Agenda and minutes

John Paterson welcomed everyone to the meeting. Paul Devlin has now retired and been replaced by Andy Watt. John proposed Andy as the new Chair, this was seconded by Pippa. Andy looks forward to chairing will take over from the June meeting. Apologies received are noted above.

John thanked Fergus and Morag for taking on the joint lead for Outcomes 1 & 2, and thanks to Kirsteen for becoming vice lead for these.

Comments on the last minutes were :

Alison McGrory asked for the wording on her action regarding volunteering directory to be amended as shown below.

John noted that the page 9, the contact assessment model has now been rolled out across the division. This triage system covers contact to the police by any means, not calling 999.

Kirsteen asked for the wording to be checked regarding page 4, Volunteering and the Labour market. The volunteer framework will be covered at today’s meeting however this does not cover the labour market.

Action - Samantha to look at last minutes and amend wording as appropriate.

The following actions are marked as complete :

• Child Poverty – Clarification received from Mandy Sheridan that it is 24% of employees in receipt of less than minimum wage. Information slides can be provided if required.
• CPP National Board information has been circulated by Rona.
• Local Policing Survey link sent to MSYPs.
• Information on Community Improvement Partnership Fund has been sent to partners.
• Electric Charging points – Pippa has spoken to team concerned.
• Climate Change SLWG has been set up.
• Basecamp testing is been carried out.
• Multi Agency Safety Group. Interested partners have responded.

The following actions are still ongoing:

• ACPG Update – Attendance and IT issues in MAKI. Ongoing action.
• Scottish Government social media testing – due June 20.
• Marine Protected Areas to be discussed at CPP. May be covered at June meeting if still required.
• Rosie to forward details to partners of the #iwill campaign.
• Security Brief for Basecamp. Work is ongoing.
• Establish “Directory of” – action wording to be changed to “Scoping is currently underway to find a way forward to establish a directory of third sector voluntary organisations”.

Updates on the actions were agreed by the committee.

Please see https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/consultancy-and-support/community-planning-improvement-board for more information

Some documents have been circulated and the board is looking to see good practice in rural areas. They have been focusing on good practice since the legislation was reviewed in 2015 under the Community Empowerment Act. The Scottish Government have indicated they want to visit Argyll & Bute Council in the summer, Rona is awaiting further details / clarification on this and once received she will discuss this with the Chair before distributing to the management committee.

John advised that the Police are increasing staff numbers involved with Community Planning, Marlene Baillie and Douglas Wilson will be taking on the role of Local Area Policing Partners. He is keen to see how partners can oversee and action priorities (especially relating to alcohol intervention for under-18s, stress, mental health and underlying the issues of these).

Scottish Enterprise have been sharing what we do in Argyll & Bute as best practice at the  National Community Planning Improvement Board..

Action - Outcome leads to identify 1 or 2 key deliverables from their outcome that can be delivered over 3 – 6 months.

The Management Committee noted the highlights of the report, provided by Patricia, as follows:

MAKI ACPG requested support to enhance reliability of VC link equipment and meeting venue access. Action is already being taken forward by Governance to assist and give support for an alternative venue.  Pippa will add her support to take this forward.

OLI ACPG have asked for support to take forward some pilot work for the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) multi agency meeting. The committee felt it would be best to take this forward under the existing structures of the ADP, that are already doing good work in that area and that there was no need to create a further separate group. There is a lot of local interest in this given recent media coverage and Alison welcomed community conversations on this. John added that a Police report showed drugs related crime in Oban was low in comparison to other areas.

The Management Committee support the work of the ADP and encourages partners to feed in any evidence or views for the ADP to take forward, also any partners that want to be involved in the ADP can contact John Owens, Chair of the ADP.

Kirsteen noted that there is public confusion of the official structures for within Argyll & Bute, and no central source of information of support on subject like ADP violence against women etc. Pippa noted that there is already existing work to create a high level organogram of these structures across the region. Individual areas can then create local organograms – this will help overcome the challenges in capturing everything that currently exists.

Action – The current review of the Community Planning and Development webpages to feed into this process. 

