Argyll and Bute Third Sector Interface (TSI) Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 27 August 2025
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 27 August 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Argyll and Bute Third Sector Interface (ABTSI) Supporting the Third Sector in Argyll and Bute VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES (ADD YOURS!) FIND FUNDING THIRD SECTOR EVENTS IN ARGYLL AND BUTE (ADD YOURS!) Prepared by: Caitlin McNeill, Third Sector Support Advisor for MAKI email: caitlinmcneill@argylltsi.org.uk // tel: 07443631835 This report covers the period from 22nd April 2025 to 15th July 2025. Scottish Government, Parliament, the TSI landscape and policy activity TSI Scotland work TSI Scotland Network is working on seven third sector relevant policy areas ahead of submission to both main parties for their respective manifesto deliberations in October and December 2025. ABTSI’s CEO Takki Sulaiman is working on two groups – Rural and Public Service Reform. This also follows meetings in May and June 2025 with the SNP’s Jenni Minto MSP in her capacity as Public Health Minister, Labour leader Anas Sarwar MSP and the SNP’s head of policy. These meetings advocated for how smaller third sector organisations could support both parties’ ambitions to support sustainable and resilient communities with strong public services The TSI national two-day conference is confirmed for 28th and 29th October 2025. Day one will focus on practice and operational improvement issues and day two will focus on policy and engagement with key change makers and stakeholders at local and national levels. Eight workshops are planned across the two days with 200 TSI staff set to attend. ABTSI is part of three TSIs helping to organise the event. Public service reform and Population Health The Scottish Government published two key documents in June: 1. “Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy – Delivering for Scotland” - outlines the Scottish Government’s blueprint for transforming public services to be more sustainable, effective, and person-centred. There are three key pillars of reform identified in the report – prevention, joined up services and efficiency. The TSI’s pitch to ministers is that through direct and devolved
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funding to the third sector at a community level we can help them with all three areas. 2. Scotland’s Population Health Framework 2025-2035 - sets out a ten-year strategic vision to improve health outcomes, reduce health inequalities, and build a fairer, healthier Scotland. Prevention is seen as a key lever but the focus in the document is more statutory led and there is an opportunity to influence government thinking here from a third sector perspective. Scotland Demands Better Campaign The CEO has been representing the TSI Network Scotland on a cross sector and national campaign to end Poverty called Scotland Demands Better. It takes the form of a series of policy asks presented to all political parties ahead of the 2026 elections. All third, community and social enterprise groups are urged to read more and sign up here:- https://www.scotland-demands-better.com/. This will culminate in a massive march in Edinburgh on 25th October 2025. Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (years 5 and 6) Applications opened 15th August and close in mid-September with grants being disbursed in October 2025. The amount of £285k is similar to last year and there has been no change in local and national priorities. However, for this year there is an expectation that 80 per cent of grants will be awarded for both years 5 and 6 and this will allow Scottish Government to test the benefits of multi-year funding agreements. ABTSI Strategy review 2026-2031 Subject to due diligence, the ABTSI strategy tender is due to be awarded imminently to a consultancy with experience of working in Argyll and Bute and who have a strong commitment to working with local partners. The TSSA team have been involved in discussions about how they can take the strategy work into their local communities. Community Directory and Funding Platform refresh Alongside the strategy refresh and national work on TSI data collection improvement, ABTSI are taking the opportunity to review our performance systems – as well as what we gather locally to tell our story as a sector. Wellbeing Development Manager
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The Walking Development Coordinator, Eleanor Aiton-Balfour, is now in post and is in the process of meeting local groups. One such meeting (including two third sector partners, Live Argyll and MACPool) reviewed the success of the physical activity and prevention workstream and discussed models for successful continuation. The Wellbeing Development Manager, Mahailia Kateryna, has created a toolkit for promoting collaborative conversations, using techniques such as “world café” which are being circulated to trained advocates.