Scottish Council Foundation

Scottish Council Foundation (SCF) is a Think tank that proclaims that it "develops leading edge thinking and world class practice to address the strategic challenges facing Scotland and other modern economies and societies in an age of complexity and rapid change." It was established by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) in 1999 [1].

According to Hartwig Pautz 'Three of the SCF’s five trustees53 are highranking members of the SCDI executive and its board54 and all of them are important members of Scotland’s business community55. The SCF employs seven full-time and one part-time staff; of whom five are involved in research and securing research income. The present director, James McCormick, was appointed in 2002. Previously he worked for the Institute for Public Policy Research’s (IPPR) Social Justice Commission Report, published in 1994.'

The following account draws on Hartwig Pautz 'Think-Tanks in Scotland' Paper for the 55th Political Studies Association Annual conference, 4-7 April 2005, University of Leeds, [2]

'Officially non-aligned to any political party, the SCF’s language resembles (New) Labour-speech: the institute’s core aims are ‘tackle[ing] inequalities in the marketplace’, in public health and in the distribution of wealth65. It demands action led by the Scottish Executive to ‘promote cost-cutting partnerships between local shops and major retailers, and offer incentives for new businesses to set up in low-income neighbourhoods’ in order to allow poor households to get more value for their money. In order to ‘enjoy the benefits of competition’ more commitment from government and a clearer challenge to private service providers is demanded66. Equality is not an aim in itself; at best marked disparities are seen as economically undesirable for all members of society – ‘a pronounced set of inequalities is bad for everyone, for the economy, for the people in the middle, for the people at the bottom’67.'

Funding

The SCF states that its "principal supporters: include:

• Associated Newspapers
• Boots
• BP
• BT
• Communities Scotland
• Diageo
• Liddell Thomson
• Pfizer
• Scottich Council for Development and Industry
• Scottish Adult Learning Partnership
• Scottish Enterprise
• Shell
• Volunteer Development Scotland

Personnel

SCF's Trustees are:

• Shonaig MacPherson, Chairperson
• Donal Dowds
• Crawford Gillies
• Mike Hambly
• Alan Wilson

All serve in a personal capacity.

Contact details

Scottish Council Foundation,
23 Chester Street,
Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 7ET
Phone: 0131 225 4709
Fax: 0131 220 2116
Email: scf AT @scottishcouncilfoundation.org
Web: http://www.scottishcouncilfoundation.org/index.php

External links

Hartwig Pautz 'Think-Tanks in Scotland' Paper for the 55th Political Studies Association Annual conference, 4-7 April 2005, University of Leeds, www.psa.ac.uk/2005/pps/Pautz.pdf