Venue: Online Via MS Teams
No. | Item |
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Welcome and Apologies (Chair) Minutes: Joe McKay welcomed everyone to the meeting and
apologies were noted. |
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Approval of last minutes and review of actions (Rona Gold) PDF 561 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the March meeting were approved as
an accurate recording of that meeting. Rona Gold gave an update on the following outstanding
actions as follows: -
Stuart McLean reported that Shona
Barton is in progress with working on a short video with the aim to have
completed this action for the September meeting. -
Rona Gold to find out if there is an
updated money worries leaflet for circulation. Existing action to remain for
cppadmin to circulate when available. -
Nicola Hackett and Iain MacInnes update
on progress and funding streams for digital development will be addressed at item
4(e) of today’s agenda. -
Actions marked for “All”. Rona Gold
reminded everyone to please review and carry out actions marked for ‘All’. Joe McKay
added that everyone should reflect on how their organisations can contribute to
the partnership at all levels. |
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Matters arising from Area Community Planning Groups (Shona Barton) PDF 240 KB Minutes: Stuart McLean presented on behalf of Shona Barton.
The full report can
be viewed online. Highlights included: -
Meetings
were brought forward to late April to accommodate local government elections. The
meetings, held using Microsoft Teams, were well attended. -
Alistair Moodie of Lochgoil Community
Council was appointed as the Vice-Chair of Bute and Cowal
(BC) ACPG. -
The Mid
Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands (MAKI) ACPG Vice-Chair position remains vacant. -
At the Oban,
Lorn and the Isles (OLI) ACPG Nathan Gallogley, Argyll and Bute Council Graduate Staycation
Officer, provided an update on the tourism infrastructure within that area. -
PC Laura Evans provided the
Community Focus item on fraud for the C, MAKI and OLI ACPGs and Chris Casey of
Scottish Fire and Rescue provided the Community Focus item on water safety to
the Helensburgh and Lomond ACPG. -
Lynda Mitchell of ALIEnergy spoke to the MAKI ACPG on their Affordable Warmth
Service. The Management Committee noted the report. Joe McKay
thanked Area Committee team and the Area Community Planning Groups for their
hard work and noted the excellent range of partnership working and
conversations. |
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Shaping Places for Wellbeing (Rona Gold and Alex Wilde) Minutes: Rona Gold introduced Alex Wilde, Shaping Places for
Wellbeing Project Lead, Dunoon. The project is one of six case study projects across
Scotland that have been established by the Improvement Service with two-year
funding from the World Health organisation. Alex Wilde will report to the BC
ACPG, who will then feedback on the project’s progress to the Community
Planning Partnership Management Committee (CPP MC). Alex Wilde provided an update on work so far. Work started
on the project at the end of April and she has been immersing herself in what
is happening within Dunoon and across Argyll and Bute. She welcomed the
generosity of all those who have shared their thoughts and ideas with her so
far. She aims to feed into health data collected by Public Health Scotland,
looking at where there are public health inequalities and what opportunities
there are for potential investments and small scale projects. The project will
explore: -
How places can deliver on wellbeing -
How an approach to place can be further embedded -
What are the needs and opportunities Themes arising so far include mental health,
addictions, skills and employment, leisure, people transitioning from school to
work and people transitioning from work to retirement. Key groups identified so
far include carers and women and children. Pippa Milne commented that this interesting project
highlighting themes that will be familiar to partners. It has the potential to
demonstrate best practice in delivering better outcomes through recognising the
links between wellbeing and place. Pippa Milne offered to make connections
between the project and her role as SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief
Executives) Lead for Leadership Training and Development which includes
collaborative working. Alison McGrory noted that she was a member of the
Steering Group for this work and that the work will be important in terms of
public health. She asked how learning from the project will feed into and
inform national strategy. Alex Wilde replied that the project would produce
ongoing learning, involving local learning cohorts, looking at what is working
and what is not and that will be fed back to the Steering Group. Action - CPP partners to contact Alex
Wilde with suggestions of people she should be speaking to and any work that
might benefit from project support. Action - Rona Gold, Chair of the Project Steering Group welcomed all CPP partners to contact her if they are interested in joining the Steering Group. |
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Cross Cutting Themes |
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Climate Change (Stan Philips) Minutes: (a) Climate
Change Ross McLaughlin presented on the report, circulated
to members as a late paper on Friday, on behalf of the Stan Philips, Chair of
