Agendas, reports and minutes

Note of Meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group held in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday 11 August 2016 at 11.00 am.

Present:

Representing the Highland Council (HC):
Ms M Morris
Mr B Alexander
Ms A Clark

Representing Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE):
Mr J Gibbs

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
Ms C Steer

Representing Police Scotland (PS):
Supt R MacKillop

Representing Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS):
Mr S Hay

Representing the Scottish Government (SG):
Mr J Pryce

Representing Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH):
Mr G Hogg

Representing Skills Development Scotland (SDS):
Ms S Campbell

Supporting the Chief Officers Group:
Ms E Johnston

In attendance:

Councillor I McCallum, Chair of Highland Council Redesign Board (Item 4)
Councillor B Lobban, Vice Chair of Highland Council Redesign Board (Item 4)
Ms C McDiarmid, Head of Policy and Reform, Highland Council (Item 4)
Ms L Snodgrass, Head of Student Services, Inverness College UHI (Item 7)
Miss M Murray, Committee Administrator, Corporate Development Service
Miss J Green, Administrative Assistant, Corporate Development Service

Ms E Mead in the Chair

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr S Barron, Mr S Black, Mr W Gilfillan, Mr D Yule, Ms C Wright, Dr H van Woerden and Mr P Mascarenhas.

2. Chief Officers’ Group – Note of Meeting

The Note of Meeting of the Chief Officers’ Group held on 19 May 2016 had been circulated and was APPROVED.

3. Community Planning Board – Minutes of Meeting

The draft Minutes of the Community Planning Board held on 30 June 2016 had been circulated and were NOTED.

4. The Redesign of Highland Council

There had been circulated a Council report detailing the outcome of Phase 1 of the redesign process, which had been influenced by the COG discussion on 19 May 2016. Statements of the Council’s purpose, values and outcomes, as agreed by the Council on 29 June 2016, had also been circulated. The Board was working on Phases 2 and 3 at present and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Council’s Redesign Board were in attendance to discuss the redesign process.

Following discussion, the Group:-

i. NOTED the current position with regard to the redesign of the Council;
ii. NOTED that partners’ comments would be fed back to the Redesign Board;
iii. AGREED that, if partners identified areas where there appeared to be artificial constraints, Mr J Pryce would feed back to the Scottish Government with a view to overcoming barriers to change and promoting more flexible ways of working;
iv. AGREED that updates on the redesign process continue to be provided to the COG; and
v. AGREED that any further comments/ideas in terms of potential efficiencies and opportunities to share functions be fed back to Ms C McDiarmid.

5. Implementing the Community Empowerment Act: Taking Forward Community Partnerships

There had been circulated Report No COG/14/16 by the Acting Head of Policy, Highland Council, which provided the COG with an update on discussions to take forward Local Community Planning Partnerships.

Following discussion, the Group AGREED the administrative and planning proposals outlined in sections 2 and 3 of the report to support the development of Community Partnerships and the new approach to community planning, specifically:-

i. to recommend to the Board the following proposals for supporting each partnership and that this be for an initial period of three years:

Caithness - HIE
Sutherland - Police
East Ross - SFRS
Mid Ross - NHS
Skye, Lochalsh and West Ross - HIE
Lochaber - NHS
Inverness - Council
Nairn - Police
Badenoch and Strathspey - SFRS

ii. to recommend to the Board the following schedule for providing support to the Board and COG over the next five year period, noting that year 1 consisted of an 18 month period:

Year       Board                           COG
1             NHS – Chair                 Council – Chief Executive
2             Police – TBC                NHS – Chief Executive
3             HIE – Director             Police – Divisional Commander
4             SFRS – TBC                  HIE – Director
5             Council - Leader         SFRS – Local Senior Officer

iii. that a development day for taking forward the new Community Partnerships be held on 30 September 2016, for personnel who would be involved in these partnerships;
iv. that each agency encourage key staff members to attend and aim to inform staff about the new approach;
v. that a separate meeting with partnership Chairs and officers of the COG take place immediately following the event;
vi. that a biannual meeting be held between officers of the COG and partnership Chairs to support them in their role;
vii. that the first meetings of each partnership would take place from October onwards;
viii. that Ward Managers would provide transitional advice and guidance;
ix. that planning for the development day and supporting documentation would be progressed through the sub-group; and
x. that a small working group be established, with representation as follows, to consider current plans, including the Single Outcome Agreement, to bring forward recommendations for the content of the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan:

• Police Scotland – representative from Shetland, Orkney or the Western Isles
• SNH
• Highland Council – Children’s Planning Manager
• NHS Highland
• Skills Development Scotland
• HIE

It was further AGREED that:-

xi. it should be the responsibility of the lead officer within the lead agency to nominate a Depute in the event they were unavailable to Chair a meeting;
xii. it was important that there was a correlation between what was agreed at Community Partnerships and partners’ operating plans;
xiii. there was merit in a learning framework whereby Chairs came together and shared best practice;
xiv. further consideration needed to be given to the role of non-statutory partners in Community Partnerships;
xv. the existing sub-group explore the development of a single website/platform for the CPP that would be accessible by all partners;
xvi. the existing sub-group examine the new Community Partnership boundaries and the data zones in each partnership area;
xvii. there was a need for a collaborative approach to data collection/analysis;
xviii. it would be helpful to develop a standard schematic setting out the community planning structure;
xix. in relation to the Community Empowerment Act, Mr J Pryce would seek to confirm when the final guidance and regulations would be available; and
xx. Ms M Wylie would review the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan in terms of accessibility.

