Agenda and minutes

Joe welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were noted. Joe advised that Marlene Baily and Laura Evans are the Police Scotland Community representatives and Brian Gibson has now retired. He welcomed the newly appointed Area Community Planning Group (ACPG) Chairs and that it was great to see a youth member as the vice chair of OLI ACPG. Joe gave special thanks to Joanna MacDonald for all her hard work and efforts for leading outcome four of and also chairing the Child Poverty Group on behalf of the CPP and wished her all the best in her new role. Joe also welcomed Cllr Robin Currie to his first CPP MC meeting as Leader of the Council. Joe encouraged new members to look at the online CPP Welcome Pack. (Welcome Pack for CPP)

Minutes of the last meeting were approved as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Outstanding actions were updated as follows:-

Issue of the national recovery report to CPP MC - action to be marked as complete as this has been circulated to members.

ACPG format to ensure youth engagement - Discussion are ongoing with Rona and Stuart McLean to consider and move forward on this.

MAKI membership update and attendance - Shona advised that the MAKI ACPG February meeting discussed this and they agreed to issue a survey to partners to see what the barriers are to attending meetings. Results expected to be presented to the April/May meetings and a further update can provided as required by Shona to the CPP MC.

Partners to forward details of all groups sitting under the 6 outcomes. Action - Rona asked for responses by 19 March 21 with details of all the partnership groups that sit under each outcome.

Following on from the presentation on CWB to the committee in December, Samantha gave an update on the work looking at what CWB means and what is happening in Argyll and Bute, led by Fergus, Morag and Kirsteen. Details of proposed workshops and attendees were including in the meeting pack. After the workshops there will be a map created of what is happening which will also identify any gaps. The committee was asked to input to the draft proposal. Cllr Currie asked when the workshops will be held and if the wider community was included and was advised that the dates had not yet be set and that some community groups had been included in proposed attendees under each pillar.  John felt it was important to have community groups and youth represented in the workshops. Pippa agreed it would be helpful to invite attendees from community groups, especially those involved in recent community asset transfer / requests and community trusts. Kirsteen noted the need for wider participation had already been raised by both herself and Cathleen Russell at the previous meeting, and there is a need for much wider community participation.

Action - comments on inclusions to workshop attendees to be forwarded to Samantha. 

Fergus added that Council procurement have written a paper on CWB which is very informative and this would be forwarded to the CPP.

Action - Fergus to provide CWB paper to cppadmin to distribute to committee.

The proposal for 5 CWB workshops was agreed, with the recommendation to look at wider participation.

Joanna noted that the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) last met on 17 February 21 and meets on a monthly basis, at this meeting the priorities for the next 6 months were agreed, including recovery from the pandemic and new work extending support for children and young people, and an impact assessment on the plan has been completed. To ensure the plan was informed there was close liaison between education, young people, NHS, HSCP and the Local Authority. Joanna also noted delight at the support received from the Poverty Alliance, led by Peter Kelly, and links to the third sector that underpins this work. This outcome links to outcome 5 and 6 in relation to healthy, independent lives and safer stronger communities, aswell as the links to outcome 4 which Joanna Leads. The CPAG are trying to link into work across the other outcomes.

Joanna will provide the CPP with the written handover being prepared for the new Chief Officer taking over from her. In the interim, the outcome deputy will chair the CPAG. Joanna gave thanks to Mandy Sheridan of Argyll and Bute Council for being a driving force coordinating and moving the CPAG forward in positive way. Recruitment is underway for a new project assistant for child poverty, which reflects the ambition to meet requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Cllr Currie added that the Council sees child poverty, and poverty, as a high priority. He said that monies are now coming through from the Scottish Government to assist the Council to take more action on this. Joanna said she is incredibly proud of the work being done “behind the scenes” to make it easy to support people around poverty in a dignified way, saying that there was great proactive work on this within Argyll and Bute.

Samantha provided an update on the Climate Change Working Group. They are creating an interactive web directory showing climate change action around Argyll and Bute, and have been provided a wealth of information on this from community groups and partners. The webpage is scheduled to go live at end March. Samantha thanked partners for information received so far and encouraged them to continue to forward examples to her, noting the recent announcement by Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust (ACT) to establish a climate change hub in Blarbuie and two satellite hubs in Bute and Cowal.  ACT are keen to present to the committee on this in the future. Joe added that the Fire Service have plans to install electric charging points and solar panels in stations - so there is lots of good work going on in the community.

