Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group will take place in Committee Room 2, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Wednesday 27 May 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 26 March 2015.

3. Matters Arising

4. Enabling Collaborative Leadership

At its meeting on 26 March 2015, the Chief Officers’ Group agreed to accept an offer of support for collaborative leadership from Workforce Scotland.  The offer of support is re-circulated for information.

In that regard, Mr Nick Wilding, Scottish Government, will be in attendance to assist the COG in agreeing a focus for its collaborative leadership challenge.  At its previous meeting, the COG suggested the following themes as a collaborative question to work on:-

• Effective community engagement and community led initiatives
• Reducing inequalities
• Climate change
• Joint resourcing and prevention

The Group is asked to participate in the session facilitated by Mr Wilding, agree the collaborative question to work on and agree how best to proceed.

5. Presentation: Inverness West Link

Mr C Howell, Head of Infrastructure, Highland Council, will undertake a presentation on the Inverness West Link.  This is in line with the West Link Communication Strategy to inform emergency services and partners.  The Head of Roads Policing is also invited to attend for this item.

6. Local Democratic Experiments and Community Empowerment

i. Participatory Democracy and Community Empowerment

Dr Oliver Escobar (Edinburgh University, specialising in participatory democracy) and Fiona Garven (Chief Executive, Scottish Community Development Centre) will be in attendance at the CPP Board on 3 June 2015.

To provide some contextual information, there is circulated Report No COG/12/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform on participatory democracy and community empowerment.

The speakers attending are asked to focus on new approaches to participation and supporting people to be involved.  The Group is asked to agree any amendments to the paper for the Board meeting and to identify if there are any specific issues they would like Dr Escobar and Ms Garven to address.

ii. Progress with Local Discussions on Reviewing Local Community Planning Arrangements and Council
    Area Committees

There is circulated Report No COG/13/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council which provides an update on progress being made with reviewing Local Community Planning arrangements and Area Committees.  Initial discussions have been underway in the last round of District Partnership meetings and discussions have started in 10 Wards with Elected Members.

The Group is asked to:-

i.  note the progress being made in early conversations through District Partnerships and among local Elected
    Members;
ii. comment on the ideas emerging, note they might support new legislative requirements and consider how they can
    support the conversations needed locally as early next steps;
iii. identify any benefits and concerns they feel arise from the ideas so far; and
iv. note that no agreement is sought at this time to change arrangements locally but that a progress report will be
    provided to the Board in June with decisions likely to be sought in September.  This provides three months to
    develop acceptable proposals for local experiments in some areas to improve community planning.

7. Redesign of Community Justice

There is circulated Report No COG/14/15 by the Director of Care and Learning which sets out the requirement for new governance and planning arrangements for Community Justice Services. Options for local arrangements are outlined, and it is recommended that these are considered by the Community Planning Partnership.

The Group is asked to note the planned change in governance arrangements for Community Justice and to comment on the options for the future model of planning Community Justice Services.

8. Presentation: National work on progressing outcome profiles for CPPs and the development of a  
    performance framework for SOAs

Emily Lynch, The Improvement Service, will undertake a presentation on the national work on progressing outcomes profiles for CPPs and the development of a performance framework for SOAs as part of the national benchmarking project.

The Group is asked to note the presentation and identify the implications arising for the Highland CPP.

9. Deprivation and Inequalities – Rural Analysis

There is circulated Report No COG/15/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council, and the Head of Health Improvement, NHS Highland, which provides an update on the work of the Health Inequalities Group to develop a joint understanding of deprivation and inequalities in rural Highland.

The Group is asked to:-

i. comment on the progress made by the Health Inequalities Group and the analytical work produced in Annex 2;
ii. agree:-
    a. that there is sufficient analysis at this time from the three indices in use to identify rural priority areas for CPP
        intervention to reduce inequalities.
    b. that the 16 rural communities listed in Table 4 are prioritised for CPP intervention to reduce inequalities;
    c. whether it should also consider at this time the small rural towns listed in Table 3 for action.  This would
        complement the rural approach above and the work underway in the four areas of urban deprivation; and
    d. that further work be done to build on the SEP index with the indicators proposed in paragraph 2.4.7 at a pace
        acceptable to NHS Highland and the Council;
iii. subject to agreement of the priority areas in ii) above, consider how best to progress this work together given the
    CPP Board’s agreement to “…tackle deprivation and inequalities including by improving access and connectedness
    for communities.” and
iv. consider whether the proposed approach to understanding inequalities in rural communities can be presented to
     the Board in June for agreement on priority areas for intervention or whether further work is required.

10. Presentation: Developing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Plan 2016 /19

Mr Scott Hay, Area Manager – Service Delivery, and Mr John MacDonald, Group Manager, will undertake a presentation on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Plan 2016/19.

