Members update from ALLIANCE Chief Officer

Dear members,

This will be the last newsletter of 2025, what a quick year it’s been, and the work still seems to be as busy as ever.

Fair funding

On the 11 December, we will be meeting with the First Minister on the back of the open letter setting out the challenges facing the third sector published in the Sunday Herald.  Along with asks from the letter, we will be seeking clarity on the announcement made by the Cabinet Secretary of £20 million investment into social care and priorities for the Scottish budget for 2026/27.

We will be taking a briefing outlining the findings from your responses to our survey last month gathering even more recent data about the challenges the third sector across health and social care is facing.

I will make sure to provide an update on this next month.

A strong collective voice

A collective of health and social care intermediary organisations continues to work together on shared messages about the reform of health and social care, and of the importance of third sector voices contributing to its implementation and oversight. 

I have been invited to join the Service Renewal Framework programme board, and we will make sure to share highlights of this with members and other intermediaries. 

The ALLIANCE attended an initial meeting of a reform oversight board.  This board is providing oversight of delivery of the Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework.  At the initial meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray, said he was seeking a joint approach and collaboration between national government, local government, health boards and the community and voluntary sector.  

Long Term Conditions Framework

We continue to work to ensure that ALLIANCE members are able to contribute to the development of the Framework.  It has been helpful to meet with a range of members individually about your views on the framework. 

At the end of November, the Minister for Public Health, Jenni Minto, convened a roundtable of third sector organisations on the Framework.  Ahead of this a draft Framework was shared in confidence which we were able to provide comment on.

At the Ministerial Roundtable, we highlighted the short timescale between now and March and try and get the process right for developing an action plan.  The Minister committed to reconsidering this.

Just this week we have been informed that the Minister is considering the feedback that we and others in the sector have offered. 

We will continue to convene members and reflect your views and priorities as this framework develops.  We will also feed in the insights we have gathered over the years from engaging with people living with long term conditions and unpaid carers to inform its development. As this is a very fast moving policy area, we have arranged a members’ event on 11^th December as an opportunity to keep members updated and hear views from across our membership. We will also make sure to continue to share future updates as we receive them. 

Primary Care and Community Health

Another relevant policy area is the work Scottish Government is taking forward to develop a delivery plan for primary care and community health reform. 

It was good to engage with so many members last week on this topic. The event had a particular focus on the actions needed to ensure third sector community health models of care and support were considered.  I will be taking the points raised during this event back to Scottish Government and the working group.

20 years of the ALLIANCE

Lastly, next years will be 20 years since the ALLIANCE was established. We are working on plans to showcase our impact together throughout the year.

There will be opportunities to celebrate the collective work which has made a real impact to people and communities across Scotland.

As we approach the end of the year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally for your continued work with us.  We have been a strong collective voice across a wide variety of issues and topics.  It is a pleasure and a privilege to oversee  our shared platform and work together with you to improve the wellbeing of people and communities across Scotland.

In sharing this roundup, we want to ensure our members stay informed about our work and opportunities to engage with Scottish Government policy and practice. If you would like any further information or to share your views on any of the issues discussed, please contact the membership team at membership@alliance-scotland.org.uk.