government.

Following a proposal by the ALLIANCE however, the Programme for Government contained a commitment to accelerate action to mainstream human rights and equality in all government and public sector work

We were invited to give oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee’s inquiry on Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape. Feedback from MSPs has indicated that they considered our evidence extremely useful, and SHRC also praised our evidence in their oral evidence. Our evidence was mentioned seven times in the Committee’s report.

Our role in providing expert advice on social security, as well as previous partnership work, resulted in us being invited to meetings with the Cabinet Secretary. We were able to contribute evidence on the Work Capability Assessment for the Cabinet Secretary to use, and she committed to exploring alternatives to a mobility component for Pension Age Disability Payment that were proposed in a joint briefing.

The ALLIANCE’s evidence was cited 17 times in the Scottish Government’s Analysis of Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP) Consultation Responses.

Due to the ALLIANCE’s written evidence, we were invited to give oral evidence to two Scottish Parliament committees as part of their pre-budget scrutiny, and on the

on the National Performance Outcomes.

The Scottish Parliament Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee specifically sought out our advice on conducting their inquiry on the Suicide Prevention Strategy due to the strength of our networks and lived experience expertise. Three organisations were asked to give oral evidence to the inquiry as a result of the ALLIANCE suggesting them. The ALLIANCE’s oral evidence to the inquiry was quoted twice in their letter to the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport following conclusion of their evidence sessions.

The ALLIANCE is a Core Participant in the independent Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry. In 2024 we were invited to give supplementary written and oral evidence to the Inquiry, following our previous appearance in 2023.

Ahead of the UK General Election in July, the ALLIANCE produced a manifesto ‘Rights, Wellbeing, Fairness’, informed by members’ priorities for the new UK Government. Several of the manifesto asks were reflected in the manifestos of the main political parties. We organised a candidate hustings event, that received praise from members and the candidates who participated.

As a result of the quality of our written response, we were invited to give oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill. Initial feedback from the Clerks was that the Committee found our evidence very helpful. The ALLIANCE’s evidence was quoted three times in the Committee’s report, which recommend the Parliament vote for the Bill, which it did near-unanimously.

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