2. The review of Scottish Accident Prevention Council

2.1. Background

In April 2006, the SAPC commissioned an independent review of the Council with the aim of “identifying the current role of the SAPC with a view to producing recommendations for the way forward”. The study brief had a number of specific objectives

“To examine the current structure of the SAPC
To examine the benefits of the current function of the SAPC
Evaluate the current service provided to members of the SAPC
Evaluate current members input to the Council
Examine the feasibility of the Council in promoting Accident Prevention efficiently
Assess the Council’s ability to influence accident prevention nationally
Identify areas for improvement.“

The study was planned as a relatively short and quick exercise, with a completion date of mid August and with an indicated time commitment of 10 consultant/days.

2.2. Our approach

In order to meet the objectives of the study within the timescales and resource commitments, our approach has combined a number of elements:

• One to one consultations with members of SAPC Executive/Committee Chairs
• Consultation with RoSPA staff
• One to one consultations with a limited number of members of SAPC and representatives of partner organisations
• Desk top review of relevant SAPC literature including reports, committee minutes etc.
• Desk top contextual review of the organisational “environment” in which the SAPC operates
• Postal/e-mail survey of all SAPC member organisations and representatives.

3. SAPC – the current position

3.1. Current structure of the SAPC

The SAPC is a membership organisation. It currently operates through three “standing” or “principal” committees dealing with

• Road Safety
• Water and Leisure Safety
• Home Safety

The Chairs of these three Committees along with the President, Vice President and Treasurer of SAPC form a small Executive Committee. (Currently the Vice President is also the Chair of the Home Safety Committee). The Principal Committees and the Executive are required in the Constitution to meet at least four times a year.

The Principal Committees and Executive are elected on a four year cycle which corresponds with Scottish Local Government Elections. The thinking behind this is that the majority of members of the SAPC are nominated by local authorities and, as representation is drawn from elected members, it was considered logical that the “lifespan” of the Council would coincide with the “lifespan” of the local authority.

The Principal Committees are (re)formed at the first AGM following the Local Government Elections and comprise representatives of the membership, with the number of place broadly in proportion to the organisational membership (and professional interests of the member) – see below.

In addition the SAPC office bearers are ex-officio members of each committee.

In terms of legal structure, the SAPC is an unincorporated association i.e. an association of individuals and organisations but not incorporated (formed into a legally recognised and regulated company or society). The SAPC is a registered Scottish charity ( and as such, regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator).

The SAPC does not employ any staff. It is provided with administrative support including the secretariat of the Executive Committee and two of the principal committees – Road Safety and Home Safety by the staff of the Scottish office of RoSPA. The secretariat of Water and Leisure Safety Committee is provided on an “honorary” unpaid basis by one of its members.

3.2. Benefits of the SAPC
Members consulted and surveyed were invited to comment on the benefits of membership of the SAPC. Unsurprisingly views ranged considerably, from members who were enthusiastic about membership and its benefits to those who felt that there were “very little” benefits.

The main benefits of membership were

• Networking opportunities – cited by a third of respondents
• Sharing good practice and information – cited by a quarter of respondents.

• Ability of to influence policies, locally and nationally
• Access to national (UK) networks
• Keeping members up to date on new developments in Accident Prevention.

• Elected member involvement
• Access to National forums
• Broad range of membership
• Expertise of members.

3.3. Services to members
SAPC provides a number of services to its members. The main services provided include:

3.3.1. SAPC Annual Conference
The SAPC holds a two day residential annual conference, focussing on a different theme each year. In our survey, almost two thirds of respondents indicated that they had attended this in the past three years. Of these, just over a half (53%) found the conference “very informative and useful”, with virtually all of the remaining respondents (44%) finding it “quite informative and useful”.

The conference planned by the Executive Committee with input from each of the standing committees. The conference attracts between 60-70 delegates.

3.3.2. SAPC Newsletter
The SAPC produces a regular newsletter for its members reporting on SAPC activities. Seventy five per cent of survey respondents indicated that they read the newsletter.

3.3.3. SAPC web site
The SAPC has developed a web site www.sapc.org.uk which contains details of its aims and objectives, its membership, the Executive Committee and the organisation’s constitution. It also contains the current issue of the SAPC newsletter, conference details and information on joining SAPC. Recent efforts have been made to include a “diary of events” publicising relevant events e.g. conferences, training courses organised by members and related organisations, but this has received a poor response. The web site also contains for downloading, copies of the SAPC general safety leaflet and its Water Safety Guide.

Consideration has been given to placing SAPC committee minutes on the web site, however this has been decided against.

The web site was designed and is administered by RoSPA staff. The number of “hits” i.e. times the web site is visited are recorded – showing an average of 40 “hits” a week (between March-June 2006).

In our survey, members were asked if that had visited the site (in the past six months). Almost 60% of respondents reported that they had with 30% of these finding it very useful and informative, 64% finding it quite useful and informative and 9% finding it not at all useful and informative.

