Councillors Perrie, M Devine, M Sharkey, Henry, M Macmillan, McCartin, McGee, Clark, Noon, Holmes and Harte.

Councillor Harte, Convener, presided.

J McKellar, Acting Head of Service (Children’s Services); and D Low, Senior Committee Services Officer, D Forbes, Finance Manager and E Currie, Committee Services Officer (all Finance & Resources).

Councillors Kelly and Cameron.

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children’s Services for the service for the period 1st April, 2014 to 2nd January, 2015.

DECIDED:

(a) That the budget position be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that there had been net budget realignments of £11,832 processed since the last report relating to transfers to the corporate landlord and the realignment of non-domestic rates budgets.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1st April, 2014 to 2nd January, 2015.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the service improvement plan (SIP) outturn report for the service to February 2015.

The SIP detailed the key challenges facing the service and outlined the range of activities the service would aim to achieve during 2014/17.  Progress on the implementation of the SIP was monitored and reported to the Board on a six-monthly basis to allow the Board to review progress. This report updated the progress which had been achieved with the implementation of the SIP to the end of February 2015.

Following the integration of education and leisure and social work services under a new directorate and the transfer of leisure services to an expanded trust, an integrated service improvement plan would be developed by May 2015.

DECIDED: That the progress that had been made with the implementation of the 2014/15 to 2016/17 SIP actions relating to the service be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to an award of £39,672 from the Museums Galleries Scotland Recognition Fund to digitise the Paisley shawls and pattern book collections.

The report intimated that the Paisley Museum and Art Galleries collections of Paisley shawls and pattern books were recognised by Musuems Galleries Scotland as ‘collections of national significance to Scotland’ enabling the Council to apply for funding through the Museums Galleries Scotland Recognition Fund.

In December 2014, Museums Galleries Scotland announced the award of £39,672 to complete the project which began in February 2015 and would take 13 months to complete. The project would create digital images with associated interpretative information which would be made publicly accessible within Paisley Museum and Art Galleries, thereby improving access to the collection for visitors.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to progress made in the change of use of one of the existing mobile libraries into a children’s play, read, discover and learn bus.

The report intimated that a temporary co-ordinator of the mobile service had been appointed in October 2014 to establish and manage the new service. Two permanent posts of children and families mobile library workers had been appointed from the library service and a temporary play worker had been appointed to provide skills and expertise to deliver quality play sessions and support the day to day running of the bus.

The bus was currently being re-designed to create a new family-friendly space which would accommodate Bookbug sessions, play activities, books and reading and learning activities using ICT. The bus would also feature the Families First in Renfrewshire logo and the library mascots the Skoobs. It was anticipated that this work would be completed by the end of March 2015.

A project plan was being created following the Council’s Project Management Framework which would outline service aims and priorities including key milestones and an evaluation in March 2016. A marketing strategy was being developed with the Council’s communications team to raise awareness of the service including a launch event. 

The bus would be aimed at children aged 0 to 12 years and their families and would visit early years establishments and schools to promote reading and a love of books as well as providing opportunities for storytelling and play sessions for children, parents and carers.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to digital developments in the library service in 2014. The report intimated that the provision of high-quality information and communication technology (ICT) had become an increasingly important aspect of the services provided by Renfrewshire Library Service to its customers. As the service aimed to improve efficiency and modernise practices it was important that customers continued to receive excellent service and improved flexibility in how they accessed these services.




The key objectives for the libraries digital services development in 2014 were to promote social and digital inclusion by enabling access to ICT facilities; to support the ICT learning needs of adults, children and communities; to maximise the availability of all library content for all users; and to improve customer communication and transactional channels.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the development of a Renfrewshire Young Hub Leaders programme in partnership with sportscotland. The report intimated that this was a fresh approach to ensuring that every community sport hub had the views and opinions of young people at the heart of the decision-making process and would be rolled out to Renfrewshire hubs before the end of March 2015. There would be two Young Hub Leaders for every sports hub.

Young Hub Leaders would be individuals aged between 16 to 25 years who would consult with other young people in their community, join the committee and lead on specific roles within the hub. This role would require the selected individuals to commit one hour per week to their local sport hub by consulting with young people, completing tasks set out by the sport hub members and ensuring that the voice of young people could be heard at sport hub meetings. These young leaders would be identified through local schools and clubs and would be supported through a training programme delivered by sports services. They would be given a toolkit which would involve them devising a personal development plan, an action plan, developing social media and assisting in the development of a marketing plan for their community sport hub.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to applications received from voluntary cultural organisations for 2015/16 under the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994.

The report provided information on voluntary cultural organisations and made a series of recommendations for grant support for 2015/16, as detailed in the appendix to the report, totalling £16,499.

DECIDED:

(a) That the recommendations, as detailed in the appendix to the report, be approved subject to satisfactory financial reports being received; and

(b) That it be noted that all grant awards were subject to the Council’s conditions of grant scheme.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to applications received from voluntary leisure organisations for 2015/16 under the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994.

The report provided information on grants to voluntary leisure organisations and made a series of recommendations for grant support for 2015/16, as detailed in the appendix to the report, totalling £15,179.

DECIDED:

(a) That the recommendations, as detailed in the appendix to the report, be approved subject to satisfactory financial reports being received; and

(b) That it be noted that all grant awards were subject to the Council’s conditions of grant scheme.