Agenda and minutes

Councillor Walsh welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Peter Russell, Rural Director, Scottish Government.  He went on to give some background to the Single Outcome Agreement and the steps that had already been taken to reach the stage we were at.  It was very much a work in progress and how to make it happen was the next step.  The aim of today’s seminar was to discuss and to agree what and how measures to implement.  The SOA had given us the framework within to work and now we had to

a)      identify barriers to implementation

b)      identify issues for the 2009 Single Outcome Agreement

He said that it was very important to develop community partnerships.

A full report would be presented on 21^st January 09.

Sally Reid gave a presentation on – The Way Forward for Community Planning.  Sally had met with employees, councillors and community planning partners and was grateful for all the help she had received from everyone.

Key points of the Presentation were:

• The partners must all work together.

• There should be a structured business approach – we have to know what we have done and where we are going.

• The way forward should be at a national level and getting there at a strategic level should be about impact and involving Public Partners.  It is important that at all levels there is clear understanding as to what the Community Planning Partnership is.

• Good joint working between partners and community involvement was key to progress.

• Performance Scorecards would be indicators as to whether implementation of the plan was deliverable or not.

• The Community Planning Partnership must clearly and jointly agree what the key risks are and then follow this all the way to produce a deliverable outcome.  We have to have a Risk Register for Community Planning.

• We want to engage communities to assist in shaping the services the Council provides.  It is important to have a community engagement strategy which is created not as a duty but one that is in place because we want to do it.

• Agreeing on joint priorities is partnership working.

• Structure - needs to be reviewed

Action Plan

o        Develop a Strategic Risk Register for CP

o        Develop a new Community Plan

o        Develop the Planning and performance management structure for the CPP

o        Update the structure

o        Produce the Community Engagement Strategy

o        Improve our communications

o        Produce the 2009 SOA

• The end result is a common purpose through a focused, measurable and costed plan.  By focusing on key issues and joint priorities we will be in a position to deliver improvement through structure and performance management.

• Measuring using a performance scorecard gives us the tool to measure impact.

• Community Engagement strategy through the development of CPP was the way forward.

Councillor Walsh welcomed Peter Russell, Rural Director, Scottish Government, who gave a presentation on the Scottish Government’s perspective on the SOA.

Mr Russell said that £400 million from the EU goes to rural connections through the Community Planning partnership.  The Government purpose, and the guiding principle throughout, was to ensure that the CPP was fit for purpose.  The purpose of the SOA would be the means by which the CPP agreed on strategic priorities.  He outlined what had been learned from the SOA 1 and what to expect from the coming year’s SOA which has a final deadline date of June 2009.  Argyll and Bute are well ahead of other Councils in the work for next year.  The timetables are in place for work on this year’s SOA.  The key messages throughout are of departments working together and through CPP, resulting in both acting together to form one.

Brian Barker spoke about what happens next.  The relationship with government has changed significantly since last year.  The response for Argyll and Bute Council has been very positive.  There is a need to keep up the motivation and the involvement from the partners which had been very good for last year’s SOA.  The feedback across the partners has been good and was an excellent foundation to work on.  For this year’s plans we are looking for a stronger contribution from all services and partners in Argyll and Bute with the Third Sector being an important part of the picture.

Peter Russell said that we were looking to a February 09 finish and a final report on September 09 for this SOA.  Brian asked for contributions, assistance and information to be submitted early to allow time to be able to discuss and reflect partners’ ideas.  This will allow for a true reflection when we enter into discussions with the Government.  There is a need to start reporting progress in April 09 followed in September 09 by a comprehensive report consisting of SOA and CPP Performance Planning.

Argyll and Bute Council should take a lead and be clear about how the partnerships fit into the picture.  A key part of our priorities should focus on what are our successes within the SOA.  We should be highlighting  links to local outcomes and monitoring progress – everyone has to be clear as to what and where.  It is important to share the measurable successes between the partners.  How we do this will be discussed at the January Management Committee.

Sally summarised the meeting and sought agreement from the Partnership on the following motions:

• Develop Strategic Risk Assessment – Partnership agreed
• Review Community Plan and make more measurable – Partnership agreed
• Develop the Planning and Performance Management Framework plan – Partnership agreed
• Update and formalise structure – Partnership agreed

There was further discussion about how far to go and how much involvement the members would have.  There would be more talking to members regarding a framework to measure the work being done.  There are 92,000 people in Argyll and Bute and it was important to have involvement from the partners as to where to go from here.  It is important to develop a Community Engagement Strategy which will not take away what is working and good but which will enhance what is already there.  Progress will be made by going back to the community and developing a Community Engagement Strategy.  We should also improve communication with public groups and forums. 

Councillor Walsh brought the meeting to an end by stating that what we are doing within CPP is because we want to improve it and not because we have to.

The date of the next Management Committee meeting was agreed for 21^st January 2009.