3.4. Member involvement
Like many similar organisations, the SAPC is keen to involve as many members as possible in its activities. However, a common theme during consultation was the relatively low level of membership involved in either the SAPC Committee structure or in its other activities. Defining involvement is difficult. At its simplest, we looked at involvement in terms of attendance at the SAPC committee meetings.

We have also aimed to form a view on member involvement in relation to the development of the organisation and contributing to achieving its objectives, drawing on our one to one consultations.

In terms of committee involvement, we looked first at member attendance in the SAPC committees over the most recent five meetings of each principal committee and the Executive Committee.

	Executive*	Road Safety	Home Safety	Water & Leisure
Membership Attendance Rate	65%	38%	29%	28%

Note: 100% would mean that all members of the committee had attended all of the last five meetings of that committee
* Measured over last four meetings

These figures must be treated with a health warning inasmuch as they take account of “technical members” i.e. members who are nominated to a particular committee but who have never attended meetings and could best be described as “corresponding members” i.e. receive papers for information.

However if we look at active members (i.e. those who have attended one or more meetings out of the past five), we see a different picture.

	Road Safety	Home Safety	Water & Leisure
No. of members	55	50	50
No. “active” members	35	34	27
% attendance by “active” members	58%	45%	49%

We also looked at participation in some key SAPC activities in the members survey.

SAPC Activity	% of survey respondents involved
Committee Membership	79%
Attend Annual Conference (in past 3 years)	62%
Read newsletter	75%
Visit Web Site	34%
Schools Public Speaking contest	42%
SAPC Awards	36%

This shows a relatively high level of member participation, however we must take into account that these figures come from respondents to the survey questionnaire who, are by and large, more likely to have an involvement with SAPC than non-respondents.

3.5. SAPC – Finance and resources
The SAPC operates on a relatively modest financial scale. It derives its “core” annual income, in the form of membership subscriptions – currently in the order of £14,000 p.a. Income from activities (annual conference, training events and the schools public speaking contest) in the last financial year was in the order of £16,500. Income from activities was largely offset by expenditure on these.

The main items of recurring expenditure for SAPC are, fees to RoSPA (towards the costs of administration/providing the secretariat to the Council) (£6,160 in Year 2005/06), administrative overheads and committee expenses.

In 2005/06, SAPC made a “loss” in the order of £2,000 on a turnover of £32,000.

SAPC also receives “indirect” grant support from the Scottish Executive Transport Division. We were advised by RoSPA that this is currently in the order of £34,000, paid directly to them as part of their annual grant to support the work of the Council and the Road Safety Committee. This does not feature in the SAPC accounts.

RoSPA, we understand also provide a subsidy to SAPC. Firstly the costs of supporting the Executive are not fully met by the charge to SAPC. Secondly RoSPA provide the secretariat to the Home Safety Committee, for which no charge is made.

In relation to annual turnover, SAPC has been able to build up significant free reserves in the order of £50,000 i.e. about a year and a half’s turnover.

Membership fee levels have previously been agreed between SAPC and CoSLA, on the basis of population. The largest eight local authorities pay (this year) £570, the twelve middle sized pay £400 and the twelve small ones pay £200. Similarly for health boards the levels are £230 for the four “large” ones, £180 for the five “medium” ones and £150, for the five “small” ones. The levels were set about ten years ago and have increased by inflation. There is an annual fee of £100 for other "corporate" members.

3.6. SAPC activities
As well as the work of the SAPC committees and its specific members’ services, the Council as a whole undertakes a number of regular activities throughout the year which we sought members’ view on.

Later in the report we comment on these activities and their contribution to achieving the SAPC’s aims and objectives. However at this stage we report on the members’ views on the Schools Public Speaking Competition and the SAPC Annual Awards as reported in the survey we conducted.

3.6.1. Schools public speaking competition
The SAPC organises an annual competition for Scottish secondary schools pupils around the general theme of accident prevention. Each year a different aspect of this theme is chosen and schools are invited to submit a team of speakers to take part in a public speaking competition.

In the survey, members were asked both whether they had been involved in the competition and the value they placed on this as a method of promoting accident prevention.

Forty two percent of respondents indicated that they had had some involvement in the competition – encouraging schools to take part, attending the competition or involvement in the judging or making awards. Members were asked about the effectiveness of the competition of promoting awareness of accident prevention. Twenty six per cent felt it was very effective, thirty four per cent felt it was reasonably effective and twenty one per cent felt that it was not effective, with the remaining respondents “not knowing”.

Two recurring comments made during consultation related to the difficulties getting schools to become involved in the competition (over recent years, average participation has been in the order of 10 - 11 schools) and also the relatively low levels of members’ involvement.

3.6.2. SAPC annual awards
The SAPC presents awards annually to initiatives and projects which have promoted Accident Prevention in Scotland in the previous year. The awards are determined by the SAPC Committee from entrants across Scotland.

