We welcome the Scottish Government’s new Programme for Government and its emphasis on ‘building a Scotland that is truly fair, healthy, prosperous, secure, skilled, sustainable and connected’.


We see a strong alignment between aspects of the Programme for Government and our recent Policy Briefing for the 2026 Scottish Parliament: ‘Transforming Learning for a Just and Sustainable World.‘

In particular:

  • We support the recognition that effective cross-sectoral partnership is needed to
    deliver change.     We recognise the ambition to strengthen collaboration across
    government and with civil society, communities and the private sector and look
    forward to clarity on how these synergies will be implemented and supported.
  • The five-year framework provides a strong foundation for long-term strategic
    planning, while allowing flexibility to respond to change.
  • We welcome the commitment to fairness, equality and social justice and strong
    consideration of human rights.

Click here to view our full response – and our thoughts on education and learning, communities, culture, prosperity, sustainability and global engagement.

Help us advocate for change

We will, as always, continue to advocate for change with key stakeholders and elected individuals and bodies. We warmly welcome the support of our members to help us with this by sharing this document with your own networks and local politicians, or using its content to influence discussion and action.

Through partnership, knowledge-sharing and evaluation, we can help to translate the Programme for Government’s ambitions into practical action for people, planet and prosperity in Scotland.