Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting would be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council's internet site.

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

There was submitted a joint report by the Chief Executive, Director of Finance & Resources and Chief Finance Officer, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership relative to revenue and capital budget monitoring as at 11 November 2022.

The report intimated that the projected revenue and capital outturn at 31 March 2023 for those services reporting to this Board was an underspend of £0.186 million and a breakeven position respectively.

It was proposed that a further report be brought back to a future meeting of this Board on the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic on Council services. This was agreed.

DECIDED:

(a) That the projected revenue outturn position detailed in Table 1 of the report be noted;

(b) That the projected capital outturn position detailed in Table 2 of the report be noted;

(c) That the budget adjustments detailed at sections 4 and 6 of the report be noted; and

(d) That a further report be brought back to a future meeting of this Board on the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic on Council services.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-committee held on 1 February 2023, which forms the Appendix to this Minute.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to all key activities that had been progressed as part of the local response since the last meeting of this Board held on 30 November 2022, providing an overview of work being undertaken to date, with specific updates provided on the Winter Connections programme and participation and engagement being undertaken as part of the programme.

The report advised that the development of the Winter Connections Programme had been a key focus for the Council in December and January and £70,000 of funding was allocated from the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme to support the delivery of Winter Connections activities, with an additional £10,000 funding allocated to OneRen to deliver activities. The Programme offered an extensive and varied programme of activities across Renfrewshire, hosted by community groups, most of which would be running until March 2023. To date 37 funding applications with a total value of £68,850 had been recommended for approval and details of all funding awards and unsuccessful applications made were set out at Appendix 1.

The report also provided responses in relation to the requests for information received at the meeting of this Board held on 30 November 2022 in relation to the estimated cost of extending breakfast club provision to all primary and secondary schools in Renfrewshire and in relation to active schools provision and educational attainment.

The report intimated that the 'Improving the Cancer Journey' service had been delivered in partnership with Macmillan for over 3 years in Renfrewshire. A core principle of the approach used by the service was to work with each person in a holistic way following a cancer diagnosis, linking the person and their family/carers to advice and support. Funding of £38,000 had previously been awarded by this Board to support the service to meet increased demand and the report suggested that further funding of £34,500 be allocated to continue to provide additional capacity within the service up to December 2023. The report advised that Macmillan had indicated that national funding may be available to support the continued delivery of the service beyond 2023.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report be noted;

(b) That the funding awarded to 37 activities through the Winter Connections Funding, through authority delegated to the Director of Communities & Housing as outlined in Appendix 1 to the report be noted; and 

(c) That £34,000 of funding to continue to enhance capacity within the Improving the Cancer Journey service as detailed in section 4 of the report be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to an overview of recent activity undertaken by the Community Planning Partnership in Renfrewshire.

The report provided an overview of the work undertaken by Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership to refresh the existing Community Plan during 2022, with three key areas of focus and 12 priority actions identified to guide activity during the remaining five years of the Plan. A particular focus going forward was on prioritising activities where collaborative impact could be made, such as in relation to child poverty. A copy of the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 2021/22 formed Appendix 1 to the report. 

The report also provided details of a recent consultation undertaken by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee in late 2022 to consider the impact of Part 2 of the Community Empowerment Act (2015) on community planning and how Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) could respond to significant events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis. A response, which was attached as Appendix 2 to the report, had been drafted by the Partnership and Inequalities Team on behalf of the Community Planning Partnership and submitted to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee by the deadline of 13 January 2023.

DECIDED: That the content of the report be noted, including the submission of a partnership response to the Community Planning Inquiry held by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee in late 2022.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to an update on the progress of the Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme (the Programme) since the last update provided to this Board on 22 June 2022.

The report published in 2020 set out the Commission’s main findings and provided 27 recommendations to guide the local response. Priority actions identified included: urgently addressing issues in relation to mental health service provision, including provision for young people; considering trauma as part of everything that partners do in Renfrewshire; and introducing a whole system approach to supporting people with their alcohol and drug use.