the Climate Change Working Group. He advised that the Climate Change Working
Group has been further exploring opportunities to take forward a Project
Manager post to create a strategy for climate change with an Argyll and Bute
wide approach It was proposed that the post should have day-to-day management by
Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust (ACT), with project governance
being provided by a Steering Group of members from the Climate Change working
group. It is estimated the post would require funding support of £120k (£60k
per annum for a minimum of two years) and the majority of funding would likely
be sought from external sources. Joe McKay asked the Management Committee if they
agreed to the report recommendations that a Project Manager post be created
with this proposed management/governance structure of partnership working and
that resources of approx. £120k should be sought to fund the post and its
associated costs. Rona Gold agreed this was a good model for taking
forward the work. She asked for clarification on who from the Climate Change
Working Group would be on the proposed Steering Group and asked that the
Management Committee have opportunity to see this, and draw from its wider
membership to support the Steering Group and post, as there may be existing
strengths within its membership to do this. She also advised a Community
Planning Partner has already offered some funding towards the proposed post and
that the Shared Prosperity Fund offers further opportunity, and that she had
submitted a proposal to this for this work. Given that tight deadlines may not
allow proposals for project funding of this nature to be presented, and fully
discussed, at Management Committee meetings. She asked for agreement to seek
further funds for this on behalf of the CPP, should opportunities arise, and
agreement was noted from members. Alison McGrory stated she was very supportive of
the proposals and echoed the request for clarity around governance structures. Pippa Milne commented that it was important to
pursue cross partnership working and the governance structure should work well
to support that. She noted that there may be implications for some partners in
relation to how we link into constituent bodies to achieve meaningful outcomes.
Two way engagement with member bodies to tie into their governance will be
necessary. Robin Currie sought clarity on how the Steering
Group will feed back to the Management Committee. He also requested support from
all partners in taking practical actions towards achieving outcomes. Rona Gold highlighted good work being undertaken by
community organisations and encouraged partners to share best practice on
climate change within the CPP webpage dedicated to Climate Change. Action - Ross McLaughlin to ask the
Climate Change Working Group to consider Steering Group membership. |
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Child Poverty (Mandy Sheridan) PDF 430 KB Minutes: (b) Child Poverty Mandy Sheridan reported that: -
The Child Poverty Action Plan is in hand and will be ready by end August
22. -
220 partnership staff and elected members attended the recent poverty
awareness events. -
The Scottish Government has produced the Bright Starts Delivery Plan
highlighting the importance of place. -
Workshops have been held on Child Poverty Data and Intelligence in
Remote and Rural Areas, looking at difficulties and solutions in this
area. -
Cost of living and inflation increase will make achieving the targets
challenging. -
The Scottish Government’s first target date for working towards
alleviating child poverty is 2023 with the following target set for 2030. -
Argyll and Bute Council’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and Children’s Rights
Plans reach the end of their plan periods next year. Local Authorities have adopted different
strategies including combining both plans. Pippa Milne said that these areas should be worked
on as part of a holistic approach with links to the Council’s other areas of
work. Anthony Standing added that the overall positive
destination rates for young people in Argyll is improving but that the gap
between the 20% least deprived and 20% most deprived has grown, with it
currently at 98% and 86% respectively. |
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Financial Inclusion (Fergus Walker) Minutes: (c) Financial
Inclusion Fergus Walker presented the following highlights from a report that will
be circulated to members following meeting:
-
The number of applications for
crisis grants and the resulting spend has reduced compared with last year. It
is expected that the cost of living crisis will result in an increase in
applications. -
The Flexible
Food Fund has extended its contract to
include fuel and poverty advice and there will be a need for education around
eligibility criteria. -
Poverty awareness training has
received good feedback. Key themes identified as areas of work required to
address poverty included: -
Investment in employment
opportunities and progression -
Tackling poverty stigma -
Public Transport access -
Health and Care services -
Childcare -
Further Education opportunities -
Opportunities for young people
staying in the area -
Affordable housing The Poverty Alliance will also deliver two further training sessions for
elected members. Action - Fergus Walker to share
his report, a relevant case study and a link to the online Poverty Awareness
