P Tanzilli, Area Commander (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service); and P Martin, Depute Principal (University of the West of Scotland).

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Community Planning Partnership Board held on 4th February, 2015.

DECIDED: That the Minute be noted.

A verbal update was given by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the joint inspection of the provision of services to children and young people in the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership area.

He advised that the preliminary findings which were discussed on Thursday 5th March, 2015 with Chief Officers and nominated Community Planning partners were positive and reassuring.  It was anticipated that the full publication would be available on or before the beginning of June.

DECIDED: That the verbal update be noted.

Under reference to Item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of this Board held on 4th February, 2015, a verbal update was given by the Community Planning Lead Officer relative to cross-partnership support for Lead Officers.

F MacKay advised that senior officers had been nominated from within partner organisations to work with the Lead Officer and Convenor of each Thematic Board to assist in driving progress and shaping the agenda:

Jobs and the Economy Thematic Board – B Davidson, Chief Executive, Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce;

Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board – M Shepherd, Superintendent, Police Scotland;

Children & Young People Thematic Board – Joint support from University of the West of Scotland and West College Scotland;

Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board – Support partner to be advised

Community Care, Health & Wellbeing Thematic Board – Joint support from Health & Social Care and Renfrewshire Council.

DECIDED: That the verbal update be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chair of Renfrewshire Forum for Empowering Communities (the Forum) which detailed a summary of progress against the Forum’s actions and performance over the first year of the Community Plan.

The report advised that baselines had now been established for the impact measures that it had responsibility for. Strong connections had been developed between voluntary and community sector organisations and the work of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership had begun delivering against the actions in the Empowering Communities Action Plan. In addition, it had also developed as a key vehicle for raising issues important to the third sector for discussion within the context of community planning partnership working in Renfrewshire.

A presentation was given by A McNiven, S Graham and S McLellan which outlined the Forum’s governance and approach; the set up of the Forum; its outcomes and impact measures; and the key achievements and emerging agenda.

S McLellan spoke to the Board about the living wage. He advised that the Scottish Living Wage was currently £7.85 per hour which was calculated independently on what was required to cover the basic cost of living in the UK. He intimated that there was an absolute desire from third sector organisations to match the living wage and reward staff to at least this level, however, the current financial and structural funding process did not enable this. Arising from a meeting which took place between the Forum and Councillor Macmillan in August, 2014, a shared pilot strategy was being developed between the Council’s Procurement team and RAMH on how to deliver economical services which acknowledged reasonable rewards for staff.

DECIDED: That the progress made in the delivery of the outcomes be noted.

Prior to consideration of the item, Councillor Macmillan welcomed Dr. J McCormick to the meeting as one of the Commissioners from the Tackling Poverty Commissioners.  He also acknowledged A McNiven, L de Caestecker and A Cumberford as Tackling Poverty Commissioners. Dr. McCormick presented the Commission's findings to the Board and the Commissioners answered questions from members. Dr. McCormick left the meeting after consideration of the item.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the findings and recommendations of the Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission.

The report indicated that the Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission, the first of its kind to be established in Scotland, was set up by the Council in February 2014 to carry out a strategic assessment of the nature, causes and impact of child poverty in Renfrewshire and to make recommendations for the deployment of a strategic approach involving Community Planning Partners (CPP) that would mitigate and minimise the impact of poverty in Renfrewshire.

The Commission concluded its work with the publication of the Commission’s report on Friday 13th March, 2015. The report entitled ‘Tackling Poverty in Renfrewshire’ formed the appendix to the report.

At the Council meeting on 23rd March, 2015, it was agreed that the Chief Executive would work with community planning partners to agree a cross-partnership response to the findings and recommendations of the Commission and report back to Council on 25th June, 2015. In order to facilitate this work, the Chief Executive advised that a special meeting of the CPP Board would be held in early June.

Councillor Macmillan thanked the Commissioners for their valuable input and hard work and intimated that the Council in setting its 2015/16 budget had committed £6million of its own resources to support the tackling poverty agenda. Although these resources were non-recurring in nature, it would provide an immediate funding source to support the delivery of a partnership response. He also advised that the CPP Board would report annually for the next five years on its progress to tackling poverty in Renfrewshire.

DECIDED:

(a) That the significant work undertaken by the Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission be acknowledged and the findings and recommendations proposed by the Commission be endorsed;

(b) That it be agreed that the Chief Executive lead the development of the CPP response to the Commission’s findings and recommendations on behalf of the Board and that an action plan capable of supporting sustainable progress in reducing the causes and impact of poverty across Renfrewshire be made available for consideration by the Board at a special meeting of the Board in June 2015;

(c) That it be noted that the Commission recommended that the CPP Board report annually for the next five years on its progress to tackling poverty in Renfrewshire; and

(d) That it be noted that as outlined within the report, a resource analysis report was to be drafted by the Council and made available for consideration at the next CPP Board meeting to support the Board’s consideration of the response to the Commission’s recommendations.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to a review of public health in Scotland and the response by the CPP Board.

