One of the problems has been a tendency to set up a partnership as the response to every problem without sufficient thought about whether the approach was necessary and how it related to other initiatives and other agency responsibilities. The result has been a proliferation of Partnerships in some areas. We heard a consistent message about the proliferation of partnership initiatives flowing from the Government, the limitations of short-term challenge funding and the lack of joining up by the centre. They close a project down. Everything is given away.
Money always has to be for something new.
Huge amounts of money are wasted. We believe that there are two key messages from this. Firstly partnerships need to be fit for purpose. Secondly, it needs to be recognised that not every issue needs to be addressed by partnership. We believe there is a need for streamlining of partnerships in Scotland although we do not wish to be prescriptive about what form that should take.