Action - Samantha to send link to partners to climate webpages once live. Partners to forward examples of good climate change proactive work to Samantha to include on website.

Ian asked if the group was looking at coastal erosion, as the last council study on this was in March 2015, stating concern that in coming years it is predicted that some areas on the east of Kintyre and the B842 will be under threat from rising water.  Fergus responded that coastal erosion is a major concern for Argyll and Bute and that any sea level rise will impact our communities and infrastructure adversely. Argyll and Bute Council are looking at flooding impact action plans for towns and roads where they can and highlighting the issue to the Scottish Government. This is a huge problem nationally that needs addressed. 

Stan agreed with the scale of problem. He advised of Adaptation plans being drawn up in the Western Isles and that it would be useful to look at these. 

Action - Samantha to contact Western Isles to access their plans to inform the CPP MC.

An update was provided by Samantha, on behalf of Martin Turnbull. In Argyll and Bute the response to tackle digital exclusion has focussed on two projects - Connecting Scotland and Digital Connections.  Despite issuing a significant number of devices there still remains a steady flow of requests for support.

Via Connecting Scotland, national programme, there have been 360 devices and “mifi” packs issued. A further 19 devices and packs have been awarded by Connecting Scotland to help meet the high levels of need.

Digital Connections is a local partnership project in Argyll and Bute run by Inspiralba. It was established at the start of the pandemic to respond quickly to digital needs. 220 refurbished devices have been purchased and over 150 devices donated by the local community and businesses. There has also a been a healthy response from the community and businesses to an appeal for devices that can then be recycled and redistributed to families and individuals in need, and discussions are at a very early stage in exploring the viability of developing a project which will access and recycle end of use devices. More information on this project is at Digital Connections – Supporting Digital Inclusion.  

Cllr Currie highlighted a range of good news stories in the council budget that included setting up a fund of £250,000 to tackle digital exclusion. The eligibility criteria to apply is currently being worked on and news on this will be issued once finalised.

Shona noted her report which detailed discussion across the four ACPG meetings held in February. These were held virtually and well attended. MAKI ACPG raised an action to the CPP relating to youth engagement. Shona will advise MAKI ACPG that this is already being taken forward by the CPP.

Kirsteen noted the survey taking place about partners ability to attend the MAKI ACPG meetings and suggested a central calendar of all area partnership meetings would be useful to prevent conflicting clashes in diaries for partners. Kirsteen also noted that the updates for each committee can be similar and for those attending all 4 ACPGs they experience hearing the same messages repeatedly. She asked if agendas can focus on local planning, updates and involvement of partners, rather than standard updates. Alison agreed this was a really important point for the CPP, as part of the recovery work involved a duty to empower community planning groups to respond to local recovery agendas. Alison would be happy to be involved in discussions to review how the ACPGs identify priority areas for agendas. Shona said there are meeting with chairs and vice chairs in advance of agenda setting for the next round of meetings in August and that comments made would be taken on board to try to standardise agendas with increased local content. Kirsteen suggested creating a calendar of partnership meetings so the people who attend almost all partnership meetings don’t get repeatedly  invited to clashing meetings on the same day.

Kevin highlighted the importance of the youth voice, and noted that the OLI ACPG vice chair is also part of the local youth forum. Joe agreed it was great to have a diverse attendance at ACPGs and that he would like to meet with the OLI vice chair to discuss her views alongside those of the Members of Scottish Youth Parliament who are part of the CPP Management Committee.

Willie said he would be grateful for any suggestions from partners on how to improve youth involvement in Dunoon ACPG. Joe also asked if we can speak to the Council’s Community Learning on how best to engage with young people. Shona confirmed that they are aware of this and are preparing information to assist with this.

Action - Rona to set up meeting for Joe, OLI vice chair and MSYPs on how to involve youth in community planning. 

Fergus noted how the pandemic exacerbated issues that have been in existence for some time around wild camping. A group has formed, including representatives from landowners, private sector and council services, to develop an action plan identifying key matters to take forward. A survey was also undertaken with over 150 responses received from community trusts and individuals, which will be used to identify future hotspots and how best to respond to those. The Council announced in the budget a substantial fund to address the staycation pressures moving forward, including the current recruitment of 4 wardens to supplement existing support and provide resource to hotspots. Fergus added that a webpage is being developed to inform and educate visitors and manage expectations of what is available in the area and they are also linking that into social media channels used by motorhome owners.

