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

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Renfrewshire Forum for Empowering Communities Group held on 11 November 2021.

DECIDED:    That the Minute be approved.

In relation to Item 4 – It was noted that an update would be given at a future meeting of the Forum in relation to the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

DECIDED:  That the update be noted.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

RFG. 12.06.19(2) – Membership – it was noted that the biographies had been completed and an on-line booklet was being prepared.

DECIDED: 

(a)  That the update be noted; and

(b)  That the Rolling Action Log be approved

There was submitted a report by L McIntyre, Head of Policy & Commissioning, Renfrewshire Council relative to an update on the Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme.

The report advised that the Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drugs Commission published its final report in December 2020, with 27 recommendations for partners.  Prior to the report’s publication, the Council had allocated £2m of funding in March 2020 to support the emerging recommendations.  It was noted that £1.54m of the funding had now been allocated.


A Programme Board, chaired by the Council’s Chief Executive, was established to oversee the local partnership response to the Commission and were meeting regularly.  It was noted that the delivery of the Programme remained a key priority for all partners and it was important that it continued to be delivered at pace, given the significant harm that local people were currently experiencing in relation to alcohol and drug use.

Y Farquar, Service Planning & Policy Development Manager, Chief Executive’s Service, Renfrewshire Council advised that a small grants fund would be launched in early April 2022 for third sector organisations and small groups and members were encouraged to disseminate this information.

DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

A presentation was given by O Reid, Head of Communities & Public Protection and Youth Services Manager, Communities, Housing & Planning Services,
Renfrewshire Council.

The presentation gave a brief overview of the Community, Learning & Development (CLD) Strategy 2021/2024; outlined the strategy, the priorities and approach; highlighted the impact of the pandemic and the recovery strategy; and advised of the three core areas of focus:  young people, adults and families and building communities.

Following discussion and a query in relation to officers responsible for the Service, O Reid advised that Carolann Robertson was the manager of service, Fiona Taylor was the Youth Services Manager, Clare James was responsible for adult and family support and literacy ad Nicola Drummond was the community capacity building lead.

It was proposed that an officer from CLD attend the Forum meeting on a rotational basis with the named officer being agenda dependant.  This was agreed.

DECIDED:

(a)  That it be agreed that an officer from CLD attend the Forum meeting on a rotational basis with the named officer being agenda dependant; and

(b)  That the presentation be noted.

K McIntyre, Community & Partnership Manager, Engage Renfrewshire gave a presentation on the Census 2022.

The presentation gave a brief overview of the census and why it was being carried out; detailed key population groups; detailed the timeframe of events; highlighted what support was available; and asked the members to share the information and offer support where appropriate.

DECIDED:  That the presentation be noted.

A McBride, Community Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund Officer, Engage Renfrewshire gave a presentation 

The presentation gave a brief overview of the Community Health & Wellbeing Fund; detailed the key priorities, target audience and location of groups across the applications received; and outlined the next steps.


It was noted that the projects would commence in April 2022.  A McBride would be documenting and promoting the activities and would submit an update to a future meeting of the Forum.

DECIDED: 

(a)  That it be agreed that an update on the Fund would be submitted to a future meeting; and

(b)  That the presentation be noted.

S McLellan gave a verbal report on the problems being experienced in the Third Sector and generally within the Health Service in relation to recruitment and retention.

He advised that there was a general shortage of staff not only in the third sector but also within the Health Service.  The third sector supported the Health and Social Care Partnership and the lack of staff was having a significant knock-on effect in areas such as acute services.  People were unable to be discharged from hospital and were not able get the care they needed when they were out of hospital.  It was noted that this also had implications for the primary and secondary care sectors.

He advised that an Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland was currently going through Scottish Parliament (the Feely Report) and had been commissioned to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland, primarily in terms of the outcomes achieved by and with people who used services, their carers and families, and the experiences of people who worked in adult social care.  However, he advised that the recommendations would not be able to be delivered if there was no workforce available.

He indicated that the quality and volume of people moving about the sector were gravitating towards better paid and more secure positions which in turn was leading to positions being unfilled and services potentially being in breach of contract.

He noted that Derek Raffaelli, who had a long track record in supporting management groups in the private, public & third sector, had been engaged in a consultancy role and a meeting was being arranged to help facilitate thoughts and perspectives around this issue.

He also advised that he had been asked to submit a report to the next meeting of the Health & Social Care Partnership Strategic Planning Group to held on 21 April 2022 in relation to this problem and he would update the Forum of the recommendations at the next meeting.

DECIDED:

(a)  That an update be given at the next meeting of the Forum; and

(b)  That the verbal update be noted.

DECIDED:  That it be agreed that the next meeting of the Forum for Empowering Communities Group would take place on Tuesday 24 May 2022 at 2pm.