Fear and loathing in Victoria Quay

Charities that provide public services are increasingly reluctant to speak out against social injustice because they fear they will lose their funding,according to a report from the Independence Panel, a commission set up in England to monitor the voluntary sector as it grapples with huge cuts in public funding.  It said service provider charities that traditionally have also had an advocacy role were censoring their public utterances for fear of reprisals from local authority and central government funders.

So far, so clear, so unsurprising.  

Martin Sime - CE at SCVO

And then you go looking for something similar by way of intelligence on what is happening in Scotland.  Where better than the web site of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, SCVO?  Well, for one thing the SCVO web site takes ages to load and is not the most accessible of web sites.  That apart, can I find an analysis of the strained relationship between government and the voluntary sector?  Three guesses and the first 4 don't count.

Keith Wimbles - CE at VAF

Then to the web site of the Voluntary Action Fund, VAF, which acts as a banker for government in distributing funds to the voluntary sector to do some of the equalities work needed in Scotland.  They distribute at least £4,683,807 of funds to 65 projects and get £180,402 themselves for doing this work.  I have tried asking questions of VAF [like what difference that work makes to individual people] but I have been told that they are not accountable to citizens, only those who use their services.  Do they offer any insights as to the atmosphere of fear and loathing between voluntary sector organisations working in equalities and the government?  Do they even tell you what the 65 projects are to do with over £4 million of funds and how it will make a difference to you, me and other people?  No, no and once again no.  

So VAF, like SCVO, are unable to say just how much voluntary sector organisations are bullied by government into not openly and overtly challenging or criticising government, with the sub-text being if you challenge you will lose funding at the next round.  Maybe not unable to say.  Maybe not willing to say?

This is not my fevered, paranoid, opium-fuelled gibberings.  In conversation with a number of people working in the sector over the last couple of years I have been told that very direct threats have come from civil servants in Victoria Quay, when some voluntary sector staff have been challenging or in some cases accused of being 'overly familiar' in their approach to and engagement with government minsters.  The message?  Simple.  Back off, else the funding tap gets turned off.

The debate on this issue has now opened up in England.  In Scotland, we are clearly so cowed by the government's bullying culture and in hock to government funding, we can't even bring it out of the closet.  We need cold turkey, and the drug is government funding.


As one of the first steps, why not challenge the two umbrella voluntary sector organisations to comment on the climate of fear and loathing created by Victoria Quay?  Ask Keith and Martin what they are doing to protect the independence and integrity of staff in the voluntary sector?


In addition, you could ask your MSP what she/he knows about this and what she/he thinks should be put in place to remove bullying from the relationship between government and the sector.


Finally, Nicola Sturgeon has ministerial responsibility for equalities in her bag.  Why not drop her an email asking if she is aware of the climate of fear and loathing, and what checks and balances she has in place to make sure it is eliminated?