Difference between revisions of "Centre for Scottish Public Policy"

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According to its [http://www.cspp.org.uk/index.html website] The '''Centre for Scottish Public Policy''' 'is an independent think-tank formerly known as the [[John Wheatley Centre]], established to provide a focus for imaginative and innovative policy debate on the key issues facing Scotland.'
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[[Image:CSPP.jpg|200px|thumb|right|CSPP Logo]]
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According to its website, the '''Centre for Scottish Public Policy''' (CSPP) is  
 +
:An independent think tank providing a focus for imaginative and innovative policy debate on the key issues facing Scotland.<ref>"[http://www.cspp.org.uk/ Homepage]", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.</ref>
  
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According to [http://www.psa.ac.uk/2005/pps/Pautz.pdf Hartwig Pautz] 'In summer 2004, [[Ross Martin]], a former Labour Councillor and failed Labour-candidate for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999... was appointed Executive Director. He followed [[Gerry Hassan]], who was previously Head of Communications at the [[Scottish Council for Development and Industry]] lobby group (SCDI), and who is now working with think-tank [[Sourcewatch:Demos|Demos]] on the ‘scenario-building’ project Scotland 202038. Prior to his new position at the CenSPP, Martin
+
The CSPP says its aim is the "promotion of an imaginative policy debate" by "organising opportunities for politicians, policy thinkers and practitioners to meet and to learn from each other."<ref>"[http://www.cspp.org.uk/ Home page]", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.</ref>The website adds that the CSPP was formerly known as the [[John Wheatley Centre]].<ref>"[http://www.cspp.org.uk/public/about/history.jsp About us: History]", CSPP website, accessed January 2009</ref> As of 2009 the CSPP's chief executive is [[Ross Martin]] (appointed 2004), a former Labour Councillor and failed Labour candidate for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999.<ref>Mary Braid, "[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/britain-votes-canavan-out-for-revenge-against-the-wee-cabal-1091981.html Britain Votes: Canavan out for revenge against the 'wee cabal']", The Independent, 7 May 1999, accessed January 2009.</ref> He followed [[Gerry Hassan]], who was previously head of communications at the [[Scottish Council for Development and Industry]] (SCDI) lobby group<ref>"[http://www.scdi.org.uk/pi/2000/1542.doc Scottish Council for Development and Industry Response to the Scottish Executive Consultation Paper on Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland: Modernising the System]", SCDI, 5 May 2000, accessed January 2009</ref>. As of 2009 Hassan is working with think-tank [[Demos]] on the Scotland 2020 project<ref>"[http://www.demos.co.uk/people/gerryhassan Gerry Hassan]", Demos website, accessed January 2009.</ref>.
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was head of the [[Scottish Forum for Modern Government]] at Aberdeen’s
 
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Robert Gordon University. This institute, set up in November 1999, has
 
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effectively ceased to exist. Martin wants the CenSPP ‘to act as a bridgehead
 
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between the government and the people they seek to govern by providing
 
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opportunities for engagement, by challenging vested interests’39. He
 
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wants the institute to be seen as ‘centre-left’40, although not aligned to a
 
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political party. The CenSPP’s aim is the ‘promotion of an imaginative public
 
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policy debate’ by ‘organising opportunities for politicians, policy thinkers
 
−
and practitioners to meet and to learn from each other’41. In cooperation
 
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with the SCF, the CenSPP is pursuing research into ‘public sector reform
 
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in Scotland’42.'
 