The survey asked members about their involvement, with the Annual Awards. Just over a third of respondents reported some involvement, however from our other consultations, a frequent comment related to the difficulties with involving members in the awards – either encouraging nominations or attending the awards ceremonies.

Less than a quarter of respondents felt that the Annual Awards were a “very effective” way of promoting awareness of accident prevention measures and almost 60% feeling it was either not effective or only “reasonably” effective.

3.7. The SAPC “Standing” Committees
The SAPC has three standing committees dealing with:

• Road Safety
• Home Safety
• Water and Leisure Safety.

The terms of reference for these three committees are:
a) To consider matters in relation to Road Safety/Home Safety/Water and Leisure Safety and to report to the Executive Committee
b) To formulate SAPC Policy in relation to Road Safety/Home Safety/Water and Leisure Safety
c) To promote and foster Road Safety/Home Safety/Water and Leisure Safety activities in Scotland.

Each Committee can appoint sub-committees as they consider necessary and consider their reports and recommendations.

Committee meetings are held on average four times a year. From a review of the minutes of the Committees’ meeting over the past year, the business of each committee can generally be divided into:

i.	Briefing/input from visiting speakers
ii.	Consideration of “one off” items relating to the Committee’s terms of reference
iii.	Consideration on a continuing basis of items relating to the Committee’s terms of reference
iv.	Reports/discussions on SAPC business/organisational issues including the development of an SAPC Business Plan
v.	Reports from (national – UK) organisations with which SAPC is associated (National Road Safety Committee, National Home and Leisure Safety Committee, National Water Safety Forum)
vi.	Reports from SAPC Executive Committee
vii.	SAPC financial report.

As we note above, the “theoretical” membership of the Committees is very large – ranging from fifty to sixty. In reality, each of the three committees has a smaller “core membership”, although during consultation with Committee chairs it was generally acknowledged that it was difficult to sustain the attendance of a regular and consistent membership.

A small number of SAPC members representatives attend more than one committee, however again a frequent comment from the Committee chairs was the relative lack of “cross-over” or communication between committees.

3.8. Raising public awareness
While not a primary objective of SAPC, “organising the production and dissemination of accident prevention publicity material” is one of the methods that the Council has adopted. In recent years the Council has produced and distributed a leaflet, targeted at Scottish households aimed at “bring(ing) home the common mistakes that lead to accidental death or injury to individuals, be they adults or children” Almost two million copies of this were printed and distributed.

The Council’s Water and Leisure Safety Committee have also produced a Water Safety Guide which has been widely distributed.

Members responding to the survey were split on the effectiveness of the SAPC at raising public awareness with 45% feeling it was either very or quite effective and 55% feeling it was only slightly or not effective.

3.9. Influencing policy and practice
In both constitutional terms and also through our consultations, a key role for the SAPC as perceived by members is to influence policy and practice in relation to accident prevention, both at national and local level, through the Scottish Executive, local government, other public bodies and voluntary organisations. From our consultations and review of Committee papers and minutes, there have been two areas where the Council has been recently active. First, in relation to its work to promote the establishment of Home Safety Officer posts within each Scottish Local Authority (currently a relatively small minority have such posts) and effectively make the promotion of Home Safety a statutory function of local authorities. Secondly, the establishment of a National Water Safety Officer post, to promote and support awareness and good practice in relation to water safety.

From time to time, the SAPC is consulted, principally by the Scottish Executive and Government Departments on matters relating to accident reduction and prevention. In general we were advised the SAPC has aligned itself with RoSPA on relation to this, though we were advised of a small number of issues where the SAPC and RoSPA positions were at variance. It was generally acknowledged however that involving members in responding to official consultations was an area of weakness for SAPC. In our survey, just under a half of respondents felt that the SAPC was either very or quite effective at “influencing national policy” with just over a half feeling it was not or only slightly effective.

In recent years SAPC has endeavoured to develop closer links with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) with a view to influencing local authorities in the development of safety and accident prevention measures and strategies. Again, this is an area where our consultees acknowledged progress has not been as rapid or as effective as it might have been.

4. The future for SAPC – members’ views

In this section we draw on the members’ survey and the one to one consultations we held.

4.1. General
Inevitably, in a membership organisation with such a broad membership base, views will vary. On the one hand there are members who are very strong supporters and advocates for SAPC who feel that it is doing an excellent job. On the other there are members who feel that the organisation has outlived its usefulness. However, the majority of members are clustered somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. That SAPC has many positive qualities and attributes, but in a changing environment, it needs to refocus its energies and priorities and to make changes to the way it works.

As a context, one member when interviewed said “Safety, accident and injury prevention have never been more on the political agenda. In Scotland, with the Parliament and Executive, we have never been closer to the levers of power and influencing those who hold these. The potential for a body like SAPC is enormous”.