H&L ACPG asked if the Management Committee can assist in encouraging naval representatives from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to attend the H&L ACPG meetings. They also expressed concerns about Arrochar car parking charges having a negative economic impact.

Laura advised that the H&L ACPG have asked the Community Liaison Commander to attend from the base, however they have not yet attended any meetings (although they do attend Community Council meetings). Pippa has a development partnership with the MoD, attended by Cdr Mark Fitzsimmons. Fergus will attend the next partnership meeting and is happy to raise it then to ask if the MoD can become more involved in the ACPGs. Pippa, John and Brian have an Annual Liaison Meeting next week which the MoD attend and they will also raise this then. Samantha asked if they can also explain the difference between SDDF and ACPGs to the MoD representatives.

Action – MC members to raise / encourage MoD attendance at H&L ACPG at upcoming meetings.

Regarding Arrochar Parking charges, the council decided to implement parking charges in Arrochar and noted there has been no detrimental impact in user numbers after the charges were introduced. Pippa advised that the council budget has agreed to look at parking across the area on a phased basis (based on business case, area by area).

Samantha stated that the ACPGs have been generally well attended. Area groups have been sharing on social media to encourage people to attend and there is a really positive energy around this. John asked how this can be turned around to feedback to the groups to show how their input is delivering in their areas.

Cameron asked about youth attendance at ACPGs. There are normally 4 at H&L and attendance at B&C and OLI (although noted not at the last meeting of these areas). Rona added there has been a comprehensively look at how to include youth members in community partnership i.e. meeting timings, dates and the ACPGs were included in these discussions. Youth workers in the council have also been engaged on this. Rona happy to share this info with Cameron if it is helpful.

Action – Patricia to share all the area ACPG dates with Cameron so he can approach members of area youth forums to attend.

Alison welcomed this paper coming to the management committee. The Forum has been in existence for some time in Argyll & Bute Council and just over a year ago, was expanded to welcome other partners. Work has been taken forward on Equalities Impact Assessments. Membership is largely still the made up of the council so Alison reminded partners that this is an underpinning theme in the community plan and encouraged other partners to attend. The Equalities Statement in the HSCP is due to be upgraded and Alison hoped the partners can work together to create a new joint statement from A&BC and the HSCP.

Rona added that it is worthwhile for the partnership to be aware of the Equalities Forum. The minutes of this, and highlights, will be standing item on future management committee meetings. Partners are also welcome to become involved in the Equalities Forum if they wish.

John said it is worthwhile thinking about how we can all contribute and what we discuss/share locally can also feed into the national framework at the Scottish Government.

A presentation was delivered by Fergus Murray covering the Rural Growth Deal, Strategic Transport Review and digital connectivity

Rural Growth Deal - The original proposition for funding was £178.5m for 16 projects, the amount awarded was £50m (£25m each from UK and Scottish governments) therefore it is not possible to deliver on all projects and alternative sources of funding will be required. The strategic outline  business cases are being prepared where noted, and will be sent to government to comment on, covering for example, housing, tourism, skills and aquaculture. The proposed governance structure for the delivery of the deal and next steps were also covered. Slides can be forwarded if required. Pippa noted that there is concern that without additional funding to this we will be unable to also meet the requirements of the Islands Plan, this may present a need for more funding lobbying.

STPR2 – Progress to date includes the completion of regional workshops and interviews. Transport connectivity has been noted as a priority from local residents and this will be looked at in STPR2, alongside the Rural Growth Deal. The case for change report covers the area transport requirements for the next 10 years so it is vital that it addresses current and future transport investment needs.  Poor transport connectivity has also been pointed to as a key factor in population decline in the area. The case for change needs to be very strong, Morag asked for partners to take a key role in influencing and feeding into this. Rona noted that the CPP have fed into the consultation and attends the meetings.  Fergus said that at the public consultation stage it is vital that we clearly voice what the needs of the area are for transport to create a robust submission to government. Aileen noted that there is a risk that the work required on the Rest and be Thankful may swamp the needs of the areas other roads. Pippa advised that attendance at public meetings with Transport Scotland has been poor and we need to encourage attendance at these to underline the importance of this matter to the community.