  
 +
Prior to his new position at the CSPP, Martin was head of the [[Scottish Forum for Modern Government]] at Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University. This institute, set up in November 1999, has effectively ceased to exist. According to an article in the ''Edinburgh Evening News'', Martin wants the CSPP "to act as a bridgehead between the government and the people they seek to govern by providing opportunities for engagement, by challenging vested interests".<ref>Ross Martin to head up left-of-centre think tank", Edinburgh Evening News, 22 June 2004.</ref> In an interview with Hartwig Pautz, Martin said that he wants the institute to be seen as "centre-left", although not aligned to a political party.<ref>Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "[http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2005/Pautz.pdf Think-Tanks in Scotland]", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.</ref>
  
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==Personnel==
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The CSPP is pursuing research into public service reform in Scotland<ref>"[http://www.cspp.org.uk/public/Policy/ProgrammesPublicServicesReform.jsp About the Programme]", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.</ref>. According to an interview of Martin by Hartwig Pautz, it has received sponsorship among others by BAA Scotland, the European Parliament and the German Social Democratic Party’s Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation.<ref>Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "[http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2005/Pautz.pdf Think-Tanks in Scotland]", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.</ref>
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'''The Board 2005'''
 
−
 
 
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*[[Kenneth Munro]] (Chair) former Head of European Commission Representation in Scotland
 
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*[[Mark Lazarowicz]] Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North & Leith, Advocate
 
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*[[Gordon Dalyell]] Partner, [[Digby Brown & Co]], Solicitors
 
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*[[Richard Norris]] Director, [[Scottish Health Council]]
 
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*[[Lesley Sutherland]] [[Women's Forum Scotland]]
 
−
 
 
−
'''Staff 2005'''
 
−
 
 
−
*[[Ross Martin]] Chief Executive
 
−
*[[Pat Herd]] Conference Officer
 
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*[[Gillian Jones]] Finance & Administration Assistant
 
  
 
==Orientation==
 
==Orientation==
 
   
 
   
−
The CSPP used to be called The [[John Weatley Centre]], and was named after the respected Independent Labour Party MP who passed through legislation enabling government action on Glasgow"s Housing Problem, arguably the chief cause of misery in the city at the time. Old socialists (and their socialism) are not welcome round these here parts no more — so the name was been changed along with the purpose.
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The CSPP used to be called the [[John Wheatley Centre]]. It was named after the respected [[Independent Labour Party]] MP, who passed legislation enabling government action on Glasgow's Housing Problem, a major cause of misery in the city at the time.
  
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The web page for their event "The New Scotland" stated that: "The centre is not aligned to any political party." Their brochure described the CSPP as "independent of political parties." and "...managed by a Board drawn from a wide cross-section of Scottish society." Judge for yourself— this is the board according to the Centre:
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The Centre says it is "independent of political parties" and that its programmes "involve a wide range of experts drawn from across the Scottish body politic"<ref>"[http://www.cspp.org.uk/public/Policy/PolicyProgrammes-Overview.jsp Policy Programmes Overview]", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.</ref>.
  
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Dr. [[Alice Brown]]: Dept. of Politics Edinburgh University.
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==2005 Board of Directors==
  