module to cppadmin to circulate to members. -
School clothing re-use projects
are being introduced across Argyll & Bute. These emphasise the re-use and
recycling of school uniforms. This is being rolled out area by area. Now
established in Helensburgh and Campbeltown
and are working well. The next will be Rothesay and Dunoon. The intention is to
expand across the islands, MAKI and OLI areas by the end of the year. Joe McKay noted that poverty
awareness was key to reducing stigma. He asked how referrals could be made from
partners of the CPP to the services available. Fergus Walker responded that the Council website will be used with a
dedicated webpage developed to facilitate the donation of, and requests for,
school uniform. Referrals from other
agencies including the Social Enterprise Network are working well. A Money
Worries booklet has been distributed to all advice agencies and is available in
print and as a PDF and a dedicated Cascade issue on all support available is
being sent to householders signed up to this with the council. Action - CPP Team to collate
information and include this in an upcoming issue of the CPP bulletin. Action - All to provide feedback to
cppadmin on how the CPP bulletin could be improved/work better for partners to
share information. Action - Fergus Walker to
circulate Money Worries PDF version leaflet to Community Councils. |
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Community Wealth Building (Takki Sulaiman, Fergus Murray and Morag Goodfellow) Minutes: Apologies were received from Takki Sulaiman and this item was deferred to the September meeting |
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Digital Communities (Nicola Hackett and Melissa Dundas) Minutes: Nicola Hackett reported that the Community Learning and Development
Partnership (CLD) identified that a new dedicated working group was needed to
take forward work on this cross cutting. This has been established and the
group’s terms of reference (TOR) have been agreed. Hall Aitken has been
commissioned to look at mapping existing provision, volunteers, venues,
training needs and connectivity to enable the CLD Digital Skills Plan to be
progressed. The project group will also engage with education and other work
streams to identify barriers, then look at how to tackle these with
interventions and actions implemented with further funding sought as required. Action - Nicola Hackett to circulate
Digital Skills Working Group TOR to the CPP MC. Action - Nicola Hackett to bring
findings from the Hall Aitken commissioned work to the September CPP MC. Melissa Dundas outlined the bid for Islands’ Infrastructure Funding
which proposes to enable 4 pilot village halls (Iona, Coll, Tiree
and Islay) to benefit from ICT equipment and establish digital hubs. If the
funding bid is successful the project will support community empowerment,
increase digital inclusion, enable business use and recreation and facilitate NearMe clinics. The project will support 9 of the 13
strategic objectives in the Islands Plan. The project intends to appoint Digital
Champions in each community and it is hoped this will act as a pilot for
expanding the concept to other islands and rural mainland locations. Melissa
Dundas expects to receive notification of the outcome of this funding bid by
early August. March 2023 is the deadline for the project’s delivery. Ian Brodie said that 99% of village halls in Argyll and Bute are
independently funded and asked what investment they might expect to support
internet connectivity. Melissa Dundas said that although future funding is
unknown at this stage, if successful, this project could demonstrate the
benefits of village halls becoming digital hubs and she hoped this could roll
out across the area. Rona Gold added that the Shared Prosperity Fund may also
present opportunities to roll out these kinds of projects. Alison McGrory highlighted Cairndow Village
Hall as a good example of the provision of NearMe
clinics and noted that having a trained, local Digital Champion was a great
idea to support the set up and use of equipment. Action - Laura Evans to circulate
crime prevention leaflets to Melissa Dundas for the digital hubs. |
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Building Back Better (Communities) (Rona Gold and Ann Loughrey) Minutes: Rona Gold reported that Ann Loughrey has been appointed to the 18-month
fixed-term position of Building Back Better (Communities) Worker, jointly
funded by Third Sector Interface (TSI) and Argyll and Bute Council. The post
was created with the aim of engaging with community groups in recognition of
the issues they may now be facing because of the COVID 19 pandemic. Ann
Loughrey will be reviewing the support needed to ensure that volunteering
activities are sustainable. She will also be conducting an evaluation of a
micro grant fund for village halls and exploring ongoing needs. |
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Outcome 6 - Community Safety Partnership End of Year Achievements (Laura Evans) PDF 741 KB Minutes: Laura
Evans presented the Community Safety Partnership progress
report. Highlights included: -
Graphic Mind Map showing
challenges, achievements and activities over the year 2021/22 (see p.38 of the
report). -
Priority 1 – We live in a safe
and positive community. -
Making sure victims of domestic
abuse could reach out for support. -
Signposting information was circulated
through Living Well Networks and holiday accommodation providers. This will
