Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group will take place in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Invernesson Tuesday 2 February 2016 at 11.00 am.

Lunch will be provided at 1.00 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 11 November 2015.

3. Community Planning Board – Minutes of Meeting

There are circulated (pp 7-15) for comment draft Minutes of the Community Planning Board held on 2 December 2015 together with, for reference, the Action Note (pp 16-19) previously circulated by email.

4. 2016/17 Budget Changes and Implications

Partners are invited to share verbally their budget situation for 2016/17, highlighting any implications for partnership working.

5. Community Empowerment Act

i. Pioneer Enabling Collaborative Leadership programme

At the Chief Officers’Group on 11 November 2015, an extended session was facilitated by members of the Pioneer team. In that regard, there is circulated Report No COG/01/16 by Nick Wilding and Chris Bruce, Pioneer Facilitators, which reflects on that session and asks the COG to commit to continuing the work.

The PowerPoint presentation from 11 November 2015 is circulated for information.

The Group is asked to:-

i. offer feedback on the November 2015 session from members’ personal and collective perspective;

ii. support two members to attend the national Pioneer Peer Learning session; and

iii. invite the Pioneer Facilitators to the COG on 21 April 2016 to progress the development of a collaborative inquiry.

ii. Local Community Planning Experiments – Next Steps

The Head of Policy and Reform will give a presentation.

iii. Implementing the Community Empowerment Act: taking forward the new CPP duties

There is re-circulated Report No COG/27/15 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council, on the implementation issues arising from the new legal duties for the CPP.

The Group is asked to discuss/agree the next steps.

iv. Participation Requests

There is circulated Report No COG/02/16 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council, which explains that the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 puts in place a new legal duty for the majority of community planning partners to respond to the rights of community bodies to make participation requests. The Chief Officers’ Group, at its meeting in August 2015, agreed that a partnership approach should be taken to designing a process to consider these requests rather than several separate approaches being used for community bodies in Highland.

The Group is asked to:-

i. note and comment on the suggested approach;

ii. agree to commit officer input from relevant partners to the ongoing development of the process; and

iii. agree that the process should consider how communities are supported to develop and manage their input to the process.

v. Asset Transfer Requests Update

There is circulated Report No COG/03/16 by the Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council, which explains that the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 provides for community bodies to request ownership, lease, management or use of publicly owned buildings or land whether or not they are available for sale or deemed surplus to requirements by the owning body. It is likely that partners will need to refresh their asset transfer policy and process to meet the new purpose and approach the Act brings. As the CPP Board agreed that there should be a common process for Highland the COG is asked to consider and comment on the issues raised in the report and to commit officer time to developing common asset transfer policies.

The Group is asked to:-

i. consider and comment on the issues raised in the report; and

ii. agree to commit officer time to developing common asset transfer policies.

6. How to strengthen future agendas in terms of economic priorities

Charlotte Wright, Director of Business and Sector Development, HIE will lead a discussion on how to strengthen future agendas in terms of economic priorities.

7. Community Justice Governance

There is circulated Report No COG/04/16 by the Director of Care and Learning, Highland Council which updates Chief Officers on progress in relation to the redesign of Community Justice in Scotland, transition arrangements and plans for future governance of Community Justice in Highland.

The Group is asked to note the position.

8. Local Development Plan Actions and Update

There is circulated Report No COG/05/16 by the Director of Development and Infrastructure, Highland Council, which seeks approval for a minor revision to the responsibilities of the Chief Officers Group and Community Planning Partnership Board in the preparation of Development Plans in Highland. Subject to approval of this revised approach, the report also presents Outcomes and Spatial Strategy for the West Highland and Islands Local Development Plan Main Issues Report for approval.

The Group is asked to:-

i. agree the revised responsibilities for COG and CPP Board engagement in endorsing Local Development Plans and Action Programmes in Highland, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report;

ii. agree the Outcomes and Spatial Strategy for the West Highland and Islands Local Development Plan Main Issues Report, enclosed at Appendix 2 of the report, and note the Main Issues Report and accompanying documents at www.highland.gov.uk/whildp; and

iii. note that the annual Development Plan Newsletter will be shared with the COG and CPP Board as an Agenda Note following its publication.

9. Breakthrough Achievements

i. Verbal updates will be provided in relation to the proposals by Chief Officers to offer employment to Highland’s care leavers and fill retained firefighter vacancies through a partnership approach to recruitment.

ii. The Group is asked to propose further potential achievements that all partners could collaborate on.

10. Future Agenda Items – Community Planning Board

The Group is asked to agree which of the items proposed below should be taken to the Community Planning Board on 18 March 2016:-

• Quarterly progress reports (Q3 2015/16) for all CPP themes (from all responsible officers)
• Presentation on Child Sexual Exploitation
• Partners to agree which items from this meeting are to be presented to the CPP Board
• Scottish Care Leavers Covenant
• Update on Participatory Budgeting
• Living Wage Arrangements across the CPP – HIE to confirm
• Syrian Refugees Update

11. Future Agenda Items – Chief Officers’ Group

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

• The Scope for a Salary Sacrifice Scheme for HLH Membership
• Food and Drink – how it cuts across a number of SOA themes
• HIE Youth Survey
• Partnership Approach to Improvement Methodologies
• The ongoing work within the Council and in partnership to continue to support the closing of the gender pay gap in Highland 

12. Future Meeting Dates 

Group Members are reminded that the following meeting dates have been notified for 2016:-

21 April 
19 May 
11 August 
11 November