Scottish Council Foundation

The Scottish Council Foundation (SCF) is a neoliberal think tank that proclaims that: "Politically independent, our work bridges thinking and practice to provide innovative and practical solutions to many of the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges facing Scotland" Scottish Council Foundation Website, Home Page, accessed Nov. 2008.
It was established by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) in 1999, which remains strongly involved as three of the SCF's five trustees are high-ranking members of the SCDI executive and its board and all of them are important members of Scotland's business community. 
In 2004, the SCF employed five full-time research staff. Its present director, James McCormick, was appointed in 2002. Previously he had worked for the Institute for Public Policy Research's (IPPR) Social Justice Commission Report (1994), which was important for the Labour Party's Third Way concepts of the welfare state. 
The SCF is one of the only Scottish-based and Scotland-focussed think-tanks that carries out original research and only occasionally draws from external expertise. Unlike the David Hume Institute and Policy Institute, the SCF also cooperates with various organisations, including the Washington D.C Centre for Excellence in Government, the IPPR, the Public Health Institute of Scotland and the Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health. The SCF emphasises that it "brings the experience of its international networks ... to bear in everything it does." Scottish Council Foundation Website, About Us, accessed Nov. 2008. 
Non-aligned to any political party, the SCF's language resembles (New) Labour-speech: the institute's calls for action to "tackle inequalities in the marketplace as well as to redistribute income to poor households". It demands action led by the Scottish Executive to "promote cost-cutting partnerships between local shops and major retailers, and offer incentives for new businesses to set up in low-income neighbourhoods" in order to allow poor households to get more value for their money. In order to "enjoy the benefits of competition" more commitment from government to functioning markets and a clearer challenge to private service providers is demanded Scottish Council Foundation Website, Press Release, 20 February 2004, accessed Nov. 2008. 
In the SCF's policy research work, equality does not feature very highly on the agenda as an aim in itself; at best marked disparities are seen as economically undesirable for all members of society: "a pronounced set of inequalities is bad for everyone, for the economy, for the people in the middle, for the people at the bottom", said its director James McCormick in January 2004. H. Pautz pdf Think-Tanks in Scotland, 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds] 
In January 2006 it published a report with the Fraser of Allander Institute proposing that Scottish Water be privatised.Scottish Council Foundation Website, Raising the Return - Scotland's Public Assets, accessed Nov. 2008 In the same month it organised a conference with pharma giant Pfizer, one of the most active pharma lobbyists in Scotland on binge drinking. Andrew Harris, from the Foundation, said: "Education, improved housing, employment and environmental changes can all address problems such as binge-drinking far more effectively than trying to tackle the problem in isolation" Richard Gray Message in a bottle Scotland on Sunday, 29 January 2006.
The SCF, though its director says he sees it in a "social-democratic" epistemic community, pushes market friendly policies. It rejects what its director called the 'Scottish consensus'. What this means is the following: "to say that you're a left think-tank would not really say anything, it would say you're part of the consensus, because Scotland is so heavily centre-left, and you want to challenge the consensus [...] so we're not really interested in being aligned in a partisan sense". H. Pautz pdf Think-Tanks in Scotland, 55th Political Studies Association Annual Conference 4-7 April 2005 - University of Leeds] Challenging the consensus here means introducing pro-market ideas into the public sphere and advising decision-makers into that direction. 
==Funding==
The SCF is funded by big business . 
The SCF states that its "principal supporters" include 
*Associated Newspapers
*Boots
*BP
*BT
*Communities Scotland
*Diageo
*Liddell Thomson
*Pfizer
*Scottich Council for Development and Industry
*Scottish Adult Learning Partnership
*Scottish Enterprise
*Shell
*Volunteer Development Scotland
==Personnel==
===Trustees===
SCF's Trustees are: 
====2001====
*Shonaig Macpherson, Chairperson 
*Mike Hambly CEO Digital Animations Group plc
*Donald I Turner 	Chairman, Scottish Council for Development and Industry	
*Alan Wilson, CEO Scottish Council for Development and Industry
*Crawford Gillies
*Donal Dowds BAA Scottish Airports - Past Chairman of SCDI
==2006== 
Source: 
*Shonaig Macpherson, Chairperson 
*Alan Wilson, CEO Scottish Council for Development and Industry
*Crawford Gillies
*Mike Hambly CEO Digital Animations Group plc, Executive of Scottish Council for Development and Industry
*David Wilson 
*Jim Martin LogicaCMG and Executive of Scottish Council for Development and Industry
All serve in a personal capacity.
===Advisors===
All members serve in a personal capacity.
 
*Andrew Adonis 	No 10 Policy Unit
*Jonathan Cape 	East of Scotland Water
Johnston Clark 	Blackadders Solicitors
Brendan Dick 	BT Scotland
Roland Diggens 	Scottish Council for Development and Industry
Andrew Gibb 	Glasgow 1999
Robina Goodlad 	Glasgow University
Jon Harris 	COSLA
Alison Hook 	
Jill Kent 	British Energy plc
Thomas Lange 	Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Carolyn McAdam 	Scottish and Southern Energy plc
Joyce McMillan 	journalist and critic
Anne Meikle 	Fair Play Scotland
Jeremy Peat 	The Royal Bank of Scotland plc
Seona Reid 	Glasgow School of Art
Nicholas Rengger 	St Andrews University
Tracey White 	Scottish Trades Union Congress
Source 
===Staff 2001===
source
*Graham Leicester	Director 	
*James McCormick	Research Director 	
*Richard Maconachie 	Development Director 	
*Linda Boyes 	Policy Manager 	
*Mike Davies 	Policy Manager 	
*Deirdre Elrick 	Policy Manager 	
*Andrew Lyon 	International Futures Forum
*Gillian Menzies 	Administration 
*Sandra Robertson 	Administration
===Staff 2006===
Source: 
*Linda Boyes 	Policy Manager 	
*Deirdre Elrick 	Policy Manager 	
*James McCormick 	Director 	
*Gillian Menzies Finance Officer 	
*Sandra Robertson Events Co-ordinator 	
*Janet Smith 	Office Manager 	
*Mark Langan 	Research Fellow 	
*Andrew Harris 	Programme Director
==Contact details==
Scottish Council Foundation, 
23 Chester Street,
Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 7ET
Phone: 0131 225 4709
Fax: 0131 220 2116 
Email: scf AT @scottishcouncilfoundation.org 
Web: http://www.scottishcouncilfoundation.org/index.php
==External links==
*Alf Young The horse is at the water, but who's nagging it to drink? the Herald, 24 January 2006.
==Notes==
Category: Think Tanks
Category:Food Industry lobby groupsCategory:Water: Advocates for Privatisation of Scottish water
Category: WaterCategory: ScotlandCategory:Scottish Think Tanks