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[[Gordon Dalyell]]: Solicitor, Wheatley Centre on Law Reform.  
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*Prof. [[Alice Brown]]: Scotland's Public Appointments Ombudsman, former member of the (Neill) [[Committee on Standards in Public Life]], and on extended leave from the Dept. of Politics Edinburgh University. She was an early supporter of the [[Scottish Parliament Business Exchange]].
 +
*[[Gordon Dalyell]]: Solicitor, Wheatley Centre on Law Reform.
 +
*[[Mark Lazarowicz]]: An Advocate, and former Labour councillor. He stood in the '92 election as a Parliamentary Labour candidate in the Edinburgh Pentlands seat, losing to Malcolm Rifkind by 4,290 votes. It had previously, in 87, been a Labour majority of 1,859. He is the convener of the CSPP.
 +
*[[Anne McGuire]]: Labour MP for Stirling, was appointed Donald Dewar's Parliamentary Private Secretary. Shortly after the conference she was the principle "gate keeper" who drew up the list of prospective (i.e. acceptably right-wing) Labour candidates for the new parliament. An ardent sycophant, she took the opportunity of prime minister's question time to ask: "Does the prime minister recognise that our emphasis over the past year on the economy, health and education has kept faith with the voters?" She has since held ministerial posts in the Scotland Office, the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Department of Work and Pensions.
 +
*[[Rosemary McKenna]]: Labour MP. On the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee which enquired into "welfare to work." The Herald of 24/3/97 reported that McKenna's appointment to the seat of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth was accompanied by the purge of the Home rule faction of the local party at the conference in Inverness. According to William Clark, writing in ''Variant'', fears were voiced that this had been "engineered to give a clear run to councillor Rosemary McKenna, who is a leading figure in Network, the pro-leadership grouping which orchestrated the Inverness slate".<ref>William Clark, "[http://www.variant.randomstate.org/6texts/William_Clark.html Dumbocracy: The New Scotland]", Variant, No. 6, accessed March 18 2009</ref>  The Network has been described as "garrulous college leavers anxious to be seen doing the leader's bidding."<ref>Private Eye 920</ref> Its origins are said to be in [[Jim Murphy]], another new MP and responsible for the acceptance of student loans while President of the NUS. He was assigned as "special projects officer" by those in the Scottish Labour Party hierarchy anxious to bee seen as Blairite. The big "success" of the network was McKenna's election.<ref>Private Eye 920</ref>
 +
*[[Henry McLeish]]: Labour MP who was the late [[Donald Dewar]]'s second in command. Minister for Home Affairs, Devolution and Transport, was opposition spokesman on social security i.e. the country's chief exponent of workfare. McLeish succeeded Dewar as Scotland's First Minister in 2000 but had to resign in controversial circumstances over constituency office expenses<ref>Tom Gordon, "[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4547712.ece Henry McLeish under fire as Labour feuding erupts]", The Sunday Times, 17 August 2008, accessed January 2009.</ref>, events that he described as "a muddle not a fiddle"<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/scotland/2001/mcleish_resignation/1654366.stm Scotland's 'House of Cards']",  BBC News, 13 November 2001, accessed January 2009</ref>.
 +
*[[David Martin]]: Labour MEP and former Vice-president of the European Parliament (which funds the CSPP) for ten years; an ex-stockbroker's assistant.
 +
*[[David Millar]]: Formerly a clerk in the house of Commons, then director of research at the European Parliament, now with the [[Europa Institute]], Edinburgh University.
 +
*[[Kenneth Munro]]: European Commission.
 +
*[[Matt Smith]]: Scottish Secretary of Unison, one of the biggest unions in Scotland and the UK.
  
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[[Mark Lazarowicz]]: An Advocate, and former Labour councillor. He stood in the '92 election as a Parliamentary Labour candidate in the Edinburgh Pentlands seat, losing to Malcolm Rifkind by 4,290 votes. It had previously, in 87, been a Labour majority of 1,859. He is the convener of the CSPP.
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==Personnel==
  
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[[Anne McGuire]]: Labour MP, was appointed Donald Dewar's Parliamentary Private Secretary. Shortly after the conference she was the principle "gate keeper" who drew up the list of prospective (i.e. acceptably right-wing) Labour candidates for the new parliament. An ardent sycophant she took the opportunity of PM"s question time to ask: "Does the prime minister recognise that our emphasis over the past year on the economy, health and education has kept faith with the voters."
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===The Board 2008===
  
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[[Rosemary McKenna]]: Labour MP. On the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee which is enquiring into "welfare to work." The Herald of 24/3/97 reported that McKenna's appointment to the seat of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth was accompanied by the purge of the Home rule faction of the local party at the conference in Inverness. Fears were voiced that this had been "engineered to give a clear run to councillor Rosemary McKenna, who is a leading figure in Network, the pro-leadership grouping which orchestrated the Inverness slate". The Network has been described as "garrulous college leavers anxious to be seen doing the leader's bidding." Its origins are said to be in [[Jim Murphy]], another new MP and responsible for the acceptance of student loans while President of the NUS. He was assigned as "special projects officer" by those in the Scottish Labour Party hierarchy anxious to bee seen as Blairite. The big "success" of the network was McKenna's election. Jim Murphy also spoke at the conference.
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*[[Gordon Dalyell]] Partner, Digby Brown & Co, Solicitors
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*[[Rajiv Joshi]] (Intern Programme Manager), Director, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
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[[Henry McLeish]]: Disgraced Labour MP was the late [[Donald Dewar]]'s second in command. Minister for Home Affairs, Devolution and Transport, was opposition spokesman on social security—i.e. the country's chief exponent of workfare.
+
*[[Melvyn Ingleson]] Chief Executive, MJI Business Solutions
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*[[Professor Richard Kerley]] Vice Principal, Queen Margaret University
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[[David Martin]]: Labour MEP and has been Vice-president of the European Parliament, (which funds the CSPP) for ten years—an ex-stockbroker"s assistant.
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*[[Mark Lazarowicz]] Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North & Leith, Advocate
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+
*[[Richard Norris]] Director, [[Scottish Health Council]]
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[[David Millar]]: Formerly a clerk in the house of Commons, then director of research at the European Parliament, now with the [[Europa Institute]], Edinburgh University.
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*[[Amy Rodger]] Director Scotland, Electoral Reform Society
−
 
