Councillors McIlwee (Inverclyde Council) and Casey (West Dunbartonshire Council).

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

There were submitted the Minutes of the reconvened meeting of the Authority and the meeting of the Authority both held on 11 December 2015.

DECIDED: That the Minutes be approved.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer and the Chief Officer in respect of the Authority. The report intimated that expenditure on core services was anticipated to be £247,875 over budget and expenditure on non-core services was anticipated to be £24,799 under budget, which resulted in an anticipated £223,076 net overspend for the Authority.

Argyll, Bute and Dunbartonshire Criminal Justice Social Work Partnership was projecting an overspend of £169,029; East Renfrewshire Council was projecting an overspend of £55,394; Inverclyde Council was projecting a break-even position and Renfrewshire Council was projecting an underspend of £1,346. Any over-spend at the year-end was required to be met by the relevant local authority.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a joint administration grant revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer and the Chief Officer in respect of the Authority. The report intimated that expenditure against the administration grant was currently projected to result in an underspend of £2,999. Details of the projected expenditure were attached to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the section 27 grant allocation and administration grant allocation for 2016/17.


The report intimated that the Scottish Government would not issue allocation letters to Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) until 1 April 2016 following the CoSLA Leaders meeting. Therefore the allocation of the section 27 and administration grant would not be considered until the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016, a delay in funding to local authorities of three months.

At the finance meeting in February 2016 between CJA and local authority officers there was unanimous support for monthly allocation payments to begin at the end of April 2016 rather than be delayed until June 2016. In anticipation that the overall section 27 grant allocation would broadly be in line with that received for 2015/16, the report proposed that interim grant allocation payments for April, May and June 2016 be made to each local authority at the same level as those made during 2015/16 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report. Following confirmation of the section 27 grant allocation by the Scottish Government a report on the allocations across all local authorities would be submitted to the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016 with any amendments to grant allocation payments being made in the July 2016 payment. These arrangements included the extension of training and development services until this function transferred to Community Justice Scotland on 1 April 2017.

A report relative to the Authority administration grant allocation 2016/17 would be submitted to the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016.

DECIDED:

(a) That the payment of interim grant allocations for April, May and June 2016, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved;

(b) That the Chief Officer submit a report to the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016 relative to the allocation of the section 27 grant for 2016/17; and

(c) That the Chief Officer submit a report to the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016 relative to the allocation of the administration grant for 2016/17.

Under reference to item 7 of the Minute of the meeting of this Authority held on 11 December, 2015 there was submitted a report by the Partnership Manager, Sacro relative to the development of a Bail Supervision and Early Intervention Service for women in the criminal justice system living in the Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and West Dumbarton areas.

The report intimated that staff had recently been appointed to the service which would be delivered, in the main, from Greenock, Paisley and Dumbarton Sheriff Courts. Sacro would be undertaking an induction training programme with all newly appointed staff to ensure that they were able to safely support the service users.

The Operational Steering Group would be chaired by the Renfrewshire Criminal Justice Services Manager. The first meeting of the Strategic Steering Group, comprising the Scottish Prison Service, Police Scotland, Sacro, the Faculty of Solicitors, local authorities, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, led by the Chief Officer of this Authority, would be held on 24 March 2016.

A discussion took place relative to the NHS being represented on the Strategic Steering Group and it was proposed that the Chief Officer investigate this matter. This was agreed.

The Chief Officer advised that he would invite Kerry Morgan from the Scottish Government to give a presentation/briefing to members at the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted;

(b) That the Chief Officer investigate the possibility of the NHS being a member of the Strategic Steering Group; and

(c) That the Chief Officer invite Kerry Morgan from the Scottish Government to give a presentation/briefing to members at the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016.

There was submitted a report by the Planning Officer relative to the North Strathclyde Community Justice Authority Action Plan 2015/16. The report intimated that the Authority was required to produce annual action plans to progress the overarching strategy of the 2014/17 area plan. There were 12 actions and 19 activities in the action plan, 18 (95%) of which had been achieved within the timescale and 1 (5%) which had not.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Planning Officer relative to the North Strathclyde Community Justice Authority Action Plan 2016/17. The report intimated that the Authority was required to produce annual action plans to progress the overarching strategy of the 2014/17 area plan. The report intimated that the action plan followed the same format as last year to align to the reformatting of the area plan.

There were currently 16 activities outlined in the action plan with the main focus being the transition from the current structure to the new model of delivery through the shadow year and the successful disestablishment of the Authority. The action plan had been circulated to all partners for comment and feedback.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That the Action Plan 2016/17 be approved for submission to the Scottish Government; and

(c) That authority be delegated to the Chief Officer, in consultation with the Convener, to amend the action plan in line with any feedback from the Scottish Government.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer relative to the Community Justice (Scotland) Bill passed by the Scottish Parliament on 11 February 2016.

