Briefing and working paper series: 2

Devolution or Divergence? Third Sector Policy across the UK since 2000

Since the end of the last century the United Kingdom has been a less united country. This paper asks the question: to what extent has devolution led to a divergence in third sector policy regimes across the UK?

In 1999 a separate Scottish Executive (from 2007 the Scottish Government) and Welsh Assembly Government were established, followed later by a new Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, based on a power sharing agreement known as the ‘Good Friday Agreement’. A number of key policy making powers were devolved from Westminster to these new administrations, including policy third sector activity.

In effect, there are now four separate policy regimes focused on third sector organisations (TSO) in the UK. However, as Keating (2002) explains in his introduction to the first edition of Devolution in Practice, compared to the greater levels of regional devolution existing in many other developed industrial nations, the UK remains a largely centralised state in both political and policy terms.

This paper explores some of the key implications of devolution and examines the extent to which it has led to a divergence in policy development and delivery.

Contacts
Professor Pete Alcock