+
*[[Lesley Sutherland]] Finance Convener, Engender
−
[[Kenneth Munro]]: European Commission.
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*Rt Hon the [[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]]
−
 
 
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[[Matt Smith]]: Scottish Secretary of Unison one of the biggest unions in Scotland and the UK.
 
  
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The Thatcher period was marked by scores of "non-partisan" but ideologically directed research institutes, who financed and publicised the work of approved "experts." The CSPP's pathetic disguise of their political connections relegates them to similar forms of intellectual prostitution. That period also witnessed a huge increase in what was officially called "public diplomacy" a new doublespeak term for what used to be known as government propaganda. We can now re-name this "public policy."
+
===Staff 2008===
  
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As a result of the conference, the CSPP has an advisory board and a board of directors totalling thirty-eight people. There are eight new directors including Paul Thomson: the editor of [[Renewal]] (a magazine devoted to pushing New Labour propaganda), [[Ronnie Smith]]: the General Secretary of the EIS, [[Grant Baird]]: the Chief executive of [[Scottish Financial Enterprise]], and some academics. The advisory board has been padded out with Councillors from Glasgow and Edinburgh and more academics. Twenty-nine of the total of thirty-eight spoke at the conference, which had fifty-five speakers on day one and seventy-four on the other. CSPP members were scattered throughout the three sessions each with eight different seminars per day. More or less half of the talks were non-political and largely arbitrary cultural themes and these ones they avoided. Some talks contained nothing but CSPP members. I think it is fair to say we were somewhat shepherded into hearing the views the organisation is pushing. No one mentioned this in the press.
+
*[[Elaine Bone]], Events & Centre Co-ordinator
 +
*[[Adrian Colwell]], City Regions Consultant
 +
*[[Gabrielle Crane]], Research Associate
 +
*[[Trevor Davies]], City Regions Consultant
 +
*[[Lynn Dickson]], Assistant Co-ordinator
 +
*[[Pat Herd]], City Regions (Capital & Borders) Event Organiser
 +
*[[Robert MacBean]], City Regions Consultant
 +
*[[Matthew Marr]], Consultant
 +
*[[Ross Martin]], Policy Director
 +
*[[Barry McCulloch]], Policy Officer
 +
*[[Keith Robson]], Fringe Programme Co-ordinator
 +
*[[Daniel Wylie]], Research Associate (Brussels)
 +
===The Board 2004===
  
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The CSPP aim to set agendas for the [[Scottish Parliament]], attack home rule, advocate coalition politics and promote the EU (without actually asking what good it does)—where the Social Democrats and the Labour Party merge into one in the European Parliament.
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[[Kenneth Munro]] (Chair) former Head of European Commission Representation in Scotland |
  
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They are in the business of manipulation, and were a part of larger manipulative attempts within the Labour party to push the party towards the right in Scotland and silence any criticism. There were no attempts—one begins to doubt whether there is even the capability—to understand this within the mainstream media. Complicity (perhaps unwitting) could easily be argued. The Herald and New Statesman (who are desperate to re-invent themselves) were after all joint sponsors of the event. It could mean nothing, but several journalists from the Scotsman, STV, Scotland on Sunday, Sunday Times and the Economist all chaired seminars at the conference.
+
Mark Lazarowicz
 +
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North & Leith, Advocate
  