Members also recognised that there are now a lot more organisations and individuals involved in a wide range of activities designed to promote community safety. When the SAPC was formed and for much of its history, there were relatively few other bodies who had these concerns. A key issue for SAPC is - what will be the unique contribution it can make to reducing accidents and injury in Scotland?

About half of the members surveyed felt that SAPC is an “extremely“ valuable and useful organisation. Just under half (42%) felt it was “occasionally” valuable and useful. Only 7% felt it was of “no” value.

4.2. Strengths of the SAPC
Members were asked what they perceived as the main strengths of the SAPC. This produced a very diverse response, however the main recurring themes were:

• Having a national perspective on Accident Prevention
• Involvement of elected members and professionals with an interest in Accident Prevention
• Good internal communications
• Strong leadership.

• Lack of clear priorities and work plan
• Lack of cohesive working between committees
• Lack of promotion of the work carried out by committees
• Poor attendance at meetings
• Duplication of work with other agencies e.g. RoSPA, Road Safety Scotland
• Low profile
• Often focus on “trivial” issues, does not have a clear agenda/too much of a “talking shop”
• Poor feedback from SAPC to member organisations by representatives
• Lack of resources to take ideas and policies forward
• Does not build on the commitment, expertise and enthusiasm of those members who do want to get involved.

The survey reflected the one to one consultations we held, with the over-riding theme being the lack of clear priorities and the resources and structures to follow these through.

4.4. Future direction and work
Members recognised that the organisation needs to change. Less than a quarter of respondents to the survey felt that the SAPC should “continue as it is”. The remaining three quarters indicated areas where they would want to see SAPC focus more on. In terms of the level of support/interest, members felt that they would like to see the SAPC:

• Organise good practice sharing networks – 60%
• Undertake more research – 56%
• Undertake more lobbying/policy development – 51%
• Provide more training and workshops – 39%.

• More focus on action and less “talking shop”
• Clearer organisational targets and outputs
• More services to members e.g. training
• Clearer organisational identity and higher profile.

5. Conclusions

In this section we set out our conclusions drawn from our review of SAPC.

5.1. General
It is clear that there is a continuing potential role for the SAPC. However, the environment in which it operates is more diverse and with more “players” than ever. The growing emphasis on Community Safety as a priority for government (Safer Communities in Scotland – Scottish Executive 1999) and communities, the development of multi-agency community safety partnerships is just one aspect of this. Our over-riding conclusion is that the SAPC has to make substantial changes in the way it operates, to have clearer organisational objectives and to put in place a number of measures to achieve these.

The potential of SAPC is far from being realised. With the membership base it has, the levels of expertise and commitment among the representatives not only in terms of the “technical” aspects of accident prevention but also in the political process needed to promote more effective measures, it is a potentially formidable organisation.

Our main conclusions are that as it currently operates, the SAPC:

• Lacks a clear focus for its work and established work priorities
• Finds it difficult to translate its internal discussions into action
• Does not capitalise on its broad membership base and the expertise and interest of members as much as it might
• Needs to re-affirm its role and credibility with policy makers at national and local level
• Needs to develop more effective working relationships with a wide range of partner organisations.

5.2. SAPC aims and objectives
We conclude that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the SAPC’s aims and objectives. However that these would benefit from a degree of streamlining and simplification. We feel however that the SAPC needs to focus on its role as a “secondary” organisation – by that we mean supporting agencies that are working directly with the public and communities to promote accident and injury prevention and not to try to take on this role itself, for which it does not have, and is unlikely to have the level of resources to fulfil effectively.

5.3. Current structure
We appreciate the historic reasons why the SAPC has developed as it has. This owes much to the role of local authorities in its formation and history and the comfort and familiarity that elected members have with a “committee“ based structure. However, we feel that the current structure does not work as well as it might. While the standing committees have clear terms of reference, there is little evidence that they underpin the work of each committee. With one or two exceptions there is little evidence of the standing committees developing SAPC policy and strategies to promote this. The standing committees membership is large and diverse, the meetings seem often to lack focus and in our view are trying to consider too many issues – often on an ad hoc basis. While they have a relatively small “core” membership, the lack of continuity from one meeting to the next is a weakness.

There is also a strong sense that each of the standing committees is “doing its own thing”. While this need not necessarily be a weakness, it means that a number of important “cross-cutting” issues do not get dealt with as effectively as they might. For example, the SAPC would benefit from having a clear “influencing” strategy – i.e. how does it get its message across most effectively regardless of issue.

5.4. Benefits of membership
While many members have commented on the benefits of membership, particularly in terms of “networking opportunities” and sharing of “good practice and information”, overall we found it difficult to quantify these. We conclude that the SAPC needs to have a clearer statement about the benefits that membership brings both to individual members directly, as well as spin-offs to them from the SAPC “policy influencing” role.