Work is being undertaken with partners and businesses looking at identifying a network of where waste disposal points and fresh water can be obtained to ensure communities are not overburdened. Working closely with the National Park, portaloos are to be installed at Duck Bay that will be maintained by the Friends of Loch Lomond. Permanent interventions include improvements to facilities in Tobermory and Gigha.

Fergus noted that this is a critical period for preparations in the run up to lockdown easing, and latent demand will undoubtedly put pressure on the area, especially as some tourism and other local businesses have noted they will not open fully when restrictions are eased. This will add more pressure to informal camping sites despite the best efforts underway to mitigate this. Tourism provides support to lots of other essential services in communities, and is hugely important to Argyll and Bute - unemployment has doubled in the area due to lack of current jobs in tourism.

Ian asked if the strategy is being broken into action for specific areas, or a general area wide approach. Fergus advised the intention is to create a map with specific guidance for each area identifying waste disposal, potable water etc. Cllr Currie added that he has had discussion on this across all council areas and has information on identified hot spots and the resolutions needed that he will share with Fergus. He also noted the budget allocation to be utilised by the staycation initiatives, providing facilities and marketing to visitors for the summer. John wanted to recognise the fantastic work being done on this by Fergus and his team and suggested the use of interactive apps could be explored to get the information out and that motorhome suppliers could be contacted to get service points updated to on-board satnavs.

Fergus agreed that was useful and confirmed they are exploring the use of social media channels and apps to share information.

Pippa wanted to emphasise the tight timescales to put facilities in place for this season, and that some work will roll into future years. There is the opportunity for community groups and development trusts to align these plans with existing facilities. Pippa encouraged them to engage with Fergus’s team on this, and to be aware that although there is a need to ensure that communities have access to a range of services across an area, not all services may be available in all areas in the short term.

Pippa advised that there has been a lot of work on the A83, with bunding and the reopening of some parts of the trunk road, but the key focus is on provision of a permanent solution and maintaining pressure on that. The Council Leader and local MSP have written to the Scottish Government asking for that permanent solution to be delivered within next parliament. The response to this is to be shared with the CPP. Pippa asked partners to add their voice to this to maintain the pressure and get this accelerated as much as possible. 

Fergus said that the uncertainty around the A83 is challenging for area businesses as it is a vital trunk road. He noted that Transport Scotland have been attending economic forum meetings and they are to report back on options for short term mitigation to secure the A83 is open as much as possible, and the delivery of a permanent solution. It is expected that the government will announce the preferred option for this in the next few weeks. Local business pressure groups also been formed as this is a top priority for the local private sector.

Willie thanked the Council for the maintained pressure on Scottish Government as there have been a few recent instances where the A83 has been closed, and ferry services stopped, literally cutting Dunoon off. He welcomes any action to move this forward rapidly. He added that the Old Military Road (OMR) is also in very poor condition. Cllr Currie said the A83 is the main road into most of Argyll and Bute, the road to 23 islands, access to the western isles and large parts of highland area - it is a major road. He felt if this was happening in the central belt a solution would have been found. Ian asked when the last survey of the OMR had been undertaken as it was unfit for purpose and in terrible condition. Shona said the A83 has been discussed at the ACPG chairs and vice chairs meeting and Shona has written to the Scottish Government looking for an updated response on the A83. 

Action - Robin and Shona to share response to their letters to Scottish Government via cppadmin. CPP partners are then to write to Scottish Government regarding the permanent solution to the A83.

Sheena spoke about the Community Safety Strategy 2021-2023 which has been developed in partnership with Police Scotland, who have lead responsibility for Outcome 6. The strategy will be overseen by the Community Safety Partnership Tasking and Coordinating Group, an unincorporated partnership of agencies and organisations with membership drawn from the public sector, third sector, community organisations and partnerships that have an interest in the Argyll & Bute Community Planning Partnership Outcome 6: People Live in Safer and Stronger Communities. The strategy was developed by consulting with members and the responses were collated to ensure intelligence analysis informed the decision the theme and trends for 2021- 2023.

