The Leith Walk Test

Last week, there was a flurry of activity on Carnegie UK’s Slack channels as we watched the Finance and Scottish Parliament‘s Public Administration Committee’s (FPAC) debate on the National Performance Framework and National Outcomes.

Carnegie UK has a long-standing research and policy interest in the National Performance Framework (NPF) as Scotland’s Wellbeing Framework. The National Performance Framework sets out a vision for Scotland. It represents a commitment from the Scottish Government and its partners to make progress towards eleven outcomes that will improve the lives of people living here, with a series of indicators to monitor progress towards these goals.

I was reminiscing last week with colleagues about the work I contributed to on this topic when I first joined Carnegie UK, back in 2019. For more than ten years, Carnegie UK has advocated for the better use of the NPF as a tool to guide decision making and which places improving people’s lives at the centre of decision making.

During the debate, Ben Macpherson MSP referred to his Leith Walk Test: What would people say if he walked around his constituency of Leith and asked, “what do you think of the National Performance Framework?”

Living in Leith, I’m one of the geeky people that would welcome the question. But more seriously, Ben Macpherson raised an important point. During the debate, the Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced the Scottish Government’s plans to reform the National Performance Framework. These reforms have been designed to support and enhance collaboration between all the different layers of government and “to reach-out, empower and engage communities, and let us understand and address more effectively the complex problems we face as a society”.

So how will we know if we have passed the Leith Walk test? The people of Scotland must shape how and what the Framework measures, whether that’s quality of work, levels of poverty, or trust in elected representatives. That means raising the profile of the NPF as a tool that – used properly – can bring about change and providing financial resources to get the views of citizens.

Whether it’s the people on Leith Walk, or in the Tweeddale Arms (as Craig Hoy MSP also contributed), there is a lot of work to do. But hopefully, by reforming the National Performance Framework, the Scottish Government can begin to match many of our collective ambitions as a sector, with plans for action and tangible change for people in communities like Leith and Gifford.

The Scottish Government can start by properly measuring what matters to people in Scotland, and by ensuring that public bodies and partners work together towards systemic change. Ministers must seize this opportunity to turn the National Performance Framework and associated outcomes from ambition to action.