5.5. SAPC activities
We conclude that in particular, activities such as the Public Speaking Contest do not contribute to SAPC achieving its main objectives and require a disproportionate amount of time and resources for the benefits they produce.

While the Annual Awards have a certain value, we agree with some commentators that it is impossible to make a meaningful award to a project or initiative unless its impact and effectiveness have been fully evaluated. While we agree that there is a “PR” value in organising the Annual Awards, again we are not convinced that the work involved in this produces sufficient benefit for the SAPC or the promotion of Accident Prevention as a whole.

The Annual Conference is a valuable forum. It has the potential to include participation from the wider “Community Safety” community and become a much more important “event” on the calendar.

5.6. Relationship with RoSPA
The constitution of the SAPC says that it will be “allied to RoSPA” and that “the Council shall have regard to the general policy of RoSPA”

The relationship with RoSPA is in fact a complex one. The SAPC currently relies on RoSPA to provide it with administrative and secretariat support. There is a need for greater clarity about both the service and policy relationship between the SAPC and RoSPA. In terms of the service relationship, greater clarity is needed in relation to the “executive” functions of RoSPA staff – how much is expected to carry out the execution and implementation of SAPC decisions and deliberations. We feel that there is a danger of the RoSPA staff being “the servants of two masters” with conflicting demands being placed on their time. There is a need for greater clarity about the time and work commitment of RoSPA staff to SAPC.

In relation to policy matters, we are not entirely clear what “having regard to the general policy of RoSPA” means in practice. If it means that any policy deriving from the SAPC has to agree or, at least not be at variance with RoSPA’s stance on matters, why have a separate SAPC? If it means that the SAPC can adopt a different stance from RoSPA, how do the RoSPA staff who may have to implement this reconcile this with their roles as employees of RoSPA.

Our main conclusion however in terms of the relationship with RoSPA is that the current arrangement mitigates against the driving forward of a SAPC agenda. While there is a significant commitment on the part of RoSPA staff supporting SAPC, there is always the position that they also have “day jobs” and that to actively promote the work of SAPC often conflicts with their role with RoSPA.

5.7. Image and identity
Our main conclusions are that first, the SAPC does not have a clear or well understood identity. Secondly, the image of the organisation is somewhat old fashioned. We also conclude from our review of the minutes of meetings and consultations, that the organisation can be over bureaucratic with some members more concerned with process and procedures rather than outputs and outcomes. The corporate identity, as it is, is old fashioned and would benefit from renewing.

6. Recommendations

In this section we set out our recommendations on the way forward for the Scottish Accident Prevention Council.

6.1. General
We recommend that the SAPC adopts a number of changes to the way it is structured and operates from its Annual General Meeting in October 2006, with a view to have all these in place by April 2007.

6.2. Aims and objectives
We would recommend that the Council streamlines its aims and objectives. Our suggestions would be:

Aim of the Council:

To promote and encourage accident and injury prevention measures, policies and practices in order to promote the health and well being of the people of Scotland.

• To provide education, training and promotion of good practice within organisations and individuals concerned with accident and injury prevention
• To influence social policies in relation to accident and injury prevention
• To sponsor and undertake research into accident and injury prevention.

These aims and objectives should be incorporated into the organisation’s constitution, ensuring that these are drafted not to conflict with its charitable status.

6.3. Organisational structure
We would recommend that the Council streamlines its current organisational structure. This would involve a number of measures

6.3.1.	Replacing the three standing committees on Home Safety, Road Safety and Water and Leisure Safety with a more flexible short term working group structure which focuses on developing SAPC policy and good practice guidelines on specific Accident Prevention priorities.
6.3.2.	Enlarging the Executive Committee to ensure accountability to the membership and draw on the experience and expertise of the membership in the overall management and direction of the Council. We would recommend an Executive or Management Committee of twelve elected members with scope to co-opt up to three individuals with appropriate skills and expertise. The Executive could be drawn from the membership, elected by the Council as a whole. Alternatively the Executive Committee could reflect the differing membership “constituencies” e.g. Four members from local authority members Two members from health board members Two members from the emergency services Two members from voluntary and representative organisations Two members from the overall membership/others. Other organisations with an interest in Accident Prevention e.g. Road Safety Scotland, Scottish Executive, CoSLA could be invited to send “observers” to meetings of the Executive. These positions would be “non-voting”. We would recommend the replacement of the post of President with the Chair of the SAPC Executive Committee. This post could either be elected by the (Executive Committee – our preferred position), or by the membership as a whole. Committee members would serve for three years, with the scope for being re-elected. A system of electing a third of the members each year could be introduced to balance “new blood” with “continuity and stability”.
6.3.3.	The Executive Committee could appoint sub-committees and working groups drawing on the membership as a whole to undertake specific pieces of work e.g. An Annual Conference Planning Sub-Committee Research Sub-Committee (to identify SAPC research priorities and to commission research studies) Training and Development Sub-committee; to plan and oversee an annual programme of SAPC training/good practice events. Sub-committees would draw on the membership as a whole (and not just the Executive Committee), although provision could be made for each sub-committee to be chaired by a member of the Executive Committee. Working Groups would also draw on the membership as a whole, but would not necessarily be chaired by an Executive Member. Each sub-committee would be provided with written terms of reference. Working Groups would also have written terms of reference and also a timescale for the completion of their work.
6.3.4.	Membership database In order to ensure that members are able to participate in the SAPC in a way that follows their interests and makes best use of their skills, experience, expertise and interest, we recommend the establishment of a database of members representatives which includes details of areas of accident and injury prevention and other “generic” and organisational issues e.g. training, marketing, media relations. This would also assist SAPC with the formation of sub-committees and working groups drawing on the most appropriate members. The recommended structure is illustrated diagrammatically in Appendix 1.