6. Fuel Poverty in Highland

There had been circulated Report No COG/15/16 by the Head of Health Improvement, NHS Highland on behalf of the Highland Affordable Warmth Partners Group (HAWPG) which explained that HAWPG prepared the report to highlight levels of fuel poverty in Highland; Highland’s contribution to national and local initiatives and consultations; local implementation of national schemes; and examples of local action.

The Group:-

i. NOTED the issues raised and the activity reported by HAWPG members; and
ii. AGREED that it was not appropriate for the COG to instruct Community Partnerships what to include in Locality Plans but that officers highlight the issue of fuel poverty at partnership meetings and suggest that action to address it be considered as a priority in areas with significantly poorer outcomes/disadvantage.

7. Inverness College UHI Corporate Parenting Plan

There had been circulated an overview of the Inverness College UHI Corporate Parenting Plan together with the draft Plan.

The Group NOTED the draft Plan and that the comments made during discussion would be fed back as part of the consultation process.

8. Partnership Approach to Improvement Methodologies

Further to the presentation and subsequent discussions at the Chief Officers’ Group on 19 May 2016, the Chief Executive, NHS Highland, led a discussion exploring potential opportunities to roll out the Highland Quality Approach and provide multi-agency training.

The Group:-

i. NOTED that NHS Highland would support the quality improvement work undertaken by the Highland Council; and
ii. AGREED that partners would continue to share experiences of quality improvement approaches via a quality improvement network.

9. Cairngorm National Park Partnership Plan: Consultation

Following discussion at the Community Planning Board on 30 June 2016, the Group was asked to consider the Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan Consultation and specifically how it fitted with the new Community Planning arrangements to enable a response to be made to the consultation.

The Group AGREED to feedback directly to Mr G Moir and NOTED that if further consideration was necessary it would be brought back to a future meeting.

10. Breakthrough Achievements

i. Verbal updates were provided in relation to the proposals by Chief Officers to offer employment to Highland’s care leavers; fill retained firefighter vacancies through a partnership approach to recruitment; and reduce social isolation and loneliness.

The Group:-

i. NOTED the updates;
ii. NOTED that arrangements would be made for Care Experienced Development Assistants to meet with Mr J Gibbs regarding the employability of Highland’s care leavers;
iii. AGREED that partners endeavour to support Highland’s care leavers with interview skills;
iv. NOTED that Mr G Hogg would ask a colleague to talk about their experience as a retained firefighter working for a public body for a publicity video; and
v. AGREED that promotional material on the campaign to reduce social isolation and loneliness be circulated to partners electronically.

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

It was AGREED that an update on “Dementia Friendly Communities” be provided at a future meeting with the purpose of considering it as a future breakthrough achievement.

11. Future Agenda Items – Community Planning Board

The Group AGREED the following list of items for the Community Planning Board on 7 October 2016:-

• Delivering Partnership Outcomes – Annual Performance Reports 2015/16 for all CPP themes
• Implementing the Community Empowerment Act: Taking Forward Community Partnerships
• CPP Approach to Tackling Fuel Poverty

It was further AGREED that the item on Delivering Partnership Outcomes be moved to the end of the agenda.

12. Future Agenda Items – Chief Officers’ Group

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

• Improving access for older people to reduce isolation, promote inclusion and maintain good health and wellbeing - transport as part of the solution, report from Older People’s Improvement Group and consider HITRANS as a member of the CPP
• Consider the potential impacts of the vote to leave the European Union on Highland and also any contingency plans partners may have in response

13. Date of Next Meeting

The Group NOTED that the next meeting was scheduled to take place at 11.00 am on Friday 11 November 2016 in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness.

14. Any Other Business

It was AGREED that the data necessary to allow completion of the Economic Growth and Regeneration quarterly SOA update, consideration of which had been deferred to the October Board, be provided to Mr J Gibbs.

Ms S Campbell gave an update on the modern apprenticeship levy which would be introduced in April 2017. The Group NOTED the position and AGREED that Ms Campbell provide a more detailed update to the next Board, including examples of how partner agencies could maximise the use of modern apprenticeships to get best value from the levy.

The meeting ended at 2.20 pm.