Following the Alcohol and Drugs Commission’s final report in December 2020, partners prioritised a range of actions in response to the key recommendations and established a Programme Board to drive the local response, ensuring that all partners worked together, join up service developments, and maximise the resources available. Key developments which had been progressed included a number of projects, under the themes of the Commission’s final report and these were detailed in
the report.

An outcomes-based approach to evaluating the Programme had been developed, aligning to themes identified in the Commission’s final report. Given the significance of the Change Programme investment, the report intimated that resourcing external evaluation support for the Programme would be of benefit in terms of being able to better understand the impact of the projects within the Programme, providing support and capacity to gather and analyse relevant data and information, as well as providing a level of independence to the findings. The report proposed that £40,000 of the remaining Change Programme funding be allocated to supporting the evaluation, with work currently being undertaken to commission a partner.

As agreed by the Leadership Board on 30 November 2022, another round of the Recovery Change Fund application process was launched, with applications being accepted until 20 January 2023. In total two applications had been received. Following a formal evaluation process by a multiagency Assessment Panel the report recommended that the two projects detailed in the report be awarded a total of £12,500 funding.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress of the Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme since the last update provided to this Board on 22 June 2022 be noted;

(b) That £40,000 funding be allocated to support the evaluation of the Change Programme projects, detailed at paragraph 4.7 of the report; and

(c) That the allocation of £12,500 from the Recovery Change Fund to support the initiatives detailed in section 5 of the report be approved.

There was submitted an update report by the Chief Executive relative to the work undertaken to welcome and support the resettlement of Ukrainian nationals across Renfrewshire communities together with details of the UK Government's widening of the asylum programme.

The report detailed the ongoing arrangements at the Welcome Hub for Ukranian displaced people who arrived under the Scottish Super Sponsor arrangement. The report advised that the ship MS Ambition docked at King George V docks in Glasgow and which currently accommodated 1,100 people, was being decommissioned and that the Scottish Government had written to all Scottish local authorities asking them for information on how they could assist in housing these people.

Given the requirement of the local authority to respond at pace to any requests for support, the report recommended that the Chief Executive continue to be authorised to put in place such arrangements and resources as may be required to support both the operation of the Welcome Hub and the resettlement and support of refugees from Ukraine within Renfrewshire.

The report advised that in  April 2022 the UK Government notified all UK local authorities of their intention to expand asylum dispersal arrangements nationally. The Watermill Hotel in Paisley had been used by the Home Office for this purpose since July 2022 and more recently the Muthu hotel at Erskine Bridge had been procured as contingency accommodation for asylum seekers. The report recommended that the Chief Executive be authorised to put in place the necessary arrangements to ensure a coordinated partnership response to any implications that may arise from the asylum dispersal programme.

DECIDED:

(a) That the contents of the report be noted; and

(b) That the extension of delegated authority to the Chief Executive as detailed in paragraphs 9.1 and 9.2 of the report be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership relative to the key activities undertaken during 2022/23 in terms of the Adult Social Work Services delegated to Renfrewshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) and managed through the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP).

It was proposed that further information relative to the decrease between 2019/20 and 2020/21 in care at home costs per hour for older adults aged 65 and older be issued to members of this Board.  This was agreed.

DECIDED:

(a) That the contents of the report updating activity and performance of adult social work services delegated to the Integration Joint Board be noted;

(b) That it be noted that the annual report would be presented to this Board in September 2023; and

(c) That further information relative to the decrease between 2019/20 and 2020/21 in care at home costs per hour for older adults aged 65 and older be issued to members of this Board.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the publication by OneRen, the trading name of Renfrewshire Leisure Limited, of its annual review of 2021/22 which highlighted the contribution that the organisation made to the achievement of the Council Plan, Community Plan and wider shared objectives through the wide range of projects, events and activities that it provided in the local community.

DECIDED: That OneRen's annual review of 2021/22 be noted.