6.4. Legal/constitutional structure
We would recommend that, for the foreseeable future the SAPC maintains its legal status as an unincorporated body. To change status, for example to that of a Limited Guarantee Company (at present the only other realistic legal structure), would introduce a degree of regulation and compliance (and cost) which would add unnecessarily to the internal workload of the organisation, to no great advantage.

We would recommend that the SAPC maintain a “watching brief” on this. For example, some potential funding bodies may insist on a more formal legal status and structure. Similarly as the details of the proposed Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation status become clearer, SAPC may wish to consider this as an option.

The SAPC should maintain its existing charitable status.

6.5. Activities and services
We would recommend that the SAPC develop a number of “core services and activities” which bring benefits to the membership.

6.5.1. Members briefings
One of the strengths of the current committee structure (in theory at least) are the regular inputs from visiting speakers/experts on the developments in Accident Prevention. Our view is that the current system does not maximise the benefit of these to the members as a whole. We are recommending therefore that a core activity of SAPC should be regular – three to four times a year “members briefing” sessions. These could be whole or half day events to which all members are invited which will provide detailed briefings/presentations and discussions on current developments in Accident and Injury Prevention policy and practice. These events would be organised to ensure high quality presentations and inputs along with accompanying briefing material which members could use for dissemination and discussion within their own organisations.

6.5.2. The SAPC Annual Conference
The Annual Conference provides an important and valuable focus for the membership. We recommend that this continues and is the basis of work of a sub-committee of the Executive Committee. We have mixed views on the subject of sponsorship but would suggest that the scope for an exhibition linked to the conference could generate additional income for the Council. This could be particularly successful if the conference could attract delegates with purchasing authority in their organisations who would be an attractive audience to commercial exhibitors.

The conference scene in Scotland is increasingly busy and competitive. Senior policy makers and professionals will only attend events which have a strong agenda and high quality inputs. This needs to be taken into account in conference planning.

We would also recommend that the Council gives thought to combining its AGM with the Annual Conference.

6.5.3. Influencing policy at national and local level
This is an activity that members would like to see SAPC doing more of, and more effectively. We are recommending above, a structure which will be based around the formation of short term, active working groups which will develop policy on behalf of the SAPC. A current weakness we have identified with the SAPC is the absence of an “evidenced” based approach to determining its work priorities. Because of the difficulty of obtaining hard and consistent evidence on the nature of accidents leading to serious injury and death, it is difficult to set out an evidence based approach. However we would recommend that one of the initial policy/research working groups focuses on gathering data on the nature of serious injury and accidents in Scotland, which will begin the inform the SAPC’s priorities. However we do not think that the organisation has the luxury of doing nothing on this front until this is in place. Therefore, in Appendix 2 , we set out for consideration, a number of themes (often drawing on the consultations from members) that the SAPC should be either commissioning research into or undertaking its own policy development work and inform its work plans from 2007 onwards.

We also recommend that the SAPC puts in place mechanisms to ensure that it is influencing policy both locally and nationally. The Council has already had experience of using the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee and should build on this in other areas of its activities. It has also built up a relationship with CoSLA, although these links could be strengthened and developed more – for example the establishment of a joint CoSLA-SAPC liaison group which could meet periodically to ensure that the SAPC message got directly to CoSLA and that progress on how this was being taken up by local authorities is monitored.

We also recommend that SAPC considers ways in which it is influencing the Scottish Executive directly through the senior civil service and the Scottish Ministers. SAPC has within its membership, considerable political experience and expertise and should harness this and the network of contacts it brings to the cause of Accident Prevention. Because Accident Prevention embraces a wide range of political portfolios, it is unlikely that any one part of the Scottish Executive would be a natural contact point – instead SAPC will need to develop effective working relationships across a wide range of departments, executive agencies and responsible ministers.

A key to effective “influencing” of decision makers and of general awareness raising is through the media. We would recommend that SAPC considers engaging on a retainer basis a suitably experienced PR consultant who would be responsible for preparing press releases, organising press and media events and advising on general PR strategy. (This could also be provided by a member organisation with its own communications/PR department on a pro bono basis).