Digital connectivity – A national investment programme (R100) has broken Scotland into 3 areas  (North, Central, South). The South area has been awarded to a contractor, however there is a delay in the process to progress in the other areas.  Fergus advised that 4G mobile coverage has improved in the area due to new mast installations, however, there are still gaps in service. OFCOM noted coverage in Argyll & Bute can vary from 20 – 70% dependant on provider. Fergus is pushing for investment into how we can take this forward in Argyll & Bute. Rural gigabit Connectivity programme – the council have put a business case together for a £15m investment to push fibre into the most remote areas of Argyll & Bute and they are working with BT to progress this.

Kirsteen expressed concerns that the messages from the area seem to present that there are no jobs in the area. John noted we may want to develop a central source of local information for people moving to the area covering jobs / schools / housing etc. Morag noted this is covered in ABPlace2b as a starting point and agreed Outcome 1 and 2 could look at a CPP strategy for that.

ACTION - Morag and Fergus look at what initiatives are currently underway for “talent attraction and retention” and feed back to the management committee on how best to create an approach to this. 

Morag pointed to some Outcome 1 and 2 priority activities, for example the redundancies from the challenges in Kintyre, and has put together a Kintyre Action Plan. She asked partners to have awareness of what is going on around this and support the existing business base in this area.

ACTION - Partners to forward any information they have on this action plan and engage to increase partner engagement e.g. attending job fairs. Morag to speak to Samantha regarding getting the plan out to partners.

Argyll & Bute Social Enterprise Strategy Presentation was given by David Gourlay from Hall Aitken. Hall Aitken are an independent consultant who, tasked by the TSI, developed the Social Enterprise Strategy document. He explained how they looked at current challenges, best practice and completed online surveys and key stakeholder interviews as part of this work. Many social enterprises in the area are small (annual turnover <£50k pa) and therefore struggle to bid to diversify into growth areas (food, drink, tourism, aquaculture, health and social care). They also looked at how to support social enterprises to focus resources, increase digital activity and collaborate to win contracts by “Building, Developing, Connecting”.

Andrew has concerns regarding how “merging” will work with enterprises spread over such a widely dispersed geographical area. David noted that in Lincolnshire, there was a number of organisations delivering similar support. Each one had their own managers and support staff. Hall Aitken worked with them to successfully secure the service delivery, moving to central management with locally delivered services. This decreased overheads dramatically whilst retaining local level support. This may be an option that some enterprises in this area could consider.

Pippa highlighted the volunteer fatigue in social enterprise, and asked if Hall Aitken had picked up on any areas where we can prioritise activity to get the most value out of it - do not want to spread resources too thin, where can we really add value? David noted that there are opportunities for the Outcome 1 group to look at mapping of support available, and suggested where priority interventions are that can help to achieve the outcomes in that strategy i.e. what activities are social enterprises involved in, which have the biggest impact, what interventions help achieve the vision for market growth etc. He noted that while they have not yet looked at specific areas, they are happy to do that.

John asked if, as a CPP, is this what we need to do and how can  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Development day on 22 January 20 looked at the top 3 improvement areas for each area – covering what already happening, what is planned for next 3-4 years and expected challenges. Partners were asked today to complete a further gap analysis on each areas priorities and provide contacts for each action. This information came from the Place Standard results and SIMD information. ACPGs will look at this in May.  The management committee will do further analysis of the gaps at the June meeting

Partners should be familiar with the full Place Standard results, they can be found here https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/how-good-your-place. Partners can also approach the CP team if they need any further information.

Partners were told that @ABcommplanning is the new twitter feed for Community Planning in Argyll and Bute, all partners are encouraged to connect with this and use the handle to promote partnership working.

Some partners asked for more time to respond. Pippa noted that many items relate to roads, there are already policies on this and that we need to steer people to that information as that will answer many of the questions. The message of the funding challenges in Argyll and Bute needs to be disseminated to communities. Kirsteen added that communities need to be aware of when they can influence policies, it is at the consultation stage prior to reports / policies being written (not consultation once the document has been produced).