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On their web page it also stateed that they receive money not only from the EC but also from an organisation called the [[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]. This is another example of covert government sponsorship and funding. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation focused on involving trade union leaders in "independent" programmes for Third World unions. Its board comprises of "high ranking members of the Social Democratic Party and [it is] financed by government, business and unions. A parallel Christian Democratic body exists, the [[Konrad Adenuer Foundation]]...About the Friedrich Ebert foundation...there are quite clear parallels between the expansionist German foreign trade policy and the work of this foundation."[Where were you Brother? Don Thomson and Rodney Larson, War on Want,1978]
+
Gordon Dalyell
 +
Partner, Digby Brown & Co, Solicitors
  
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They told me that they received this funding to stage a members meeting with the [[European Movement]]. But back in the early 60s:
+
Andy Myles
 +
Head of Advocacy & Media, RSPB, former Chief Executive, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  
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:"The European Movement, the elite international pressure group which takes much of the credit for the founding of the Common Market, took secret US funding...about £380,000 of US government money passed secretly from the CIA-controlled American Committee to the European Movement."(Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe, Editors Philip Agee & Louis Wolf, Zed, 1978)
+
Richard Norris
 +
Director of Policy, Scottish Association for Mental Health
  
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The CSPP were/are to an unknown extent funded by government or quasi-government organisations, some of whom have since the 50s moved the Unions and the Left towards the right by semi-covert and covert means. They are (perhaps unwittingly) straying into territory dominated by the non-parliamentary right and the [[psychological operations]] of the secret service.
+
Matt Smith
 +
Scottish Secretary, UNISON
  
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:"The main organisational focus points for the trade union right in recent decades have been [[Industrial Research and Information Services]] (IRIS), the [[Jim Conway Foundation]] [JCF] and the TUCETU (formerly the [[Labour Committee for Transatlantic Understanding]]). One single funding conduit links all three organisations...the [[Dulverton Trust]].
+
Lesley Sutherland
 +
Women's Forum Scotland
  
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JCF facilitated contacts between anti-Scargill factions of the [[NUM]] and the [[Friedrich Ebert Stiftung]], the wealthy foundation for the promotion of social democracy linked to the German SPD." (New Labour, New Atlanticism: US and Tory intervention in the unions since the 1970s, David Osler, Lobster 33, 1997) [http://www.variant.randomstate.org/6texts/William_Clark.html]
+
===The Staff 2004===
 +
From the Internet Archive of the CSPP site.<ref>CSPP [http://web.archive.org/web/20041213134938/www.cspp.org.uk/who.html, Who We Are] archived 13 December 2004, accessed 13 February 2009</ref>
 +
Ross Martin
 +
Chief Executive
  
−
==Membership==
+
Pat Herd
−
Annual membership rates:
+
Conference Officer
−
Individuals: £30 + £5.25 VAT = £35.25
 
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Unwaged: £15 + £2.63 VAT = £17.63
 
  
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Corporate:
+
Gillian Jones
−
Charities, voluntary organisations and local organisations: £50 + VAT = £58.75
+
Finance & Administration Assistant
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Local authorities: £250 + £43.75 VAT = £293.75
 
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Large national organisations: £500 + £87.50 VAT = £587.50
 
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Others: £100 + £17.50 VAT = £117.5
 
  
−
Membership benefits:
+
===Advisory board===
 +
*[[Margaret Ramsay]], chair, circa 2004/5<ref>House of Lords - Register of Lords' Interests
 +
[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldreg/reg21.htm RAMSAY OF CARTVALE, Baroness], HOUSE OF LORDS SESSION 2006-07 REGISTER OF LORDS’ INTERESTS AS AMENDED TO SHOW POSITION ON 16 JULY 2007 accessed 13 February 2009.</ref>
 +
*[[Douglas Alexander]] 1998, <ref>[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmregmem/memi03.htm "Alexander, Douglas (Paisley South)]", Register of Members' Interests, UK Parliament website, circa 1998, accessed January 2009.</ref>
 +
*[[Paul Thompson]] <ref>"[http://www.forba.at/de/veranstaltungen/dejavu/vitae/thompson/index.html Paul Thompson]", Forba website, accessed January 2009</ref>
  