Meetings are held at the end of every quarter and the purpose of the group is to provide a forum where members involved in the delivery of Outcome 6 and related community safety activities can meet to exchange information and discuss matters relating to ongoing community safety risks and good practices. Statistics will be collated and analysed to identify any risk and improvements, and if necessary, ad hoc specific meetings will be held to focus on any risk to the community.

Laura advised the group is chaired by Marlene Bailey, Police Scotland and the vice chair is Dave Graham, Coastguard. The 5 main areas of concern identified are:

• Suicide Prevention - that group doesn’t report to Community Safety Partnership but is included in the groups monitoring.
• Water Safety - lockdown measures easing and increased staycations make water and road a key priority in the group involving Police, SFRS, Coastguard and RNLI.
• Fraud - added due to significant increase in fraud during Covid. Laura identifies activity and sends a text alert to carers (who have access to over 5000 vulnerable people) to be aware of current scams. A working group including Police Scotland and the Council is also looking to install call blockers to stop scam calls getting to vulnerable people resulting in fraudulent access to finances. Devices have been purchased from the CPP budget and Laura gave her thanks for that.
• Drug deaths - Argyll and Bute is not immune to this and there is partnership working aims to address this including how wider partners can work with police to identify issues.
• Children and young people - child online sexual exploitation continues to grow during lockdown. The group is linking with child protection high risk working group to identify actions around how children can report risk.

Laura advised that through monitoring these measures, and increased membership, the aim is to reduce offending, and they are keen for the CPP to approve the strategy and add value to the existing work.

John noted that the strategy is a first class document, and expressed his major concern regarding the sharing of indecent images of children and young people. The Police have seen a rise in quarter 3 (reporting quarter) from 34 recorded crimes to 78, and a large number of those involved those aged 10 to 15, which should be a major wake up call to us all. John asked the press for support on getting messaging out on that and said communication has gone out recently to parents. 

Pippa commended the innovative partnership work being done on the strategy by Sheena and Laura, adding that it was good to see in the delivery plan good outcome measures. Her only additional comment was to add to the terms of objective: is it possible to get feedback from communities on how safe they feel, and feedback from victims of domestic abuse on how it was dealt with and the support available? Can we get sense of the extent of those suffering abuse, and who are coming forward? John agreed fully with Pippa’s comment, and highlighted there are a number of surveys ongoing at the moment around how safe do you feel in community and interaction with the Police, but it is right to consider something from the wider partnership, victims and survivors of domestic violence. John noted that although he reports on recorded incidents of a crime that is only a small portion of what is going on. If people do not want to go to Police or social services, how can we support third and voluntary sector if people wish to report to them, and how we can work better with those organisations?

John requested an amendment to page 5 of the document, changing: “Our vulnerable groups are supported and included” to read “Our communities are supported and included”. The CPP approved the strategy with the minor amendment included.

Alison noted that this matter needs high level commitment and leadership. This was taken on by Joanna and CPP support is sought to identify a new chair to replace her and maintain the momentum on this group, which meets monthly, as a priority.

CoSLA have identified 5 clear actions that are to be taken forward. These are in the group action plan and sub groups have been set up to address each action area.  The overarching theme is “safer community” and an existing app is being investigated to see if it can be customised for Argyll and Bute citizens.

Action - Any volunteer to take the lead on this please contact Rona. Alison to send information to Rona to explain the role.

Kirsteen outlined the proposal to have the Building Back Better (Communities) (BBB(C)) work stream into the CPP as a cross cutting theme. The BBB(C) was originally set up to address the impact and learning experienced by community groups and those in communities following the initial Covid response, and to use that to strengthen more resilient communities in the future. Six engagement sessions were held with community groups involved in the response and also those members of the community who experienced very challenging circumstances during the intial lockdown period. The outcome from these sessions was priority themes that informed the creation of an action plan. The last meeting of the group discussed next steps and felt that to be successful the work needs real partnership effort, including across the area planning groups, and that it this fits well as a cross cutting theme under the CPP.

Rona added that this work does not move out from the council overall recovery strategy, but recognises that who we need to work with is best achieved via Community Planning. Fergus, as Chair of the Argyll Recovery Group asked for clarification on how the relationship between this work and the wider work on recovery themes would look in the future. Rona responded that this was about making better links with ACPGs and having conversations with communities to create improved communication routes as part of the recovery strategy within the CPP. This is based on conversations and feedback received from engagement with community groups.

