Scottish Ministers are looking to appoint a new Chair to the Board of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC).

About Us

SLCC provide a single point of contact for all complaints against Scottish lawyers (solicitors, advocates, commercial attorneys and licensed conveyancers). They investigate and resolve complaints about services and refer conduct complaints to the relevant professional body for investigation.

As a small and focussed public body this is an ideal opportunity for someone stepping up to a chair role for the first time or for an experienced chair wanting to feel they are making a direct and immediate contribution to an organisation. Knowledge of the legal sector is not essential, although we are looking for someone with good experience of governance and decision making.

What are we looking for in a new Chair?

The Chair plays a vital role in leading the oversight of the organisation and the Executive Team, engaging with stakeholders, ensuring a strategy is in place, risk and financial controls are appropriate. To enable the SLCC Board to work effectively and efficiently it is vital we have people with a variety of skills and experience from all walks of life.

Close working with the Chief Executive ensures an effective link between the Board and Executive Team. The Chair also sits on Determination Committees deciding on the outcome of complaints.

The SLCC need a Chairing Member with specific skills along with generic personal qualities. You may have gained your experience / knowledge by working, being active in your community, in a voluntary capacity or just through your own personal life experience – we have explained in the application pack exactly what we will be looking for and how they will be tested in the appointment process.

Training and support

Because of this varied role, the new Chair will be offered a full induction along with regular training. All members are supported by the management team, clerks and investigators, and the other staff of the SLCC and have taken on board members from a large variety of backgrounds.

Time commitment

In total, the time commitment for all work will be:

• around 30 days of fixed attendance (meeting or video calls, although with each meeting usually being a half day).
• around 8 days of work you can complete at home, at a time to suit yourself, and usually in one or two hour blocks.

Length of the Appointment

Appointment will be for a single term of five years. Therefore you can only apply to be a Board member again after a minimum gap of three years. No re-appointments are made to the SLCC Board, however, you can apply to be a Board member again after a minimum gap of three years.

If appointed you will be expected to take up your position on 10 July 2023.

Remuneration and Expenses

The Chair of the Board receives £323.29 per day. Expenses incurred as a result of carrying out the duties of the appointment, including reasonable travel and subsistence costs and dependant carer and childcare expenses, will be reimbursed.

The appointment is non-pensionable.

TRUSTEES SOUGHT TO TAKE THE MONTESSORI MESSAGE ACROSS SCOTLAND

Trustees of the newly formed Montessori Scotland Foundation – affiliated to Edinburgh Montessori Arts School - are looking for additional volunteer trustees to help take this exciting project further.

It is not change itself that poses challenge, but how we cope with change. Using Maria Montessori’s insights, which are practised across the globe, we believe we can help communities of all kinds - children, young people, neurodiverse people, older people and diverse communities - to learn, develop and grow stronger. The aim is to benefit communities in Scotland and our living environment.

• Experience: we are particularly interested in Trustees with knowledge or experience of business / legal / marketing & PR / finance / voluntary sector / community initiatives including the natural world & caring fields / fundraising or grant seeking. We encourage applications from a range of backgrounds, and you do not need Montessori or previous Board experience. Passion and/or lived experience are also interesting for us.
• The Trustee role is about bringing your enthusiasm and experience forward. Your support will help ensure robust growth so the new Foundation can make an impact in communities for decades to come.
• Benefits:fascinating work with an enthusiastic team. Scope to help set strategic direction.
• Time Commitment: we meet online each fortnight (1 hour) and 2-3 times per year in person. This is a volunteer role and is not paid. Agreed travel and associated expenses will be reimbursed.
• Service: Trustees serve for a 3-year term (renewable).

Do you enjoy working with people?

Do you have excellent communication and presentation skills, and experience working with young people?

We are looking for an enthusiastic Project Officer to join Fast Forward’s Scottish Gambling Education Hub. This role will have a focus on youth groups and other informal education settings.

The Hub was Scotland’s first gambling education and prevention programme, focusing on protecting young people from gambling harms, its work includes delivering training to practitioners, staff, schools and youth groups, developing resources, as well as partnership building with national organisations.

Organisation profile

Fast Forward is Scotland’s national youth work agency, focusing on supporting children & young people to make informed choices regarding, and take a harm reduction approach to, risk-taking behaviours, towards reducing the negative impacts of these on their lives and those of their families and wider community. We promote health through programmes and resources developed by, with and for young people. Our work is underpinned by the following values:

Integrity - Our work is dynamic and informed by expertise, lived experience and relevant research

Forward Thinking - We are brave and bold. We are creative in our approach to identifying and responding to risk taking behaviour.

Inclusive - We take a person centred approach. We are non-judgemental and respectful.

Collaborative - We coproduce, partner and learn with young people and experts from across the field

Background to Heart of Newhaven Community

Victoria Primary School (until recently the oldest working primary school in Edinburgh) was acquired for community use by conclusion of a Community Asset Transfer in August 2022 and has since been renamed The Heart. There are few community resources in the area and a general lack of communal/meeting spaces for use by local groups: public meetings demonstrated a real interest in the potential The Heart might offer in this respect. Most notably, there is a desire for more facilities and activities for older and isolated individuals as well as a recognised need for more early years’ resources and for mental health support. In particular this area of Edinburgh has no facilities for people living with a diagnosis of dementia.’ We have been a member of the Scottish Meeting Centre Network since January 2022. Conversations with people with lived experience of dementia confirm our belief that The Heart can meet the ‘basic fellowship need’ and opportunity to ‘meet other people with the same condition meeting as equals’.

Overview of the post

Meeting Centres are a model of dementia support first developed in the Netherlands. They are social clubs where people living with dementia and their family carers can get help, support, and advice to adapt to the life changes dementia brings.Heart of Newhaven are now recruiting for a new Development Worker position, to help set up our Centre. This position is initially funded for 6 months by Age Scotland.