−
1. Advance notice of events
+
===Former members===
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2. Discounted delegate rates at conferences and seminars
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*[[Alice Brown]]
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3. Priority invitation to the new Annual Lecture
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*[[Rosemary McKenna]] MP
−
4. Copies of our publications
 
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5. Exclusive member-only policy events
 
  
 
==Funding==
 
==Funding==
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*[[BAA]] Scotland,
+
*[[BAA]] Scotland
 
*[[European Parliament]]  
 
*[[European Parliament]]  
−
*German Social Democratic Party’s [[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]
+
*German Social Democratic Party's [[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]<ref>Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "[http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2005/Pautz.pdf Think-Tanks in Scotland]", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.</ref>
−
Source: http://www.psa.ac.uk/2005/pps/Pautz.pdf
 
  
 
==Activities==
 
==Activities==
Line 108: Line 110:
  
 
Keynote speaker:
 
Keynote speaker:
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[[Tom McCabe]] MSP, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform
+
[[Tom McCabe]] MSP, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform in association with [[City of Edinburgh Council]]
−
 
+
[[Scottish Enterprise]] Edinburgh and Lothian, Media sponsor: The [[Scotsman]] Conference sponsors: [[BT]], [[First]], [[Citigate Public Affairs]]
−
in association with
 
−
[[City of Edinburgh Council]]
 
−
[[Scottish Enterprise]] Edinburgh and Lothian
 
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Media sponsor: The [[Scotsman]]
 
−
Conference sponsors: [[BT]], [[First]], [[Citigate Public Affairs]]
 
  
 
==Reports==
 
==Reports==
 
Reports available:
 
Reports available:
  
−
Delivering Transport Policy for Scotland  
+
*Delivering Transport Policy for Scotland  
−
Working Together for a Sustainable Scotland  
+
*Working Together for a Sustainable Scotland  
−
A Healthy Scotland  
+
*A Healthy Scotland  
−
Public Service Reform in Scotland  
+
*Public Service Reform in Scotland  
−
Scotland's role in the Enlarged Europe  
+
*Scotland's role in the Enlarged Europe  
−
The Implications and Consequences of Introducing STV for the Scottish Parliament Elections
+
*The Implications and Consequences of Introducing STV for the Scottish Parliament Elections
  
 
==Contact==
 
==Contact==
−
Chisholm House
+
[[Chisholm House]]
 
1 Surgeon Square
 
1 Surgeon Square
 
High School Yards
 
High School Yards
Line 137: Line 134:
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
  
−
CSPP website [http://www.cspp.org.uk/what.html]
+
* William Clark [http://www.variant.randomstate.org/6texts/William_Clark.html Dumbocracy: The New Scotland] ''Variant'' issue 6
  
−
==External links==
+
==Notes==
−
Hartwig Pautz 'Think-Tanks in Scotland' Paper for the 55th Political Studies Association Annual conference, 4-7 April 2005, University of Leeds,  [http://www.psa.ac.uk/2005/pps/Pautz.pdf www.psa.ac.uk/2005/pps/Pautz.pdf]
+
<references/>
−
[[Category: Think tanks]]
+
[[Category:Scottish Think Tanks]]

Latest revision as of 23:19, 6 September 2009

CSPP Logo

According to its website, the Centre for Scottish Public Policy (CSPP) is

An independent think tank providing a focus for imaginative and innovative policy debate on the key issues facing Scotland.[1]

The CSPP says its aim is the "promotion of an imaginative policy debate" by "organising opportunities for politicians, policy thinkers and practitioners to meet and to learn from each other."[2]The website adds that the CSPP was formerly known as the John Wheatley Centre.[3] As of 2009 the CSPP's chief executive is Ross Martin (appointed 2004), a former Labour Councillor and failed Labour candidate for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1999.[4] He followed Gerry Hassan, who was previously head of communications at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) lobby group[5]. As of 2009 Hassan is working with think-tank Demos on the Scotland 2020 project[6].