The report advised that the focus for the review was on how to widen and deepen the influence of Public Health, both as a public service function and an important outcome for Scotland.  A group of officers from Renfrewshire Council and Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership met and agreed the Community Planning Partnership's response which was developed following three key themes: good practice and what worked well; access to public health support and information; and practicalities and moving from research to practice.

DECIDED: That the response to the stakeholder consultation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Divisional Commander, K Division, Police Scotland, relative to the proposed merger of West Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute with Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Divisions (L and K Divisions).

The aim of the proposed merger was to improve the delivery of police services by strengthening local policing divisions, bringing together management and administration functions where appropriate, and ensuring the service continued to be efficient and sustainable in the longer term. The report outlined the rationale behind the proposals, the anticipated benefits, the potential risks, addressed misconceptions, and set out the consultation process that was ongoing to date.

DECIDED: That the report and information provided be noted.

D Leese gave a presentation relative to the integration of Renfrewshire Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to form the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) which would be responsible for a range of delegated health and social care functions in our area.

The presentation outlined the policy background and key elements; highlighted the integrated model and timeline; and informed members of the local governance framework and desired outcomes.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to partner budgets, processes, timescales and priorities.

The report intimated that information had been obtained from partners on how they planned their own budget process in order to aid better understanding of the key financial issues and what the key differences and similarities were with regard to partner resources and decision-making. It was noted that there was an opportunity for the CPP to better develop and understand how spend across partners contributed to improved outcomes by focusing on a particular outcome or range of outcomes. The report advised that the recent work by the Tackling Poverty Commission on child poverty was a particularly relevant area and should be explored by finance colleagues from all partners with a further report to be submitted to the Board supporting the resource baseline analysis.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted: and

(b) That the proposal to pilot a shared approach to financial planning and budgeting around the tackling poverty shared outcomes be agreed with finance representatives from each partner being nominated to discuss the development.

There was submitted a report by the Lead Officer, Community Planning relative to the sharing of physical assets to improve services and save resources.

The report advised that at a meeting on 19th January, 2015, partners agreed with the principle of coming together to make the best use of physical resources in Renfrewshire. There was also agreement that modern, flexible space with secure and fast Wi-Fi in buildings which optimised energy efficiency was an aspiration common to all partners. Co-location was supported where that could be shown to benefit clients or organisations, but not if there was no added value.

The report proposed that a Property Development and Regeneration group be established which would oversee progress in making the best use of physical resources in Renfrewshire; identify new development opportunities as they arose; and meet quarterly to share information and review progress. It was anticipated that the Group would report regularly to the Community Planning Partnership Board and membership of the group would include those partners who had attended the meeting in January.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress made in sharing property development opportunities among Community Planning Partners be noted;

(b) That it be agreed that a Community Planning Property Development and Regeneration group be established to lead further progress; and

(c) That it be agreed to progress further joint work in the six priority areas identified within the report.

There were submitted and noted the Minutes of meetings of the following Thematic Boards:-

(a) Renfrewshire Forum for Empowering Communities Thematic Board held on 27th January, 2015.

(b) Community Care, Health & Wellbeing Thematic Board held on 5th February, 2015.

(c) Children & Young People Thematic Board held on 24th February, 2015.

(d) Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board held on 5th March, 2015.

(e) Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board held on 5th March, 2015.

(f) Jobs & the Economy Thematic Board held on 12 March, 2015.

Councillors M Macmillan and M Holmes; S Black, Chief Executive; P Macleod, Director of Children's Services; S MacDougall, Director of Community Resources; and M Crearie, Director of Development & Housing Services (all Renfrewshire Council); A McNiven, Chief Executive (Engage Renfrewshire); D Leese, Chief Officer and F MacKay, Head of Planning & Health Improvement and Lead Officer Community Planning (both Health and Social Care); L de Caestecker, Director of Public Health (NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde); J Downie, Chief Superintendent (Police Scotland); B Davidson, Chief Executive (Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce); S Kerr, Location Director (Scottish Government); and A Cumberford, Principal and Chief Executive (West College Scotland).

CHAIR
 
Councillor Macmillan presided.

Dr. J McCormick, Commissioner (Tackling Poverty Commission); S Graham, Empowering Communities Manager (Engage Renfrewshire); S McLellan, Chief Executive, (RAMH and Forum for Empowering Communities Representative); and R McGrath, Welfare Reform Programme Manager; A MacArthur, Acting Head of Corporate Finance; and C MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer (all Renfrewshire Council).

The Chair intimated that he proposed to facilitate the conduct of the meeting by considering Item 4 before Item 3 and Items 6 and 7 before Item 5.