Jargon Buster
“The way we talk to and do engagement with different groups matters. Creating spaces for young people to meaningfully engage with decisions means changing the way Government does engagement – too often engagement with young people includes jargon, happens at inaccessible meeting times, doesn’t include explanations of complicated topics, isn’t in youth-friendly spaces, doesn’t involve seldom-heard groups, and doesn’t respect our UNCRC article 12 right.”
Jargon reinforces power dynamics that adults are the ‘experts’ in the room and young people are there to listen. Inherent to meaningful participation is flipping that power dynamic, so adults are encouraged to listen to what young people have to say. This Jargon Buster should be used by decision-makers in policy to make sure they explain terms that young people who have less experience in policy may not know.
Acronyms
-
“5 at 5” refers to the aim of achieving five qualifications by the fifth year of secondary school in Scotland.
5 at 5 is often referred to in discussions around education policy and qualifications more generally.
-
BGE stands for Broad General Education. This refers to the phase of schooling before senior phase. I.e., from Nursery age up to and including S3 (third year).
-
“Convention of Scottish Local Authorities”, is the organisation that represents Scotland’s 32 local authorities –also referred to as Scotland’s 32 councils. COSLA provides leadership on the national issues that could impact all local authorities in Scotland. They will work with Scottish Government when developing national policy and legislation, particularly when considering how a policy or law will impact the work of local authorities.
-
CPG stands for Cross-Party Group. CPGs are focused on specific issues and are lead/co-ordinated by MSPs from any party. The groups also include charities, other public bodies, and citizens who are involved in work around the issue.
For example, the CPG on Drugs and Alcohol Misuse is Co-Convened by Monica Lennon MSP (Scottish Labour) and Stuart MacMillan MSP (SNP) and includes organisations such as Scottish Drugs Forum and Community Justice Scotland.
-
There are eight directors-general (DG) who head up the Scottish Government. A director-general manages a number of directorates (parts of Government that work on a specific issue) and agencies which are responsible for proposing legislation and putting Scottish Government policy into practice.
-
“Getting It Right for Every Child” is a framework that outlines the Scottish Government’s approach to supporting children and young people. The framework is intended to allow all organisations who provide support to children and young people to provide a consistent and connected form of support e.g., schools, Police, social work, healthcare.
GIRFEC is built on three main aspects: a named person who is the point of contact for children, young people, and families.
-
A “Joint Delivery Board” is a group of people from two or more organisations who work together to oversee the delivery or implementation of a policy or set of policies. Joint Delivery Boards will have a set aim that they are working towards. Work is usually time limited e.g. 2-3 years.
-
NDPB stands for non-departmental public body. These carry out their work largely independently from government ministers and are accountable to the public through Parliament; however Ministers are responsible for the independence, effectiveness and efficiency of NDPB’s in their portfolio.
NDPB’s in Scotland include Children’s Hearings Scotland, National Museums of Scotland, and Creative Scotland.
-
The National Performance Framework (NPF) outlines the Purpose, Values and Outcomes, published by the Scottish Government on what it wants Scotland to achieve and be like. The NPF guides the delivery of work for the Scottish Government, local government, public bodies, and the wider community. It also supports a benchmark to evaluate the success of Scotland as a whole.
-
OECD stands for The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, based in France. The OECD works to encourage economic progress and co-operation, and world trade. Member countries share values of democracy and a commitment to market economy.
OECD members share policies, experiences of Government, and solutions to issues to promote economic growth. Most OECD members are high-income economies (sometimes called “developed” countries). The United Kingdom is a member of OECD.
-
PfG refers to the Programme for Government. This is a document published every year by the Scottish Government which outlines its priorities for the year ahead.
-
SPAD stands for “Special Advisor.” This is the member of staff who gives advice to politicians on specific issues. For example, a politician might have an Economy SPAD who advise them to make decisions on the economy.
