MORE than 11,000 people and groups have made submissions to the Smith Commission on further devolution powers for Scotland after a near doubling of public interest since the first meetings took place.
The number of contributions leapt from 6,000 earlier this week to the new figure yesterday, the day after political parties got around the table with Lord Smith, of Kelvin, agreed the principles behind the discussions about a new Home Rule settlement.
The huge public engagement emerged as the former chairman of the Commonwealth Games organising committee met members of the voluntary sector, including the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations [SCVO] and individual third sector bodies to hear their views.
The umbrella body for charities pointed to the response as evidence as the hunger for change towards "powers for a purpose" but Lord Smith reportedly warned those present: "Don't overestimate what I can achieve."
The peer told the gathering: "I cannot eradicate poverty.
"This is a limited brief, but it is not beyond your powers to influence the final legislation." He urged those present to "bombard" MPs and MSPs to make sure their voices are heard in the process as he demonstrated his desire to include their views in spite of the tight political timescale that has been set.
One of the specific issues raised by the sector was the concern that cash levied from banks in the wake of the Libor scandal has been going to the third sector in England and Wales, but not in Scotland.
Lottery funding was also raised and other issues included aspects of transport policy and what to do about the benefits system, which was of particular concern to anti-poverty and disability charities.
The SCVO's own contribution to the debate stressed: "We want to ensure that no decisions are made, no parameters are agreed, and no options ruled out before the full diversity of views are on the table and able to be digested by all concerned. We know that this adds difficulty to an already challenging timetable but we do not think it is credible to proceed otherwise."
The SCVO added: "The range and complexity of the issues outlined at the end of this paper well illustrate the need to establish a periodic review, informed from practical experience."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article