Agendas, reports and minutes

Note of Meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group held in Committee Room 2, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Wednesday 11 November 2015 at 1.30 pm.
 
Present: 
 
Representing the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA):
Mr G Moir

Representing the Highland Council (HC):
Mr S Barron
Mr B Alexander
Ms C McDiarmid

Representing Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE):
Mr R Kirk

Representing the Highland Third Sector Interface (HTSI):
Ms M Wylie

Representing High Life Highland (HLH):
Mr I Murray

Representing NHS Highland (NHSH):
Ms E Mead
Mrs J Baird
Ms C Steer

Representing Police Scotland (PS):
Supt R MacKillop

Representing Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS):
Group Manager M Loynd

Representing Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH):
Mr G Hogg

Representing University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI):
Mr M Devenney

Supporting the Chief Officers Group:
Mr P Mascarenhas
 
In attendance:

Ms J Scotson, Business Change Manager, Chief Executive’s Office
Mr S Dalgarno, Development Plans Manager, Development and Infrastructure Service
Miss M Murray, Committee Administrator, Corporate Development Service

Also in Attendance:-

Mr N Wilding, Scottish Government
Mr C Bruce, Scottish Government

Mr S Barron in the Chair

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Ms M Morris, Mr S Black, Mr W Gilfillan, Mr D Yule, Dr H van Woerden, Ch Supt J Innes, Mr S Hay and Mr J Pryce.

2. Chief Officers’ Group – Note of Meeting

The Note of Meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group held on 13 August 2015 had been circulated and was APPROVED.

Matters Arising

In relation to item 19 – AOCB – the Head of Health Improvement confirmed that the CPP Physical Activity Group’s bid for funding of £70k from the Legacy 2014 Physical Activity Fund had been successful.

The Group NOTED the position.

3. Community Planning Board – Minutes of Meeting

The draft Minutes of the Community Planning Board held on 11 September 2015 had been circulated and were NOTED, subject to correction of a minor typographical error.

4. Partnership Approach to Digital Inclusion

There had been circulated Report No COG/24/15 by the Depute Chief Executive, Highland Council, which explained that as more and more information, processes and services were going online, the benefits and opportunities for internet users were growing.  The level of digital exclusion was also growing for those who were unable to go online.  The report provided an update on the work that was currently ongoing to address issues surrounding digital inclusion in the Highlands.

The Group:-

i. NOTED the progress made on digital inclusion;
ii. AGREED that, when discussing the Local Outcome Improvement Plan, consideration be given to including specific outcomes relating to digital inclusion;
iii. AGREED that the report be adapted, taking into account the points raised during discussion, for the Community Planning Board on 2 December 2015; and
iv. AGREED that the Business Change Manager liaise with partners, in advance of the Board, to establish the level of involvement the Community Planning Partnership and its members should have in the Digital Highland Partnership.
 
5. Action Programmes for Inner Moray Firth and Caithness & Sutherland Local Development Plans

There had been circulated Report No COG/25/15 by the Director of Development and Infrastructure, Highland Council, which presented two documents known as Action Programmes for consideration and endorsement by the Chief Officers Group and for referral to the CPP Board: a Proposed Action Programme for the Caithness & Sutherland Proposed Local Development Plan and a final Action Programme for the adopted Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan.  These documents outlined the actions for public sector partners and developers in working together to coordinate the delivery of infrastructure and services along with new growth and regeneration to improve Highland communities.

The Group AGREED to endorse the Action Programmes for the Caithness & Sutherland Proposed Local Development Plan and the adopted Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan and recommend their referral to the next meeting of the CPP Board for consideration and final endorsement, subject to a number of additions/amendments, particularly from UHI and NHS Highland, to be notified to the Development Plans Manager in advance of the Board.

6. Safe Young Highlander Events

There had been circulated Report No COG/26/15 by the Chief Executive, HLH, which proposed the expansion of the number of annual Safe Young Highlander events from the current five to seven to enable greater numbers of primary school pupils to attend.  High Life Highland would organise and promote the events with the support of Partnership agencies attending to deliver their relevant elements of activity.

