Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group will take place in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday 26 March 2015 at 2.00 pm.

You are invited to attend the meeting and the business to be considered is noted below.

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

2. Chief Officers’ Group – Note of Meeting

There is circulated for approval Note of Meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group held on 23 February 2015.

3. Community Planning Board – Draft Minutes

There are circulated for comment draft Minutes of the Community Planning Board held on 4 March 2015 together with, for reference, the Action Note previously circulated by email.

4. Responding to the recommendations in the Director of Public Health’s Annual Report

i. Ms J Wares, Public Health Registrar, NHS Highland, will undertake a presentation on the recommendations in the
   Director of Public Health’s Annual Report.

   The Group is asked to discuss the recommendations and agree how best to take them forward.

ii. The Group is asked to consider support from the Scottish Leaders’ Forum for collaborative leadership on climate
    change.  The circulated email describes the offer available.

5. Local Community Planning: Values and Principles

Arising from discussions at the Community Planning Board on 4 March 2015, there is circulated Report No COG/07/15 dated 17 March 2015 by the Council’s Head of Policy and Reform which aims to prompt discussion on the values and principles to support the development of local community planning arrangements.

The Group is asked to discuss the information in the report in small groups or pairs, to share views with the Group and agree the values and principles to support the development of local community planning.  The output can be shared with staff and Board and Elected Members participating in local forums as they develop local proposals.

6. Local Democratic Experiments and Community Empowerment: Proposal for learning from community
    groups – what works and what would make it better?

There is circulated joint Report No COG/08/15 dated 17 March 2015 by the Chief Officer, HTSI, and the Council’s Community and Democratic Engagement Manager which sets out the key issues to consider in continuing the development of a more supportive, beneficial and productive partnership between Community Planning partners and the community sector.  It suggests new actions that the CPP could initiate and highlights areas of work already in progress.

The issues highlighted in sections 3 and 4 of the report contribute to the CPP Board priority “Engage in dialogue with communities in order to empower them to participate in service planning and delivery”.

The Group is asked to agree that progress be monitored through updates on this SOA Development strand.

7. Proposal for a revision and re-launch of the Highland Compact

There is circulated Report No COG/09/15 dated 17 March 2015 by the Chief Officer, HTSI, which gives a brief outline of the current situation in relation to the Highland Compact and possible options for future activity.  Specifically, the report asks for a collective view, on behalf of the public agencies in Highland, on the future of the Highland Compact.

The Group is asked to provide a view, on behalf of the public agencies in Highland, as to the route forward for the Highland Compact.  Partners are also asked to consider the possibility of their agency’s involvement in any future development.

8. CPP View of “Fragile Areas” – recommendations from the Health Inequalities Group

The Chair of the Health Inequalities Group will provide a verbal update on the approach to recommending a CPP view of fragile areas.

9. Champions Board

There is circulated Report No COG/10/15 by the Council’s Resource Manager, Looked After Children and Child Protection, which explains that the Scottish Government has developed a national strategy for Looked After Children, “These are our Bairns”, which promotes the engagement of young people in the process of defining policy and developing services that impact on their lives.  Following visits to Dundee Champions Board and conversations with Who Cares? Scotland, the development set out in the report is recommended for the Highland Council Area and care experienced young people.

The Group is asked to consider the following recommendations:-

i.  a Champions Board be set up that initially involves chief officers from the corporate parenting family, operational
    managers, three Elected Members, including the Children’s Champion and the Chair of the Education, Children and
    Adult Services Committee, and supporters;
ii. once relationships have been developed then it may be possible to invite officers based on the agenda;
iii. the Board will be jointly chaired by a young person and a chief officer.  The agenda will be set by the young
    people;
iv. a date be set for the introduction workshop;
v.  dates be set for the Board Meetings – twilight; and
vi. an application be made to the Life Changes Trust for funding of a full-time post to support the Champions Board
    and assist the young people in the development of training and information materials for young people,
    professionals and the public.  

10. Inverness Response Team

There is circulated Report No COG/11/15 by Temp Ch Supt Gus MacPherson, Police Scotland, which provides an update on the progress of the Inverness Community Safety Partnership initiative, namely, Inverness Response Team, which is designed to address local antisocial behaviour issues on a daily basis, sharing resources to ensure early intervention in preventing and tackling community concerns, thereby freeing up resources invested in dealing with acute problems, delivering better outcomes and achieving value for money.

The Group is asked to note the update.

11. Potential breakthrough achievement for the Highland CPP 2015/16

Chief Officers are invited to propose, at the meeting, a potential joint achievement for 2015/16 that all partners could collaborate on.  The preferred proposal can be developed and presented to the next Board meeting in June 2015.

12. Future Agenda Items – Chief Officers’ Group

Agenda items proposed for future meetings of the Chief Officers’ Group are listed below:-

i.  Partnership approach to improvement methodologies – NHSH lead
ii. Proposals for Conference on CPP Anti-Poverty Strategy - recommendations from the Health Inequalities Group
iii. Local Democratic Experiments and Community Empowerment - Planning time with Dr Oliver Escobar and Fiona
    Garven at June Board
iv. Update on Partnership Action to Tackle Digital Exclusion
v. Future Model for Community Justice in Scotland

13. Future Meeting Dates

Group Members are reminded that the following meeting dates have been notified for 2015:-

Wednesday 27 May, 2.00 pm
Thursday 13 August, 2.30 pm
Wednesday 11 November, 2.30 pm