Kevin asked for clarity on how that will facilitate efficient communications and ideas when the CPP only meets every 3 months, when recovery moving faster than that. Rona provided reassurance that the BBB(C) working group meets fortnightly and that will remain, and they will be reporting to the CPP, the recovery group of the Council and ACPGs. Shona asked for clarification on how that will be taken forward with APCGs as agendas are already agreed for April/May. Rona noted that the ACPGs action plans are due for revision and in the discussions for revising the plans the recovery from Covid will be included.

Action - Rona and Shona to meet to plan out how to work into ACPG plans.

Sarah gave a presentation on her analysis looking at the impact of Covid. She noted that the data was produced in December but as new evidence is emerging updates would be needed. Sarah was asked to look at this by the HSCP to revise their strategic joint needs assessment to identify health and social care needs in the population of Argyll and Bute, taking into account the impact of Covid 19 using the Scottish Government framework to look at the “4 Harms” of Covid 19 - direct impacts, other health impacts, societal impacts and economic impacts.

Included in the presentation is data showing the rolling 7 day rate of confirmed cases in Argyll and Bute lower than the Scotland averages, and the evidence around long Covid is still emerging (10% expectation of cases).

Sarah noted how the impact on health and social care provision has included reduced visits to GPs, A&E and Out of Hours service, reduction in emergency and planned admissions to hospital, reduction in outpatients, reduction in cancer diagnosis and reduction in cardiovascular services. Societal impacts have been enormous due to school closures, increased online abuse of youth, increased domestic violence against women and girls, and the impact of shielding and loneliness and increased inequalities for vulnerable groups. However, support for community resilience has increased. Joe thanked Sarah for her very interesting presenting. John also thanked Sarah for her valued presentation and requested that it be sent to members of the CPP.

ACTION - cppadmin to share the presentation slides to CPP MC.

Alison advised that the Social Mitigation strategy is going to the NHS Highland Board at the end March and this will be shared in due course. In normal times this would focus on the delivery of health and wellbeing and prevention of problems before they arise. The social determinants of health, occupation and housing are all tied up with health outcomes so the key outcomes in the strategy include income maximisation, education, child poverty, improving mental health, person centred work and building capacity in communities. She added that it is important to empower communities to support this and the strategy has overlaps with the Building Back Better objectives discussed earlier.

Willie asked about the provision of proof that you have received a vaccine. Alison advised that decisions on that sat at a very high level in UK and Scottish Governments and that it was not a matter within the remit of the CPP.

Cristie submitted a paper to the committee on her remit to promote and support the growth of Gaelic in Argyll and Bute and to deliver the Gaelic Gathering, which has a first planning meeting on 11 March. If you would like to get touch with Cristie, sign up to the Gaelic newsletter or share what you are doing around Gaelic, you can contact her at cristie.moore@argyll-bute.gov.uk. Cllr Currie said he would like to have sight of what all the partners in CPP are doing to promote Gaelic and to identify any areas of overlap and where assistance can be provided from a combined resource. Joe noted that development of Gaelic is supported by SFRS and Martin would be keen to share the UHI Gaelic Plan to see how it fits with Cristies work. Rona advised that Cristie will be in post for 18 months and that the remit includes support to community planning partners.

Action - Partners are asked to share information on their Gaelic plans to cppadmin and any items for the Gaelic newsletter to Cristie.

Rural Growth Deal - Derek McCrindle noted the good news in the recent UK Budget announcement to accelerate the rural growth deal payments and asked how future discussion could support this. Pippa responded to advise that a lot of the deals were originally over 15 years, and it was good news that these are now to be delivered over 10 years. She added that there is nothing that partners can do at the moment as the focus is to develop the business cases which will take a year to 18 months to complete. 

CPP Bulletin - Nicola thanked partners for the good news stories already submitted for inclusion in the CPP Bulletin and encouraged further submissions of content from partners. Nicola noted that she will email the committee members to ask for feedback and suggestions on how we can continue to improve the bulletin.

Action - Nicola to email members for feedback on CPP Bulletin.

Joe added thank all committee members for their input and support papers and advised the next meeting will be held on 30 June 2021 at 10.00 via MS teams.