ASH Scotland provides management and support to the STCA, principally through the Alliances Manager and Alliances Administrator. Before launching the STCA, ASH Scotland undertook a full and comprehensive consultation exercise culminating in two reports. 'A National Tobacco Control Alliance' gives details of the consultation process and its outcomes, and 'The Scottish Tobacco Control Alliance' outlines the proposed structure and function of the STCA. A summary of the latter report is given in this section, and full copies of both are available from Jennifer Black.
The STCA Coordinating Group
The role of the Coordinating group is to represent the views, concerns and priorities of the wider STCA membership to develop a Strategic plan for the STCA Coordinator and to evaluate implementation of the plan.
The Coordinating Group is comprised of 8 members elected annually at the AGM, the Chief Executive of ASH Scotland and the STCA Coordinator. In order to supply continuity Coordinating Group members are elected for a period of 2 years with 50% of the Coordinating Group being renewed each year.
The Chair of the Coordinating Group is elected from within the Group in order that the Coordinating Group has ownership of this role.
In order to address concerns that the Group might become overly Central Belt focused, 2 places are reserved for those who work directly with, or represent, localities that can be described as rural or island based. Election to the Group is by a transferable vote system undertaken in accordance with Electoral Reform Society guidelines.
The group meets quarterly with an agenda driven by submissions to the Chair and Coordinator from requests channeled from Member Representatives and STCA Topic Groups. Contributions by relevant bodies from out with the STCA are often sought in order to inform the Group's decision making and Member Representatives.
Minutes of meetings are posted in the password-protected members area.