Social Impact Pledge

30th January 2023

The Standards Commission has signed up to a Social Impact Pledge, which is aimed at increasing the social impact of public sector organisations in Scotland.

The pledge is a Scottish Government initiative that asks public sector organisations to commit to increasing their social impact by making a public commitment to change their current operations or policies. The pledge should include actions that the organisation was not already undertaking.

The Standards Commission has pledged that it will:

• challenge itself to increase the positive impact it made on its local community; and
• undertake two activities in the next twelve months that it did not currently undertake, in order to improve its social impact.

The first activity identified is that Standards Commission staff will work together to give back to the community by offering one day each in the next twelve months to a local charity. The second activity is to offer a short work experience placement to a school pupil or student to allow them to gain office and work experience and also an understanding of the work of the Standards Commission and the ethical standards framework in Scotland.

More information on the Social Impact Pledge can be found on the Communities Channel Scotland website:  https://www.communityscot.org.uk/social-impact-pledge