The Group:-

i. AGREED to support the widening of the Safe Young Highlander events to ensure coverage across the area;
ii. AGREED that the core partner agencies listed in section 2 iv) of the report allocate a single point of contact, as follows, to work with HLH on the development of the events:

Police Scotland – Ewan Henderson
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service – Anthony Gardner
NHS Highland – Cathy Steer
Highland Council – Alison Clark

iii. AGREED that the core partner agencies commit to attending all seven local events, subject to an assurance that sufficient numbers of children would be in attendance to make the events viable;
iv. NOTED that the Chief Executive, High Life Highland, was liaising with the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Coast Guard separately;
v. AGREED that it be remitted to HLH to undertake the planning and co-ordination of the series; and
vi. AGREED that consideration be given to the inclusion of the Mountain Rescue Service and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service.
 
7. Implementing the Community Empowerment Act – Workshop Session
 
a. Taking forward the new CPP duties: discussion

There had been circulated Report No COG/27/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council, which provided an opportunity for the COG to consider the implementation issues arising from the new legal duties for the CPP in advance of statutory guidance being available.  This would support partners’ readiness for implementation.
  
b. Rural Deprivation and Inequalities – making use of the SEP Index

There had been circulated Report No COG/28/15 by the Head of Health Improvement, NHS Highland which outlined the further work being undertaken to determine how the outputs of the work done by Health Inequalities theme group to develop a joint understanding of deprivation and inequalities in rural Highland could be used.
  
c. Briefing on Local Community Planning Experiments

There had been circulated Report No COG/29/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council which provided a briefing to support discussions on creating new local community planning arrangements.  The COG had agreed this as its collaborative challenge so discussion was facilitated by Nick Wilding and Chris Bruce from the Scottish Government’s Ingage Team.
  
The Group NOTED items 7a, b and c as background papers for the workshop and that further consideration would be required by the COG.

Having considered key questions provided by the facilitators, the Group AGREED to consider how to engage with the collaborative leadership challenge, including the question partners wanted to work on together, with a view to Nick Wilding and Chris Bruce returning to the next meeting.

d. The Highland Third Sector Census

Ms M Wylie, Chief Officer, Highland Third Sector Interface, gave a presentation on the Highland Third Sector Census.

The Group welcomed and NOTED the presentation.
  
8. Future Agenda Items – Community Planning Board

The Group AGREED to provide any comments on the following list of items for the Community Planning Board on 2 December 2015 to the Head of Policy and Reform by Friday 20 November 2015:-

•  Local Outcomes Profile Workshop – Colin Mair and Emily Lynch leading (10.00 am – 1.00 pm)
• Delivering Partnership Outcomes – progress reports (April to September 2015) for all CPP themes
• Update on Partnership Action to Increase Digital Inclusion
• Action Programme for the Caithless and Sutherland Local Development Plan (CaSPlan)
• Child Sexual Exploitation (3.00 pm)
• Implementing the Community Empowerment Act
• Scottish Care Leavers Covenant
• Living Wage arrangements across the CPP
• Syrian Refugee Update?

9. Future Agenda Items – Chief Officers’ Group

The Group NOTED the following list of items for future meetings of the Chief Officers’ Group:-

•  The Scope for a Salary Sacrifice Scheme for HLH Membership
• How to strengthen future agendas in terms of economic priorities, with a discussion led by HIE
• Food and Drink – how it cuts across a number of SOA themes
• HIE Youth Survey
• Ideas on a Conference to develop a Partnership Strategy to Reduce Poverty
• The Future of the Highland Compact – recommendations from the short-life Working Group
• Partnership Approach to Improvement Methodologies
• CPP Performance Reporting – Community Empowerment Act
• Prevention and Joint Resourcing Update
• HIE Strategic Intervention
• CPP Approach to Participation Requests

10. Future Meeting Dates

The Group NOTED that meeting dates for 2016 would be arranged in early course and electronic invitations issued.  In accordance with previous discussions, the duration would be extended to four hours (11.00 am to 3.30 pm with a networking lunch from 1.00 pm to 1.30 pm).

The meeting ended at 5.10 pm.