The report intimated that none of the measures conferring functions on Community Justice Scotland or community justice partners would come into effect until around 1 April 2017, with Community Justice Authorities being abolished immediately prior to this.

The report provided information in relation to the £50,000 transition funding received in 2015/16 and 2016/17; an event being organised by the national Transitions Group on the current development of the National Strategy, Performance Framework and Guidance; the national Community Justice ‘Toolkit’ which had been uploaded to the Community Planning Partners Knowledge Hub; the recruitment of a Convener and Chief Executive for Community Justice Scotland; and regional events being held around the National Strategy, Performance Framework and Guidance documents.

The Disestablishment Plan 2016/17 for the Authority formed Appendix 1 to the report.

It was proposed that the Chairs of Integration Joint Boards and Andy Bruce, Deputy Director, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government be invited to a future meeting of the Authority to update members on the progress of the transition process.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That the Chief Officer invite Chairs of Integration Joint Boards and Andy Bruce, Deputy Director, Criminal Justice Division, Scottish Government to a future meeting of the Authority to discuss the progress of the transition process.

The Chief Officer advised that this report would be submitted to the next meeting of the Authority scheduled to be held on 10 June 2016.

DECIDED: That it be noted that this report would be submitted to the next meeting of the Authority to be held on 10 June 2016.

The Chief Executive, Turning Point Scotland gave a presentation to members in relation to the Turnaround service providing details in relation to both the residential unit and services offered in the community and the outcomes of the service for both the residential unit and the community service.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.




The Chief Officer and Planning Officer of the Authority together with all officers in attendance from local authorities and partner agencies left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Authority would be held at 10.30 am on Friday 10 June 2016 in Renfrewshire House.

Councillors Robertson (Argyll & Bute Council); O'Donnell (East Dunbartonshire Council); Lafferty (East Renfrewshire Council); and Williams (Renfrewshire Council).

Councillor Williams, Convener, presided.

J Hunter, Chief Officer and W Duffy, Planning Officer (North Strathclyde Community Justice Authority); L Long (Argyll & Bute Council); D Donnelly (East Dunbartsonshire Council); L Gaff and K Rocks (both East Renfrewshire Council); A Howard (Inverclyde Council); P Macleod, A Scott, D Forbes, L Mullin and E Currie (all Renfrewshire Council); and N Firth (both West Dunbartonshire Council).

F MacKinnonn (Sacro); J Ryan (Action for Children); M Cawley (Turning Point Scotland) and Superintendent Kennedy (Police Scotland).

The Convener intimated that there was an additional item in relation to the Disestablishment of Community Justice Authorities – Proposed Severance Scheme for Community Justice Authority Employees which had not been included in the notice calling the meeting. The Convener, being of the opinion that the item which is dealt with at item 11 of this Minute was urgent, in view of the need to consider this matter timeously, authorised its consideration.

There was submitted a report by the Treasurer relative to the proposed severance scheme for Community Justice Authority (CJA) employees on the disestablishment of CJAs.

The report intimated that on 15 February 2016 the Deputy Director, Community Justice Division, Scottish Government wrote to the Convener of the Authority confirming that Scottish Ministers had approved a 'hybrid' severance scheme for all CJA employees. The scheme was based on the compulsory Civil Service Compensation Scheme but with bespoke elements that would more accurately reflect some of the main elements of the local severance schemes submitted in 2015. This option would ensure a consistent approach was applied for employees across the eight CJAs. A copy of the letter formed Appendix 1 to the report and the principals of the severance scheme were detailed in the annex to the letter.

It was noted that the ‘compulsory Civil Service Compensation Scheme’ referred to in the letter from the Deputy Director, Community Justice Division, Scottish Government in no way related to CJA employees being made compulsory redundant and the ‘hybrid’ scheme should not be referred to as a compulsory scheme.

The Management Statement/Financial Guidance issued to all CJAs in relation to management and financial procedures formed Appendix 2 to the report. Section 4.2.3 of Annex A of this guidance provided that all CJA severance schemes required to be approved by Scottish Ministers and that all CJA severance schemes must comply with Scottish Public Finance Manual severance guidelines.

The Scottish Government had given an undertaking to meet all costs in relation to the abolition of CJAs including severance, pension scheme deficits and any other costs. Estimated costs were contained in the Financial Memorandum which accompanied the Bill and a copy of this document formed Appendix 3 of the report.

The Scottish Government had requested that CJAs consider the proposed severance scheme and provide an indication on acceptance of this proposal by 31 March 2016.

DECIDED:

(a) That the proposed severance scheme, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved and that the Scottish Government be advised of this prior to the deadline of 31 March 2016; and

(b) That the Scottish Government be advised that the proposed severance scheme should not be referred to as a compulsory scheme.