6.5.4. SAPC web site
The SAPC web site is a potentially valuable resource and service to members. At present it is not used to anything like its full potential. We recommend that the web site is a central plank of the development of the organisation, holding up to date information on policy developments, good practice, the work of SAPC and contacts with the wider “accident prevention and community safety network”. It could also be a major reference point for data on accidents and injury in Scotland.

We would recommend that the web site undergoes a significant redesign by a professional web site designer, to modernise its look, structure and content. The site should also be designed to incorporate a “members section” accessible by password, from which key documents, good practice guides and policy documents can be downloaded.

6.5.5. Training and Development Programme
The SAPC has had experience of running a modest programme of training events. We recommend that this is further developed and that an annual programme of training/good practice sharing events is organised and delivered. This should be targeted at member organisations but open to a wider audience, using a differential charging fee basis. The planning and monitoring of the SAPC training programme would be the responsibility of a sub-committee of the Executive Committee.

6.5.6. Research and development
The SAPC should develop its research and development role. Initially this should focus on developing a better understanding the scale and nature of accident related injuries and fatalities in Scotland. It should further develop its research activities into specific risk factors and their minimisation/elimination. This is an area where SAPC should focus on developing partnership based approaches with other research sponsors and commissioners e.g. the Scottish Executive, Road Safety Scotland, CAPC, Communities Scotland, although it may be able to commission a number of its own studies drawing on members’ voluntary commitment, higher education establishments and also through the SLA with RoSPA.

SAPC’s Research and Development work would be overseen by a sub-committee of the Executive Committee. This work would also be a central element in SAPC’s Policy Development work.

6.5.7. Summary of Members’ Benefits
We recommend that SAPC prepares a clear statement of the benefits of membership which not only builds on the support from members but also provides them with clear evidence that membership represents “value for money”, an increasingly important consideration of all organisations, especially local authorities and other public sector bodies. This might include a statement to the effect that:

“As well as providing the main national network of organisations in Scotland with an interest in Accident and Injury Prevention, SAPC offers its members free access to regular members briefings on current developments in Accident Prevention.

• Download free from our web site, good practice guides and policy papers
• Free copies of all SAPC research reports
• Reduced rates for training and good practice workshops
• Reduced rates for the SAPC annual conference
• Quarterly newsletter updating on Accident Prevention developments in Scotland, the UK, Europe and internationally”

6.6. Finances and resources

6.6.1. Relationship with RoSPA
We recommend that RoSPA discontinue in the role of providing the secretariat to the SAPC. Instead SAPC enter into a service level agreement (SLA) with RoSPA for it to provide specific development and organisational support. These relate to some of the activities set out in 6.5 above.

This SLA would be initially for three years. Both SAPC and RoSPA would have to give 12 months notice if they wish to terminate the agreement.

RoSPA would be credited with £40,000 per annum from SAPC (£35,000 from grant “in kind” from the Scottish Executive and £5,000 from its own direct income). This sum would be translated into a number of staff days with daily rates varying according to the level and seniority of staff working on behalf of SAPC and subsequently into specific services and projects.

6.6.2. SAPC staffing resources
We recommend that the SAPC engage its own member of staff (either as an employee or on a consultancy/freelance/self-employed basis). The role of this member of staff would be:

• Executive secretary to the SAPC and Executive Committee
• To oversee the development of the organisation and be responsible for the implementation of decisions of the Executive Committee
• To manage the Service Level Agreement with RoSPA
• To develop the relationships of SAPC with partner organisations, potential members and funders
• To manage the business affairs of the Council including its financial affairs, prepare funding applications and financial reports for the Executive Committee and the Council
• To represent the Council with other agencies on a day to day basis.

In the short term, we would envisage that this position could be part-time, though if successful, and this plan leads to the development of SAPC, could in due course become full-time.

We recommend that the SAPC uses its current cash reserves to “pump-prime” this position for a period of two years. After this period, it would be expected that this post should be self-financing from general income. We would also recommend that SAPC approach the Scottish Executive for financial support for the initial costs of this “change management” process.

6.6.3. Budget and business plan
The SAPC should adopt a three year business plan 2007-2010 based on this review and with a three year budget/cash flow projection. This should be supplemented by an annual work plan which will inform the Service Level Agreement with RoSPA. In Appendix 3, we set out a recommended Business Plan framework and a three year cash flow/budget.

6.7. Image and identity
The most frequent comment from consultees when discussing image and identity of the SAPC was “old fashioned”. We would recommend that as part of this proposed change that SAPC effectively “rebrands” itself and “relaunches” the organisation, with a target date of April 2007 to do this.

We note that there have been some discussions about the name of the organisation. In fact, it is recorded in one minute that the name “Accident Prevention Scotland” has been adopted, though we are not sure if this is the case.

