biketrouble/Flickr CC BY-NC-SA Kenneth Gibb, Policy Scotland, University of Glasgow When the council tax was first introduced in 1993, it was viewed as a politically clever fix after the catastrophe of the poll tax. It combined the palatable parts of a tax on property with personal discounts and limited exemptions for certain groups, such as students.…
URBAN LAND REFORM IN SCOTLAND – updated 03/11 – new Briefing Paper: response to Scottish Government Report to Sounding Board In May 2014, the Land Reform Review Group submitted its final report to the Scottish Government. The First Minister announced in November 2014 that the Government would consequently bring forward a Land Reform Bill, which…
By Professor Ken Gibb, University of Glasgow Earlier today I was part of a report launch jamboree in Edinburgh. This was the official presentation of the Commission on Housing and Wellbeing: A Blueprint for Scotland’s Future. This has been a two year programme of work supported by, but independent of, Shelter Scotland. I have been…
Yesterday the final report from the Commission on Housing and Wellbeing that Shelter Scotland set up back in 2013 was launched. Chaired by the former Auditor General, Robert Black the Commission was established to look at the ways in which housing can and does impact on the wider wellbeing of Scotland’s people – including their…
You can view footage below from the Policy Reunion Event held on 24 March 2015 on community planning partnerships. At this event Policy Scotland Director, Ken Gibb, chaired a panel focused on the emergence and evolution of Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs), a cornerstone of Public Service Reforms in Scotland. The panelists were Rory Mair, Chief…
Policy Scotland is proud to share ‘This Place Matters’ with you. This Place Matters is a collaborative learning project for communities and local authorities developed by the University of Glasgow and Architecture + Design Scotland. You can find out more about them by clicking here: http://www.thisplacematters.org.uk/
by Josef Konvitz Honorary Professor, University of Glasgow; Visiting Professor, Cities Group, Geography, King’s London; Former Head, Urban Affairs, Regulatory Policy Divisions, OECD, Paris The prospect of a recovery gives the false impression that we can go back to 2008 as if the last six years had not happened. But something dramatic has changed: the rate of…
By Prof. Ken Gibb, Policy Scotland, University of Glasgow The social housing sector in Scotland confronts a wide array of external and internal risks, as well as the need to respond to and work with multiple stakeholders like their tenants, government, the regulator and lenders. Providers operate risk-based management practices to help them assess and…
Scottish social housing faces multiple new risks and uncertainty but is focused on increasing its resilience, according to a new study. A report by the University of Glasgow’s Policy Scotland, in partnership with the Wheatley Group, found that non-market housing, primarily housing associations and council providers, are a bulwark against poverty, provide shelter and often…
By Prof. Ken Gibb, Policy Scotland, University of Glasgow I read Will Self’s thought-provoking piece on housing in the FT at the weekend (A rentier nation’s fading dreams of home). Home ownership has peaked and is now at a 25 year low; while, at the same time, this has been redistributed into the quickly growing…