It was agreed that in the absence of John Trainer, Fiona MacKay, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership would chair the meeting.

K McIntyre, Engage Renfrewshire; M Gilligan, Skills Development Scotland; J Paterson, Renfrewshire Child Protection Committee; F MacKay, S Clocherty, L Jack, J Dougall (all Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership); J McKellar, Renfrewshire Leisure; and C Nicol, UWS.

S Graham and C MacDonald (both Renfrewshire Council).

M Gallacher, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, J Trainer, Children’s Services (Renfrewshire Council).

There was submitted the Minute of the meetin of the Renfrewshire Forum for Empowering Communities Group held on 25 June 2018.

DECIDED:    That the Minute be approved.

Improving Life Chances Group – Role, Remit and Timetable of Group – The Group was advised that Jackie Dougall, Head of Health & Social Care (West Renfrewshire) had agreed to co-chair the Improving Life Chances Group with John Trainer, Head of Child Care & Criminal Justice.  F MacKay welcomed Jackie to the meeting.

Early Action Systems Change – It was agreed that K McIntyre would provide updates at future meetings of the Group on the Early Action Systems Change; would send notification of the job advert for Lead Officer for the project for distribution to the Group.

DECIDED:

(a) That regular updates from the Early Action Systems Change project be submitted to future meetings of the Group;

(b) That the job advert for Lead Officer of the Early Action Systems Change project be circulated to members;

(c)   That the updates be noted.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

DECIDED:

(a)  That actions RF.27.02.15(5) and RF.09.02.16(4) be removed from the Action Log as they were now complete; 

(b)   That the updates be noted; and

(c)   That the Rolling Action Log be approved.

M Gilligan gave a verbal update on the role, remit and work being carried out by the Local Employability Partnership (LEP).  It was agreed that a copy of the Terms of Reference for the LEP would be circulated to the Group.

An update was given relating to the Scottish Government’s No-One Left Behind plan to deliver more effective and joined-up employability support across Scotland.  It was noted that regular updates would be submitted to the Group.

The Group was advised that the ‘Celebrating Success’ Awards in Renfrewshire, which recognised the hard work and effort of local people, would be held in Paisley Town Hall on Monday 19th November 2018 and a link to the event would be sent to members of the Group. 

Discussion took place on school leaver destinations linked to health issues.  J McKellar advised that Renfrewshire Leisure Ltd had issued a questionnaire to school pupils relating to physical activity, the results of which would be available at the end of October.  It was agreed that Renfrewshire Leisure would present their findings of the questionnaire at the next meeting of the Group.

DECIDED: 

(a)   That a copy of the LEP Terms of Reference would be circulated to the Group;

(b)   That it be noted that regular updates from the No-One Left Behind plan be submitted to future meetings of the Group;

(c)   That a link to the Celebrating Success Awards be sent to Members;

(d)   That it be agreed that Renfrewshire Leisure would present the findings of the Active Schools questionnaire at the next meeting of the Group; and

(e)   That the verbal presentation be noted.

The Partnerships Planning and Development Manager delivered a presentation in relation to the feedback from the Improving Life Chances Workshop which took place on Friday 24 August 2018.

After discussion, the Improving Life Chances Group identified the top three issues for the Group to address.  

(i)  child poverty;
(ii)  skills and employability – with emphasis on positive destinations for people with disabilities; and
(iii)  mental health – with a focus on loneliness/isolation as an issue and physical activity as a way of addressing this.

It was agreed that a set of actions and indicators would be identified around the three issues and that the topics be shared with the Children’s Champions’ Board and other relevant groups to ensure there was no duplication and the research and outcomes enhanced current delivery of service in the Partnership.

DECIDED:

(a)   That the indicators: (i)  child poverty;  (ii)  skills and employability – with emphasis on positive destinations for people with disabilities; and (iii)  mental health – with a focus on loneliness/isolation as an issue and physical activity as a way of addressing this be agreed as issues for the Improving Life Chances Group to address;

(b)   That the actions/indicators be developed with milestones and targets; and

(c)   That the topics be shared with the Children’s Champions’ Board and other relevant groups to ensure there was no duplication and the research and outcomes enhance current delivery of service in the Partnership.