continue and expand next year to include any small business. -
Priority 2 – We encourage safer
road and water use. -
The Argyll and Bute Partnership
Approach to Water Safety (PAWS) group was established. -
A water safety education package was
created and circulated. -
Improved water safety signage was
designed and installed. -
The focus will now move towards
road safety, supporting elderly drivers and working with local transport groups. -
Priority 4 – Our vulnerable
groups are supported and included. -
More than 700 people have
received face to face delivery of fraud prevention support. -
The group is seeking to secure
more funding for call blockers. Joe
McKay noted that the Argyll and Bute PAWS group has been adopted as best
practice across Scotland. Many
partners welcomed the use of the Mind Map graphic, created using Microsoft
Visio, as really helpful and engaging. It was agreed that the incorporation of
similar diagrams would add value to any future reports. |
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Upcoming CPP Work Minutes: Rona
Gold introduced two new members of the Community Planning team - John McLuckie, who will join on 11th July as Partnerships Lead (Community
Planning) and Lucy Dunbar, who has recently taken up the post of Community
Planning Officer. John McLuckie will be
looking at how best to identify outcomes for the next Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement
Plan (ABOIP). Lucy Dunbar, as part of her work, will support the Community
Wealth Building Working Group to map related partner activities. |
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Annual Report (Pippa Milne and Rona Gold) Minutes: Rona Gold informed the CPP MC
partners that Lucy Dunbar will be in touch over the next few weeks to begin
gathering case studies and other information for the Annual Report. |
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Working towards a revision of the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan (Pippa Milne and Rona Gold) Minutes: Rona Gold reported that the end date of the current ABOIP is March
2023. As a ten year plan, the document
has helped set direction but unforeseen events have arisen during those ten
years leading to the need for reflection on whether this is still the best
direction to follow. Rona Gold presented a 2-year plan for conducting this
review, including extensive engagement, to the CPP MC in December 2019 however
the pandemic seriously affected its implementation. A detailed plan outlining how information will be gathered to review the
existing plan and create the next ten-year Outcome Improvement Plan will be
brought to the September Management Committee meeting, with a view to engaging
with communities during September and October. Rona Gold proposed the next
10-year plan may be less text-heavy and would likely include a review of
progress on priorities after 3 years. Action - CPP MC members to notify
Rona Gold of any community engagement activities planned for the
September-October period to enable collaboration where possible. Pippa Milne highlighted the importance of the Community Planning
Partnership in the Argyll and Bute area and the requirement to be clear on how the
specific priorities for the new ABOIP align with partner plans and strategies,
with well-coordinated consultation. Robin Currie said the new plan needs to be understood by communities in
plain English and local community plans need to be recognised. The political
priorities will be set by the Council on September 30th. Robin Currie
is interested in learning more about plans to engage with hard to reach groups.
Rona Gold noted the date and acknowledged the need to engage widely. Ian Brodie
highlighted a lack of feedback from the Ambulance and Coastguard Services. Action - Joe McKay and Rona Gold
to discuss requesting an update from Ambulance and Coastguard for the September
CPP MC meeting. Robin Currie proposed the use of participatory budgeting in community
planning processes beyond local grant awards. Rona Gold responded that
participatory budgeting had been used to guide the Building Back Better work
stream using the CONSUL tool. The CONSUL platform could be used to help shape
priorities for the next ABOIP. Alison McGrory felt there needed to be more flexibility within a 10-year
plan. Rona Gold reported that the production of a 10-year Outcome Improvement
Plan is a legislative requirement however there is flexibility within this to
review priorities more regularly within that period. This needs to be carefully
balanced by an approach that has long term ambition. Ryan MacIntyre reported participatory budgeting formulae are
inaccessible, and the process was too complex for young people to engage in effectively,
after experiencing this in an application for PB. Rona Gold acknowledged that
some of the documentation used in relation to previous participatory budgeting
exercises was very complex. Action - Rona Gold to discuss
with Ryan MacIntyre to the best tools and ways to communicate and engage with
young people as part of the ABOIP review. |
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Update by Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (Chloe Meikle, Ryan MacIntyre and Baileigh McIntyre) Minutes: Ryan
MacIntyre reported 160 Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament will be meeting
next week in Cumbernauld to set their priorities for the next two years. The
motion to be brought forward by the Argyll and Bute Members is for the
