Councillor T Williams, Chair, presided.

Councillors Williams and Perrie, S MacDougall, O Reid (all Renfrewshire Council); S Miller (Engage Renfrewshire); R Kennedy (Police Scotland); M Gallacher (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service ); and K Phillips (Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership).

T Irvine, S Graham, Y Farquhar, C Grainger, C Dalrymple and C MacDonald (all Renfrewshire Council).

F Carlin (Renfrewshire Council); L King (Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration); and A Dick (West College Scotland).

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

There was submitted the Minutes of the Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board held on 24 November 2016 and the Joint Safer & Stronger, Jobs & the Economy and Children & Young People Thematic Boards held on 10 November 2016.

DECISION:   That the Minutes be approved.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval. 

DECIDED:   

(a)   That action S&S.23.03.16(4) be removed from the Action Log as it was now complete; and

(b)   That the Rolling Action Log be approved.

A presentation was given by R Kennedy, Police Scotland relative to the new 2026 model.

The presentation gave an overview of the key objectives; highlighted the factors driving the changes; outlined projected statistics of population and workforce for 2026; indicated the implications for policing; and outlined the details of changes to the delivery model.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Community Resources, Renfrewshire Council relative to an update on the work within Renfrewshire to tackle the risks posed by terrorism, corruption and serious organised crime. 

DECIDED:   That progress of the Renfrewshire Multi Agency CONTEST (Prevent) Group and the Renfrewshire Council Integrity Group over 2016 be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Head of Policy and Commissioning, Chief Executive’s Service, Renfrewshire Council relative to the proposed new Community Planning governance arrangements.

The report advised that following discussion with Conveners and Lead Officers of the Community Planning Thematic Boards and agreement by Renfrewshire Council Community Planning Partnership Board, community planning structures in Renfrewshire would be changed from the second quarter of 2017.  The review of community planning arrangements recognised that much good work had been achieved through the community planning Boards since they were established in 2013. The purpose of the changes to the community planning structures was to build on existing strengths of the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership, take account of changes to the partnership landscape since 2013 and further strengthen and streamline community planning meeting arrangements. A report detailing the new governance arrangements had been agreed by Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Board on 7 December 2016 and was attached as an appendix. 

The new arrangements would commence from May 2017, with an early focus on delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) and associated Locality Plans by 1 October 2017. Engagement with communities on development of the LOIP/Locality Plans would take place in February/March and May/June 2017. The Local Outcome Improvement Plan and Locality Plans would require to be signed off by all community planning partners by September 2017 prior to publication by 1 October 2017.

It was noted that the remaining meeting of the existing Community Planning Board structure would play a key role in shaping the priorities of the new LOIP and ensure that the positive elements of existing partnership working and delivery would transition effectively to the new working arrangements. In particular, the Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board was asked to consider at its next meeting key questions which were detailed within the report.

In terms of the Safer and Stronger Renfrewshire Board, it was recognised that significant progress had been made in delivering the outcomes of this theme. The three year performance report submitted to the Community Planning Partnership Board in September 2016 recorded particular progress in a number of areas. The number of crimes of violence, reported incidents of domestic abuse and the number of children experiencing domestic abuse had all decreased over the three year period. Reconviction rates within one year had also decreased.

Work would take place over the first six months of 2017 to finalise the detail of new arrangements to ensure an effective transition to the new arrangements in the second quarter of 2017. The Safer and Stronger Thematic Board would have a key role to play in ensuring that its work programme was embedded effectively within the Public Protection Chief Officers Group.

DECIDED:

(a)   That the changes to the governance structure of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership and, in particular, the arrangements for discontinuing the Safer and Stronger Renfrewshire Board and continuing the remit of the Board through the Public Protection Chief Officers Group be noted; and

 

(b)   That it be agreed that Board Members participate in work which would take place during the first six months of 2017 to finalise details of the new arrangements and ensure an effective transition of the current Safer and Stronger Action Plan to the new arrangements under the Public Protection Chief Officers Group.