The Group is asked to consider the following:-

i.  What are the key strengths of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service?
ii.  As a local partner, what are our shared challenges and opportunities?
iii. What do you think the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service can do to help improve matters at local partnership level
    or nationally?
iv. What really matters to our local communities?

11. Locating Public Access Defibrillators in Highland

At its meeting on 4 March 2015, the Community Planning Board agreed that a mapping exercise be carried out in relation to the provision of defibrillators in local communities.  In that regard, there is circulated Report No COG/16/15 by the Director of Adult Care and the Director of Public Health, NHS Highland which provides an update on progress.

The report proposes that the information gathered by the CPP to date is shared to inform the national work but that no further locally targeted work would be of added benefit at this stage.

In addition, it would be particularly helpful to inform the national work of the Lucky2bhere initiative and the considerable impact it has had on local communities across Highland, not only by supporting the purchase of defibrillators but by providing vital training.

The Group is asked to consider the proposals.

12. Breakthrough Achievement for the Highland CPP 2015/16 – Employment of Care Leavers

There is circulated Report No COG/17/15 by the Director of Care and Learning which provides background information in relation to the proposal by Chief Officers to offer employment to Highland’s care leavers.

The COG is asked to consider the report with a view to a presentation being undertaken at the subsequent meeting of the Community Planning Board.

13. Realigning Children's Services - Scotland's Strategic Commissioning Support Programme for 
      Children's Services

There is circulated documentation referring to a new Scottish Government programme, Realigning Children’s Services (RCS).  This aims to improve local planning and commissioning of children’s services through a combination of existing and new data sources linked to indicators of how children use services.  It follows on from work previously undertaken in partnership with the Social Research Unit at Dartington in Perth and Kinross, Angus, Dundee and North Ayrshire Councils

CPPs that are interested in taking part in RCS are asked to make contact as soon as possible and consideration will then be given to the nature and timing of any subsequent engagement.

Albeit children’s services planning is well advanced in the Highland partnership, the For Highland’s Children Leadership Group believes that there may be added value in being part of this programme, perhaps involving other local research partners, and seeks the endorsement of the Chief Officers Group to take this forward.

14. Invitation to participate in U.Lab Scotland

There is circulated letter from Mr K Hogg, Local Government and Communities Directorate, The Scottish Government, which invites Community Planning Partners to participate in the U.Lab Scotland programme, details of which are provided.

The Group is asked to AGREE to:-

i. accept the offer to participate;
ii. disseminate the opportunity within their organisations as appropriate; and
iii. confirm if any partner can attend any of the introductory events and report back to the COG.

15. Future Agenda Items – Community Planning Board

Agenda items proposed for the Community Planning Board on 3 June 2015 are listed below:-

i. Quarterly progress reports (Q4 2014/15) for all CPP themes (from all responsible officers)
ii. Enabling Collaborative Leadership Proposal
iii. Local Democratic Experiments and Community Empowerment:-

     a. Dr Oliver Escobar, Edinburgh University, and Fiona Garven, Chief Executive, Scottish Community Development
         Centre
     b. Progress with Local Discussions on Reviewing Local Community Planning Arrangements and Council Area
         Committees

iv. Redesign of Community Justice
v. Deprivation and Inequalities – Rural Analysis
vi. Presentation: Developing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Plan 2016/19
vii. Locating Public Access Defibrillators in Highland
viii. Breakthrough Achievement for the Highland CPP 2015/16 – proposal that every care experienced young person
      in Highland have at least one job offer from a CPP partner or an organisation within partners’ networks
ix. Presentation on Local Biodiversity Action Plan
x. Highland Local Policing Plan

16. Future Agenda Items – Chief Officers’ Group

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

i. Proposals for Conference on CPP Anti-Poverty Strategy – recommendations from the Health Inequalities Group
ii. Developing a Partnership Approach to Participation Requests and Asset Transfers
iii. Partnership Approach to Improvement Methodologies
iv. Update on Partnership Action to Tackle Digital Exclusion
v. The Future of the Highland Compact – recommendations from the short-life Working Group
vi. Food and Drink – how it cuts across a number of SOA themes
vii. The scope for a salary sacrifice scheme for HLH Membership
viii. Briefing on Child Sexual Exploitation
ix. Potential Breakthrough Achievements

17. Future Meeting Dates

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

Thursday 13 August 2015, 2.30 pm
Wednesday 11 November, 2.30 pm

18. Additional Item:
      Changing Lives, Delivering Success: Turning Ambition into Action
      Friday 26 June, Strathclyde University Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow

There is circulated email from the Scottish Government which explains that registration for the above Community Planning Conference is now open.

The Group is asked to identify six delegates to attend the Conference.