We would recommend however that SAPC resists the current fashion to adopt, solely for the purposes of appearing modern, a new name. We believe that Scottish Accident Prevention Council projects an image of solidity and seriousness and should be retained as the name used to project the organisation with members, partners and the public.

However we would recommend that, as well as modernising the look of the web site, the corporate identity of the SAPC is also “overhauled” e.g. logo, letterheads and other aspects of corporate identity e.g. briefing materials, press releases, training resources.

We would also recommend that the style of internal papers e.g. correspondence with members, committee papers, minutes, correspondence is reviewed to ensure a more professional, succinct and friendly style.

6.8. Longer term measures
The world in which the SAPC operates is a rapidly changing one. The organisation will need to retain an approach and “culture” which recognises this. We would recommend that the SAPC considers the scope for developing close working relations with other bodies active in the field of Accident Prevention and Community Safety.

7. Action Plan for implementation

In this section we set out a step by step plan for the implementation of our report and recommendations:

7.1. Consideration of report by SAPC (August – October 2006)

• This report should be considered by the SAPC Executive Committee in August 2006. An Executive Summary incorporating any amendments/refinements made by the Executive should be submitted to the membership for consideration and adoption at the SAPC general meeting in October 2006.

• Following adoption in principle by the SAPC, a set of constitutional resolutions/amendments should be produced along with a full Business Plan based on the framework. The Business Plan will include items such as the proposed Service Level Agreement with RoSPA, a job description and terms of appointment of an Executive Secretary for SAPC and a detailed work plan for 2007/08.
  
  
• The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator should also be consulted on any proposed changes to the SAPC constitution.
  
  
• The Scottish Executive and RoSPA to be consulted on the proposed resourcing/financial arrangements.
  
  

• A special general meeting of SAPC should be called to adopt the new constitution and Business Plan. This meeting would also include the election of the new Executive Committee.

• Carried out by Executive Committee

• Work Programme commences
• SLA comes into effect.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Suggested themes for SAPC Work Programme - 2007

The Extent and Cause of Injury and Death through Accidents in Scotland

Work to co-ordinate the existing methods of accident and data collection in Scotland and identify areas where better data collection and reporting are required.

Safer by Design

Much work has been done in relation to housing design to “design in safety and security”. The main focus of this however has been on external treatments and security devices including layout, location, locks and lighting. However there is a substantial body of experience of agencies working with people with disabilities, older people, people with visual impairment on how the interiors of homes can be designed, laid out and equipped to minimise the risk of accident.

SAPC could develop good practice guidance on this for home owners, landlords and developers which could make a significant contribution to accident prevention.

Don’t Drink and Drown

Undertake a study to assess the causal links between alcohol consumption and water activity related accidents and develop a strategy to minimise this.

Accident Prevention and Social Inclusion

There is some research evidence and much anecdotal evidence that poor and socially and economically disadvantaged people are at greater risk of injury and death from accidents. This piece of work would focus on developing SAPC policy on this and put forward positive action strategies to target accident prevention measures on those groups and individuals at greatest risk

Regeneration and Accident Prevention

Throughout Scotland, local authorities in partnership with other public and private sector bodies are undertaking major community and physical regeneration projects and schemes. The aim of this piece of work will to produce guidance for regeneration partners in ways in which accident reduction and minimisation measure can be build into this work.

Appendix 3

SAPC Business Planning Framework and Budget/Cash Flow 2007-2010

1. Business Plan Framework
      a. Name of Organisation
      b. Statement of Aims and Objectives
      c. Short history
      d. Legal and Constitutional Status
      e. Membership
      f. Management
            i. Details of Executive Committee
            ii. Skills and experience of EC and members
      g. Human and other resources
            i. Own staff
            ii. Service Level Agreement/s
      h. Work Plan 2007-1010/Desciption of Activities
      i. Finance – Income Sources and Budgets
      j. Organisational Targets and Performance Measures
      k. Working in Partnership

2. Outline Budget/Cash Flow 2007/2010 (Non-inflated)

	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Income
Opening Balance	£40,000	£20,500	£8,500
Membership Subscriptions	£15,000	£15,000	£20,000
Conference(net)	£3,000	£5,000	£6,000
Other Activities(net)	£3,000	£5,000	£8,000
Other Grant Income	£5,000	£5,000	£5,000
Sponsorship	£2,000	£3,000	£4,000
Total	£68,000	£53,500	£51,500
Expenditure
Own Staff Costs	£30,000	£30,000	£30,000
SLA RoSPA	£5,000	£5,000	£5,000
Admin & Office Costs	£5,000	£5,000	£5,000
PR consultancy	£5,000	£5,000	£5,000
Design Cost/web site	£2,500	£0	£0
Total	£47,500	£45,000	£45,000
Surplus/Deficit	£20,500	£8,500	£6,500

Note: this budget is based on challenging but we believe achievable targets for increased income from activities, grants and sponsorship.