John felt engagement is needed with the Communications Team to provide communities with a route to communicate on matters that there are already actions in place, yet the community may not be aware of what is already happening. This would help clarify for the community why things don’t or can’t happen. Rona thanked partners for their ongoing support of the Place Standard work. There may need to be a short life working group put together to take the work forward.

ACTION – Need to look at how the CPP and partners engage with communities and communicate outcomes (via theme leads) - how to signpost communities to appropriate information and involve communities in the early development of plans.

ACTION – Partners to return their responses to the interactive session to the CP team by 20 March 20.

ACTION – Future meeting to look at ways to engage - using emerging digital platforms for community conversations and decision making, providing information to inform the discussion and signposting to self-serve options.

There has been a positive initial meeting with some partners and recommendations from that meeting are included in the meeting pack. Moving forward this short life working group (SLWG) will be co-chaired by the Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs)  and another partner. There will 3 more meetings over the next 3 months and partners were asked to consider volunteering to be the co-chair. The SLWG will promote what partners are doing on climate change and share this with other partners. MSYPs have climate days of action planned in the coming year and the Community Planning Management Committee will join them for one of those, information will follow in due course.

It was agreed that SEPA should be invited to future meetings (especially for discussions regarding flood risk).

ACTION – Partners to consider volunteering to co-chair climate change SLWG and respond to Rona by 20 March.

ACTION – SEPA to be invited to future CPP meetings, and to attend SLWG.

A presentation was given by Samantha Stubbs, TSI. The framework is the proposed vision for organisations in Argyll and Bute looking to recruit, retain and support volunteers. The national volunteer framework focuses on 5 principles, 5 volunteering outcomes and 4 national outcomes. The TSI have the lead responsibility for volunteering locally, and there has been parts of that work adopted by Outcome 3.  In Argyll and Bute there are an increasing number of organisations that need volunteers however there are challenges around volunteer supply (losing young people, higher retirement age, care responsibilities and accessibility). It was felt there is a need to increase the diversity of volunteers and be flexible with volunteering opportunities. The 6 framework key principles for volunteers are Choice, Support, Diversity and Inclusion, Recognition, Quality and Partnership. The TSI are about to launch an area wide volunteering website – volunteering opportunities can be registered on this and volunteers can use it to communicate with, and support each other. Support from the TSI can be obtained by emailing support@argylltsi.org.uk.

The partners were asked to sign up to the principles in the framework, however following discussions, it was felt that the CPP were able to promote it to other partners, so that they can review it and reflect on their own practices. Pippa advised that for the council to adopt it, it would need to go through internal governance. John acknowledged the good work that had gone into creating the framework by the TSI.

Kirsteen advised that the paper was produced as a response to the 2019 CLD Inspection feedback regarding volunteer fatigue in the area. It was noted that the report says there are over 1400 people volunteering in the area and it was agreed that the TSI will promote volunteering in line with the framework.

ACTION – CPP to look at volunteering framework and respond with any comments to Rona or Samantha by 20 March 20. It will also be promoted via the CPP bulletin.

Fergus said that some private sector businesses offer 2 days of paid volunteering activity per year and this is an effective strategy if it is organised with targeted activities, that can then be measured and focused.

Date of next meeting is Wednesday 3^rd June 2020, Council Chambers, Kilmory, Lochgilphead

On behalf of the CPP, John wished Andrew Campbell, SNH all the best on his retirement and that we look forward to working with his successor, Colin MacFarlane. Andrew thanked John and noted how much has been achieved in the communities in Argyll & Bute, and that the work of the CPP had formed a large part of that.

John noted that SALSUS survey for Argyll and Bute showed concerning trends regarding alcohol and drug use for 13 -15 year olds and there may need to be further work to do around this. Rona said that Argyll & Bute Children’s Group has information on this (Joanna MacDonald is Outcome Lead) and they are speaking with the Police in regards to the survey.

Action – John asked partners to look at the study and provide any comments, or information to share, to him.

Morag asked what the correct forum is to raise “in employment” substance misuse ( i.e. coming to work under the influence of drugs) and its impact on the economy. John and Alison agreed this should be looked at under existing HSCP and ADP work.  

11. DONM

Date of next meeting is Wednesday 3rd June 2020, Council Chambers, Kilmory, Lochgilphead at 1000.