Prior to his new position at the CSPP, Martin was head of the Scottish Forum for Modern Government at Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University. This institute, set up in November 1999, has effectively ceased to exist. According to an article in the Edinburgh Evening News, Martin wants the CSPP "to act as a bridgehead between the government and the people they seek to govern by providing opportunities for engagement, by challenging vested interests".[7] In an interview with Hartwig Pautz, Martin said that he wants the institute to be seen as "centre-left", although not aligned to a political party.[8]

The CSPP is pursuing research into public service reform in Scotland[9]. According to an interview of Martin by Hartwig Pautz, it has received sponsorship among others by BAA Scotland, the European Parliament and the German Social Democratic Party’s Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation.[10]

Orientation

The CSPP used to be called the John Wheatley Centre. It was named after the respected Independent Labour Party MP, who passed legislation enabling government action on Glasgow's Housing Problem, a major cause of misery in the city at the time.

The Centre says it is "independent of political parties" and that its programmes "involve a wide range of experts drawn from across the Scottish body politic"[11].

2005 Board of Directors

  • Prof. Alice Brown: Scotland's Public Appointments Ombudsman, former member of the (Neill) Committee on Standards in Public Life, and on extended leave from the Dept. of Politics Edinburgh University. She was an early supporter of the Scottish Parliament Business Exchange.
  • Gordon Dalyell: Solicitor, Wheatley Centre on Law Reform.
  • Mark Lazarowicz: An Advocate, and former Labour councillor. He stood in the '92 election as a Parliamentary Labour candidate in the Edinburgh Pentlands seat, losing to Malcolm Rifkind by 4,290 votes. It had previously, in 87, been a Labour majority of 1,859. He is the convener of the CSPP.
  • Anne McGuire: Labour MP for Stirling, was appointed Donald Dewar's Parliamentary Private Secretary. Shortly after the conference she was the principle "gate keeper" who drew up the list of prospective (i.e. acceptably right-wing) Labour candidates for the new parliament. An ardent sycophant, she took the opportunity of prime minister's question time to ask: "Does the prime minister recognise that our emphasis over the past year on the economy, health and education has kept faith with the voters?" She has since held ministerial posts in the Scotland Office, the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Department of Work and Pensions.
  • Rosemary McKenna: Labour MP. On the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee which enquired into "welfare to work." The Herald of 24/3/97 reported that McKenna's appointment to the seat of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth was accompanied by the purge of the Home rule faction of the local party at the conference in Inverness. According to William Clark, writing in Variant, fears were voiced that this had been "engineered to give a clear run to councillor Rosemary McKenna, who is a leading figure in Network, the pro-leadership grouping which orchestrated the Inverness slate".[12] The Network has been described as "garrulous college leavers anxious to be seen doing the leader's bidding."[13] Its origins are said to be in Jim Murphy, another new MP and responsible for the acceptance of student loans while President of the NUS. He was assigned as "special projects officer" by those in the Scottish Labour Party hierarchy anxious to bee seen as Blairite. The big "success" of the network was McKenna's election.[14]
  • Henry McLeish: Labour MP who was the late Donald Dewar's second in command. Minister for Home Affairs, Devolution and Transport, was opposition spokesman on social security i.e. the country's chief exponent of workfare. McLeish succeeded Dewar as Scotland's First Minister in 2000 but had to resign in controversial circumstances over constituency office expenses[15], events that he described as "a muddle not a fiddle"[16].
  • David Martin: Labour MEP and former Vice-president of the European Parliament (which funds the CSPP) for ten years; an ex-stockbroker's assistant.
  • David Millar: Formerly a clerk in the house of Commons, then director of research at the European Parliament, now with the Europa Institute, Edinburgh University.
  • Kenneth Munro: European Commission.
  • Matt Smith: Scottish Secretary of Unison, one of the biggest unions in Scotland and the UK.

