Scotland's Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-2026

Delivering And Measuring Success

The implementation of this ten-year strategy will be facilitated by the Scottish Government's Equality, Human Rights and Third Sector Division. Delivery will be co-ordinated and progress reviewed by a multi-agency Social Enterprise Forum.

The strategy will be implemented through a series of three-year Social Enterprise Action Plans setting out agreed actions, resource commitments, responsibilities and deliverables. We will review progress annually against Key Performance Indicators included in the action plans, drawing on routinely collected performance information and an annual consultation with stakeholders.

The introduction of additional actions or changes in direction will be evidence-based. A programme of social enterprise research will offer new insights, fill gaps in knowledge, shape further areas of intervention, and establish the feasibility of new approaches. This will build on Scotland's world class research capabilities in the social enterprise field.

We will monitor changes in the sector by way of a biennial Social Enterprise Census. Building on baseline data produced in 2015, this will track the changing scale, characteristics and contribution of the sector over the timeframe of the strategy. This will be complemented by effective self-evaluation arrangements built into the design of all main policy programmes and initiatives. In doing so we will seek to better understand the contribution of our policies and re-orientate these as necessary.

To strengthen our multi-agency focus and drive accountability, we will introduce an appropriate suite of headline social enterprise change indicators that enable us to measure the contribution of the sector towards achievement of our national outcomes and policy goals.

We will carry out a full review of our strategy at its midpoint in 2021 and on conclusion in 2026.