Councillors Robertson (Argyll & Bute Council); O'Donnell (East Dunbartonshire Council); Williams (Renfrewshire Council); and Casey (West Dunbartonshire Council).

Councillor Williams, Convener, presided.

J Hunter, Chief Officer, (North Strathclyde Community Justice Authority); C Sneddon (Argyll & Bute Council); L Gaff (East Renfrewshire Council); A Howard (Inverclyde Council); P Macleod, A Scott, G Borland and E Currie (all Renfrewshire Council); and N Firth and J Irvine (both West Dunbartonshire Council).

F MacKinnonn (Sacro) and J Ryan (Action for Children).

Councillor McIlwee (Inverclyde Council).

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

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Authority held on 12 June, 2015.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer and Chief Officer in respect of the Authority. The report intimated that expenditure on core services was anticipated to be £185,973 over budget and expenditure on non-core services was anticipated to be £2,915 under budget, which resulted in an anticipated £183,058 net overspend for the Authority.

Argyll, Bute and Dunbartonshire Criminal Justice Social Work Partnership was projecting an overspend of £137,397; East Renfrewshire Council was projecting an overspend of £47,318; Inverclyde Council was projecting a break-even position and Renfrewshire Council was projecting an underspend of £1,657. Any over-spend at the year-end was required to be met by the relevant local authority.

DECIDED: That the virements during the quarter by East Renfrewshire and the Argyll, Bute & Dunbartonshire Criminal Justice Social Work Partnership from non-core services to core services of £28,003 and £155,500, respectively, be noted.

There was submitted a joint administration grant revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer and the Chief Officer in respect of the Authority. The report intimated that expenditure against the administration grant was currently projected to result in an underspend of £9,095. Details of the projected expenditure were attached to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Planning Officer relative to the North Strathclyde Community Justice Authority Action Plan 2015/16. The report intimated that the Authority was required to produce annual action plans to progress the overarching strategy of the 2014/17 area plan. There were 12 actions in the action plan which would be undertaken as a partnership and 19 associated activities, the majority of which were the responsibility of the Chief Officer or Planning Officer of the Authority. The report focussed on the four actions which were due for completion by September 2015.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That authority be delegated to the Chief Officer, in consultation with the Convener, to amend the action plan if required.

There was submitted a report by the Planning Officer relative to a review of the governance arrangements for the Authority carried out by Renfrewshire Council’s Internal Audit section as part of the 2015/16 audit plan. A copy of the review report formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to Annual Reports 2014/15 by the Chief Social Work Officers of Argyll, Bute and Dunbartonshires’ Criminal Justice Social Work Partnership; East Renfrewshire Council; Inverclyde Council; and Renfrewshire Council providing information to the Authority on services which had been provided under the grant funding arrangement. The report intimated that one of the functions of the Authority under Section 3(5)e of the Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005 was to allocate to appropriate local authorities a grant in respect of Criminal Justice Social Work Services. At the meeting of the Authority held on 12 March, 2010 conditions of grant were introduced, one of which required constituent authorities to submit annual reports to the Authority outlining the services they had provided with the grant.

DECIDED:

(a) That the reports be noted; and

(b) That Annual Reports 2015/16 be submitted to the meeting of the Authority to be held in September 2016.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to community justice redesign. The report intimated that the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill was currently going through its first stage of scrutiny which was being led by the Justice Department. A briefing of the measures in the Bill prepared by the Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum formed Appendix 1 to the report.

Both the Justice Committee and the Finance Committee had issued Calls for Evidence on the Bill and the Community Justice Authorities Conveners Group had prepared joint submissions. It was noted that reports on these matters would be considered at items 9 and 10, respectively, of this Minute.

Preparations were underway to identify the knowledge and skillset for both the Chair and Chief Executive of Community Justice Scotland and it was anticipated that appointments for these positions would be made in spring 2016.





The report further intimated that an equality impact assessment was being undertaken by the Community Justice Division to help determine the location of Community Justice Scotland headquarters; a number of steering groups and working groups had been established to develop the new National Strategy and Performance Framework; and that the Community Planning Partnership Transition Group continued to develop various workstreams to support the transition process.

The Community Justice Division had written to all Community Justice Authority Conveners requesting that they prepare a ‘scheme of severance’ for approval by the Justice Secretary. The Scottish Government had confirmed that they would meet the full financial liabilities for the disestablishment of Community Justice Authorities.

On 31 July, 2015 the Deputy Director, Community Justice Division wrote to Community Planning Chairs to clarify what was required in the shadow year Transition Plans which Community Planning Partnerships required to submit by 31 January, 2016 and a copy of this letter formed Appendix 2 to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the Joint Community Justice Authorities Conveners response to the Scottish Government’s consultation paper on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974, a copy of which formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the Joint Community Justice Authorities Conveners response to the Justice Committee’s Call for Evidence on the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill, a copy of which formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the Joint Community Justice Authorities Conveners response to the Finance Committee’s Call for Evidence on the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill, a copy which formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the continuation of funding of £30,000 each for 2015/16 for the service to women projects, Moving Forward in Dumbarton and the Women’s Community Justice Service in Paisley. The confirmation letters received from the Scottish Government formed the appendix to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to a ‘one-one’ grant from the Scottish Government to be spent during the 2015/16 financial year and to be used specifically to develop Bail Supervision and Diversion Services.

It was noted that an update report on this matter would be considered later in the morning as part of the agenda for the next meeting of the Authority.

DECIDED: That it be noted that an update report on this matter would be considered later in the morning as part of the agenda for the next meeting of the Authority.