Martin Sime: How 'third sector' can help Scotland through this financial crisis

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) strongly welcomes their report and, in particular, the emphasis on the question of who should deliver our public services. As Bill Jamieson pointed out in yesterday's Scotsman, this report is nothing less than the beginning of a public debate about the future of Scotland.

The review's recommendation that the third sector must play a much bigger role is bang on the money. It would allow us to do more of what we do best, from caring for older people in their own homes to inspiring and training young people. The charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations that make up the third sector excel at preventing bigger problems arising in future - something that's needed now more than ever.

This type of preventative approach has the potential to cut future costs as well as delivering significantly better outcomes for the end user. By helping older people to stay in their own homes, for example, the sector prevents future demand for hospital beds, whilst improving the quality of life for the individual.

Recent research also shows Scotland's third sector delivers higher quality care services than either the public or private sector and is better trusted than local authorities.

So the review's statement that we need to re-examine what services are provided by the state, and what role the third sector might play, is a very welcome one. Similarly the recommendation that "low cost/low quality does not become the default standard" when commissioning public services is essential. Too often in recent months, some local authorities have slashed funding to voluntary organisations providing excellent services, in the misguided belief they can be provided more cheaply in-house. The public sector pay and pensions bill attached to any local government service discredits that notion.

But, looking forward, there is opportunity for our sector to do much more in all areas of society, by up-scaling and replicating alternative models of delivery, which are already making Scotland healthier, fairer, greener and wealthier. We have long argued that public services need to move closer to the ideals of community empowerment, co-production and personalisation - all things that our sector is already skilled at and on which the Independent Budget Review places great importance.

Much of the onus now rests with the Scottish Government, at least to kick start the process of change. However, we do have some practical suggestions: fund demonstration projects that can upscale and replicate existing and promising alternative services provided by our sector; set up a social partnership with the third sector, faith groups, trade unions and business to develop a bold budget for 2011-14; and take the report's advice - intervene to ensure that, where the third sector can provide a better service than the public sector, it should do be encouraged and enabled to do so.

All these suggestions are small adjustments financially. Yet they have the potential to have a much bigger impact on the viability of Scotland's public services.

The third sector is more than capable of delivering innovative, high-quality services that meet the needs of the people they serve, and to deliver significant savings. Now we just need the chance to prove ourselves. The challenge facing politicians is considerable, but there are opportunities here too. We must be brave, we must be radical, and, most importantly, we must start doing things differently.

Martin Sime is chief executive of the SCVO.