Other common policy terms
-
If a Bill is passed, it is normally sent for Royal Assent after about 4 weeks. Royal Assent is when the Bill gets formal agreement by the King and becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament. Some Acts become law straight after Royal Assent.
Some only become law on a later date. Sometimes different bits of the same Act become law on different dates.
-
Attainment – most commonly used to refer to the “attainment gap” – is about the levels of educational achievements, skills, and milestones that a pupil reaches during their school years. The attainment gap refers to the gap between educational achievements, skills, and milestones in the most deprived and least deprived communities in Scotland. This attainment gap has been widening over the last 15 – 20 years and has become a focus of Scottish Government education policy in recent years.
-
Audit refers to an investigation into the financial accounts of an organisation or business. Typically, an audit is completed by an independent organisation. Audits are used to look for potential signs of fraud or corruption, or to make sure a charity or public body is financially sustainable.
-
A Bill is a proposed Act of the Scottish Parliament. It might be a new idea or change or remove part of an existing law. A Bill that is introduced in the Scottish Parliament is scrutinised and debated by MSPs.
Scottish Parliament Bills can be introduced by:
the Scottish Government – these are Government Bills
individual MSPs who are not Scottish Ministers - these are Members’ Bills
groups of MSPs in a committee – these are Committee Bills
a person, a group or a company – these are Private Bills
a type of Government Bill which also affects private interests – these are Hybrid Bills
Each Bill must go through several stages before it can be passed and become an Act.
The public and any groups can give their views about a Bill. The Bill will also be debated, voted on, and may be amended or changed. The Parliament then decides if it should be passed. It can then become an Act of the Scottish Parliament, or an Act.
-
Consultation refers to the process of asking people for their views on an issue. Most often it refers to asking the views of people who might be affected by an issue of proposed policy. As MSYPs, you consult regularly with young people in your constituency/voluntary organisation when you ask them their views on motions ahead of SYP Sitting.
-
Fiscal refers to the actions taken by a government to raise and spend money in order to influence the economy. For example, the Scottish Government might raise taxes in order to better fund services and increase the number of people working to deliver services. This would be called a fiscal policy or strategy.
-
Governance refers to the act of Governing something – whether that be a charity, committee, or state. SYP Governance is led by the Board of Trustees, those elected to make strategic decisions about how the Parliament should be run.
The Scottish Government act as the structure of Government for Scotland, made up of elected representatives to make decisions about policy and law.
-
The political party or parties with the most members in Parliament forms the Government. The Government leads on all policy development and is the key decision maker on national decisions and issues.
-
Implementation refers to the process of putting a decision into place. It is the “doing” stage of policy.
-
Legislation simply refers to multiple laws related to a specific topic. For example, there are many different laws related to housing that make up housing legislation.
-
Parliament is the elected body of representatives (MSPs) who propose law and policies that could become legislation or Government actions. All members are elected and the political party or parties with the most members forming the Scottish Government.
-
The Permanent Secretary is the most senior civil servant in the Scottish Government. They are responsible for the effective day-to-day running of the Scottish Government and act as the principal policy advisor to the First Minister and Scottish Cabinet. They are a non-elected member of staff for the Scottish Government, and do not make decisions about Government policy.
-
A policy intervention simply means a course of action taken by government (a policy) to address an identified issue. For example, a policy intervention to the ongoing issue of rail strikes could be to increase the pay offer to railway staff.
-
Procurement refers to the process of buying something, whether it be goods (like equipment) or services (to do something). In policy and Government, procurement most often refers to the actions of paying someone or an organisation to deliver a service. For example, NHS Scotland might procure a company to transport patients from hospital to their home after being discharged.
-
Public Purse simply refers to the money that the Government owns to spend on its services, social security etc., and which is typically raised by tax. Public Purse is most often used in reference to policies or decisions that would cost a government significant amount of money and therefore framed as taking out of the “public purse” raised by taxpayers.
-
A Task & Finish Group is a subgroup of a wider committee or Board. They are limited by time (will have an end date) and are focused on delivering a specific aim or objective.