provision of study rooms for senior secondary school pupils. The recent
Scottish Youth Parliament priorities debate included discussion on drugs
misuse, educational attainment, the right to food and the climate emergency. The
Argyll and Bute MSYPs plan a roadshow to tour the secondary schools in Argyll
and Bute in August to establish contacts and ensure young people are
represented and have their priorities identified. Information on the roadshows
will be shared on their Instagram and Facebook pages. Action - Rona Gold to discuss with Ryan MacIntyre
planned roadshow engagement could be linked to ABOIP review. |
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Levelling Up Fund Overview (Fergus Murray) Minutes: Fergus
Murray reported that the Council is preparing two bids for the Levelling Up
Fund. There will be a bid for up to £20m for regeneration work which will
include investment in Rothesay Town Centre (around the former Royal Hotel and
Guildford Square) and around Dunoon Pier (which could tie in with the Shaping
Places for Wellbeing - Dunoon Project). The
second bid for up to £50m will focus on transportation and infrastructure. One
aim is to improve transport connections to Islay and Jura, specifically to
unlock the potential of the spirit industry, including the provision of a
low-carbon Jura Ferry. Road improvements and active travel routes are also
proposed for Port Askaig. A further aim is to provide
a secondary entrance to Dunbeg as part of the Dunbeg corridor with a new commercial area and additional
housing. The bid also requests funding
for improvements to the Tobermory – Salen road, a green fuelling station in Oban and
development of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Hub at Oban Airport. The
bids will be discussed at the Council meeting on June 30th and will
be submitted to the UK Government by July 6th with notification
expected, if successful, by Autumn. Fergus
Murray said this was the only current opportunity for significant strategic
capital investment and confirmed that the Levelling Up Fund is supposed to
replace elements of European Funding. The fund is highly competitive and the
bid may not be successful. If successful this would make a significant
contribution to our net zero targets and create employment opportunities. |
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Outcome 1 and 2 - Progress on Argyll and Bute Employability Partnership (Ishabel Bremner) PDF 469 KB Minutes: Ishabel Bremner presented a report
detailing the progress of the ABEP. The delivery plan has been created to focus
on service delivery requirements and approaches, plus employability
interventions for vulnerable residents and communities. The Scottish Government
is seeking finalised delivery plans by June 30th. ABEP will provide
bi-annual updates to the CPP MC with regard to the new delivery plan. |
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AOCB (Chair) Minutes: Joe McKay offered congratulations to PC Stephen
Tanner on Tiree, who has been awarded the Queen’s
Police Medal and to John Fraser on Coll, who has been awarded the Queen’s Fire
Service Medal. |
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Scottish Government Place Directors (Rona Gold) PDF 451 KB Minutes: Rona Gold reported that the Scottish Government has created a role
description for the proposed Place Director positions. A Scottish Government
Civil Servant will be appointed to the role and will join the CPP MC. Action - Rona Gold to circulate
the role description for Scottish Government Place Director. |
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Scottish Ambulance Service 2030 Strategy (Rona Gold) Minutes: Rona Gold circulated the strategy to the CPP MC. Action - CPP MC members to
respond to the strategy by June 29 2022. |
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SFRS Strategic Plan Consultation (Chair) Minutes: Joe McKay advised consultation on the plan is open until July 10th.
The plan covers the next 10 years and includes 7 strategic priorities.
Partners can discuss the plan with Joe McKay and his team or feedback directly
via the weblink. |
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Date of Next Meeting and Close (Chair) The next CPP Management Committee meeting will be on 28th September 2022 at 1000. Minutes: The next meeting will be held using Microsoft Teams
at 10.00am on 28th September 2022. |
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Feedback on Digital Meeting Platform for CPP (Ian Brodie) Minutes: Ian Brodie asked the CPP MC for
their feedback on their experiences of engaging with meetings virtually using
digital platforms compared with meeting in person. Robin Currie said that a return to face to face meetings might be useful
when setting new priorities and discussing the new plan. Pippa Milne agreed
that workshop sessions could be more productive face to face, however, virtual
meetings allow more inclusivity and align with climate change objectives. Lynn
Ratcliff agreed with the differentiation between conducting meetings online and
holding workshops in person. Joe McKay also agreed and suggested that CPP MC meetings continue to be
held using Microsoft Teams, noting face to face engagement around the next
ABOIP may be more appropriate. Action - CPP Team to circulate a
short survey to capture the feedback of everyone, including partners unable to
attend this meeting, on meeting format and preferences. |