There was submitted a report by the Head of Child Care and Criminal Justice, Children’s Services, Renfrewshire Council relative to the Community Justice Local Outcomes Improvement Plan.

The report advised that the Community Justice Scotland Act 2016 required statutory partners to work together to prepare a plan for their local authority area, to be submitted to Community Justice Scotland by March 2017. A National Strategy for Community Justice and Outcomes, Performance and Improvement Framework was published on 24 November 2016 which partners had a duty to regard in their planning process.

Community Justice Renfrewshire had produced a Community Justice Local Outcomes Improvement Plan a copy of which was attached as an appendix. The plan set out their assessment against national outcomes and identified local priorities for action, along with a participation statement detailing actions taken to involve community bodies and third sector bodies in community justice and the preparation of the plan. It was noted that the draft had been sent for consultation to Community Justice Scotland and wider community consultation was also planned.

DECIDED:

(a)   That the contents of the Community Justice Renfrewshire Local Outcomes Improvement Plan as outlined in appendix A be noted; 

(b)   That the report would continue to be subject to consultation and minor amendments; and

(c)   That it be noted that the Community Justice Renfrewshire Local Outcomes improvement Plan would be submitted to the Community Planning Partnership Board for approval for submission to Community Justice Scotland.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Community Resources, Renfrewshire Council relative to the consultation by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Scotland (HMICS) reviewing their annual Scrutiny Plan to develop a planned inspection programme for 2017/18.

The report advised that HMICS, in planning for 2017/18, had already committed to developing a self assessment inspection process for local policing, which would be piloted in Tayside as well as thematic inspections on Forensic Services, Cyber Policing, Counter Terrorism and Undercover Policing. They would also undertake their first statutory inspection of the Scottish Police Authority, with a particular focus on its new governance arrangements and oversight of transformational change, finance, people, audit and policing. HMICS was also committed to a joint inspection of British Transport Police with HMIC in England and Wales and to their ongoing joint scrutiny of Children’s Services with the Care Inspectorate.

HMICS sought the views of key stakeholders on the proposed inspections and any topical, high risk or emerging areas in policing that could be included within the 2017/18 annual inspection programme.  These plans were consistent with previous years with counter terrorism, cybercrime and serious and organised crime being high on the Public Protection agenda for Renfrewshire Council.  It was noted that a response date of 17 February 2017 had been provided by HMICS.

DECIDED:   

a)   That it be noted that members of the Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board would be asked to provide their views on any proposals or any other areas they consider would benefit from scrutiny by HMICS during 2017-18;

b)   That it be noted that the Council’s response to HMICS on its proposed scrutiny plan for 2017/18 would be presented to the Housing and Community Safety Policy Board at its meeting on 14 March 2017.

c)   That the contents of the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Community Resources, Renfrewshire Council which provided an update for the Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board on recent activities carried out in relation to community safety and public protection.

DECIDED:  That the progress update report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Community Resources relative to the Scottish Police Authority’s consultation on its annual review and report 2016/17.  A copy of the proposed response to the consultation was appended to the report.

The report intimated that the annual review process had been brought forward to ensure that the views of current local authority members were obtained prior to the local government elections in May 2017.

DECIDED:

(a)  That it be noted that the initial consultation on the Annual Review of Policing 2016/17 by the Scottish Police Authority had been brought forward with responses requested by 15 February 2017; and

(b)  That the draft response to the consultation detailed in the appendix to the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Community Resources relative to consultation by the Scottish Government on its draft human trafficking and exploitation strategy.

The report intimated that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act required that Ministers and the Scottish Government prepare a strategy to tackle human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.  The draft strategy set out how this would be achieved both locally and internationally and proposed an action plan to monitor implementation of the strategy.

The consultation had invited responses to be submitted by December 2016 and a response had been provided by the Council in accordance with this deadline.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the consultation on the draft human trafficking and exploitation strategy by the Scottish Government be noted; and

(b)  That the Council’s response to the consultation, as appended to the report, be noted.