Quarterly policy round up – member exclusive

Dear members,  

Welcome to our latest quarterly update from the ALLIANCE policy team. This edition covers activity from April to June 2026 and highlights some of the key areas where we’ve been working alongside members and partners to influence policy and practice.  

Scottish Parliamentary Election 

May’s election to the Scottish Parliament has been a major focus of our activity over the last quarter, and the Policy team has been working to share members’ priorities with the parties ahead of the election, to give members opportunities to ask the candidates about issues that matter to you, and to introduce new Ministers and MSPs to the ALLIANCE afterwards. 

The ALLIANCE held two hustings events ahead of the election, featuring representatives from all six major parties. The first was held jointly with Voluntary Health Scotland, and covered areas including third sector funding and prevention. The second was held solely by the ALLIANCE, and covered areas including human rights and social care. Both hustings events the ALLIANCE were involved in organising were well attended by members and partners, and the questions put to candidates had been submitted by attendees. 

Before the election, we published ‘Our Collective Voice’, an ALLIANCE manifesto, shaped by engagement with members. We were delighted that this appears to have been influential – in the six main party manifestos for the Scottish Parliamentary election, a total of 53 commitments fully aligned with ALLIANCE manifesto asks, with a further 38 partially aligned. 

Following the election, we wrote to relevant Scottish Government Ministers, Party Spokespeople and Committee Conveners to set out our members’ priorities for the next five years. So far, we have held positive introductory meetings with with health and social care spokespeople for Labour (Jackie Baillie MSP and Joe Long MSP) and the Scottish Greens (Cara McKee MSP), with several more to follow! 

Social Care 

At the end of May, we submitted a response to the Scottish Government’s Right to breaks and timescales for support plans for unpaid carers consultation. Our response was informed by engagement with our members, including those with lived experience of being an unpaid carer and professionals who work in the sector through an open-ended survey which is complemented by engagement with national carer organisations. 

We are planning to try and make sure social care reform stays on the political agenda for the new Scottish Government and Parliament. As part of this, ahead of introductory meetings with MSPs we circulated a pre-meeting briefing on the need for Social Care Reform. These reforms were developed with our members in our manifesto development and expanded upon through prior research undertaken on these areas, compiling lived experience and statistical evidence. The ALLIANCE took part in several meetings to inform the development of resources aimed at Reframing Public Perceptions of Adult Social Care, which are aimed at building public support for social care. 

Human Rights 

Over the last three months, we have been working with members to urge the Scottish and UK Governments to prioritise human rights. This included signing a joint letter co-ordinated by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) urging the First Minister to prioritise the Human Rights Bill in the new parliament, and signed a joint letter to the UK Government marking 50 years of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the UK, and urging them to commit to a timescale for incorporation at UK level. 

We participated in a roundtable with the Scottish Human Rights Commission reflecting on the first two years of their State of the Nation reports and providing input on the third year, emphasising the value of lived experience input and the need to take an intersectional approach to rights that includes groups that do not have specific treaty protections, including older people and LGBTI+ people. 

Fair Finance 

We circulated a briefing on third sector funding to MSPs with relevant party spokesperson or committee roles ahead of the “Strengthening Scotland’s Partnership with the Third Sector” debate in the Scottish Parliament. This was based on our previous “Stretched Beyond Limit” report which members contributed both quantitative and qualitative data to. The briefing was directly quoted or referenced by three MSPs (from three different parties) during the debate. 

During the quarter, the ALLIANCE signed a joint letter as part of the Tax Justice Scotland campaign to the First Minister calling for action on tax in the new parliament, and met with In Control Scotland to discuss issues with local IJB funding decisions which reduced funding to third sector organisations. 

Health and healthcare 

We met the Scottish Government Mental Health Law and Adults with Incapacity Reform team to discuss progress on reform and how ALLIANCE members might be involved.  We also participated in a meeting of the Scottish Government Community Mental Wellbeing Fund National Oversight Group. 

In other news, thanks to those members who joined us for the ALLIANCE Engage – Policy Networking Forum a few weeks ago! Feedback suggests the event was well received, and we’re looking to continue holding these every six months. 

We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress in the next quarterly update.   

In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with the policy team, please don’t hesitate to contact us at policy@alliance-scotland.org.uk