Personnel

The Board 2008

Staff 2008

The Board 2004

Kenneth Munro (Chair) former Head of European Commission Representation in Scotland |

Mark Lazarowicz Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North & Leith, Advocate

Gordon Dalyell Partner, Digby Brown & Co, Solicitors

Andy Myles Head of Advocacy & Media, RSPB, former Chief Executive, Scottish Liberal Democrats

Richard Norris Director of Policy, Scottish Association for Mental Health

Matt Smith Scottish Secretary, UNISON

Lesley Sutherland Women's Forum Scotland

The Staff 2004

From the Internet Archive of the CSPP site.[17] Ross Martin Chief Executive

Pat Herd Conference Officer

Gillian Jones Finance & Administration Assistant

Advisory board

Former members

Funding

Activities

Achieving the Vision: The Edinburgh City Region Conference 2005 Edinburgh, Thursday 26 May

Keynote speaker: Tom McCabe MSP, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform in association with City of Edinburgh Council Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, Media sponsor: The Scotsman Conference sponsors: BT, First, Citigate Public Affairs

Reports

Reports available:

  • Delivering Transport Policy for Scotland
  • Working Together for a Sustainable Scotland
  • A Healthy Scotland
  • Public Service Reform in Scotland
  • Scotland's role in the Enlarged Europe
  • The Implications and Consequences of Introducing STV for the Scottish Parliament Elections

Contact

Chisholm House 1 Surgeon Square High School Yards Edinburgh EH1 1LZ

Tel/Fax: 0131 558 8179 mail@cspp.demon.co.uk

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ "Homepage", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.
  2. ↑ "Home page", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.
  3. ↑ "About us: History", CSPP website, accessed January 2009
  4. ↑ Mary Braid, "Britain Votes: Canavan out for revenge against the 'wee cabal'", The Independent, 7 May 1999, accessed January 2009.
  5. ↑ "Scottish Council for Development and Industry Response to the Scottish Executive Consultation Paper on Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland: Modernising the System", SCDI, 5 May 2000, accessed January 2009
  6. ↑ "Gerry Hassan", Demos website, accessed January 2009.
  7. ↑ Ross Martin to head up left-of-centre think tank", Edinburgh Evening News, 22 June 2004.
  8. ↑ Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "Think-Tanks in Scotland", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.
  9. ↑ "About the Programme", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.
  10. ↑ Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "Think-Tanks in Scotland", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.
  11. ↑ "Policy Programmes Overview", CSPP website, accessed January 2009.
  12. ↑ William Clark, "Dumbocracy: The New Scotland", Variant, No. 6, accessed March 18 2009
  13. ↑ Private Eye 920
  14. ↑ Private Eye 920
  15. ↑ Tom Gordon, "Henry McLeish under fire as Labour feuding erupts", The Sunday Times, 17 August 2008, accessed January 2009.
  16. ↑ "Scotland's 'House of Cards'", BBC News, 13 November 2001, accessed January 2009
  17. ↑ CSPP Who We Are archived 13 December 2004, accessed 13 February 2009
  18. ↑ House of Lords - Register of Lords' Interests RAMSAY OF CARTVALE, Baroness, HOUSE OF LORDS SESSION 2006-07 REGISTER OF LORDS’ INTERESTS AS AMENDED TO SHOW POSITION ON 16 JULY 2007 accessed 13 February 2009.
  19. ↑ "Alexander, Douglas (Paisley South)", Register of Members' Interests, UK Parliament website, circa 1998, accessed January 2009.
  20. ↑ "Paul Thompson", Forba website, accessed January 2009
  21. ↑ Ross Martin, in an interview with Hartwig Pautz of Glasgow Caledonian University, 16 August 2004, Glasgow, cited in Hartwig Pautz, "Think-Tanks in Scotland", paper given at the 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds, p. 6, accessed January 2009.
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