Agenda and minutes

Councillor Rowley welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Apologies had been received from Councillor Tatler (SBC) and Prof. Griggs (SOSE).

(a)     Consider Minute of Meeting of 18 November 2021.  (Attached)

(b)     Consider Action Tracker.  (Attached)

2.1       Copies of the Minute of 18 November 2021 had been circulated. 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minute.

2.2       Copies of the Action Tracker for the Strategic Board had been circulated.

DECISION

NOTED.

Update by Netta Meadows and Jenni Craig.  (Review Update & Draft Improvement Plan attached)

3.1       With reference to paragraph 3 of the Minute of 18 November 2021, copies of an update paper on the Community Planning Partnership Review and a Draft Improvement Plan had been circulated.  SBC Director Resilient Communities, Mrs J. Craig, gave a presentation on progress with the Review:

• Review update – a questionnaire had been issued to all partners at the end of November to information the CP workshop agenda.  The workshop, hosted by the Improvement Service, took place on 17 January 2022 and aimed to start developing a draft CPP Improvement Plan.  Three main areas of focus came out of this for the Improvement Plan:  prioritisation, governance and performance.
• Action 1 (Prioritise) – officers aimed to refresh the Community Plan to account for significant changes in the operation landscape as a result of the pandemic.  Proposals to achieve this included establishing a Working Group to support the Programme Board in its work, with a shorter time target to reduce the Plan to a number of key priorities and report to the Strategic Board in June 2022.  A key focus would be to gain insight from partners on lived experience.  In tandem, all partners would be involved in place making and the outcomes from those discussions would feed into the refresh of Locality Plans and the Community Plan.  Engagement would take place with communities and a further report provided to the Strategic Board in September 2022.
• Action 2 (Governance) – a review was currently underway on the current Community Planning Partnership structures and processes in relation to effective decision making to ensure they were fit for purpose.  A Working Group was being established to consider options; with partners surveyed during February and March to establish what had worked well during the pandemic; identify best practice, including the views of partners who were involved in multiple Community Planning Partnerships; a peer review to be carried out via the national network, assisted by the Improvement Service.  A workshop would be held to develop the future structure which would be aligned to the Plan and priorities and reports would be provided to the Strategic Board in June and September 2022.
• Action 3 (Performance) – work would be carried out to ensure the Community Planning Partnership’s long term outcomes were supported by a performance framework in which progress could be measured in the short and medium terms.  Once priorities had been agreed, the accountability of partners for reporting would be clarified.  A Task Group would be established to develop a core number of key performance indicators along with a consistent way of measurement.  An evaluation process would be established which would include lived experience and a clear approach to public performance reporting.  A report would be brought to the Strategic Board in September 2022.

3.2       The Programme Board at its meeting on 9 February had agreed the Draft Improvement Plan.  It was recognised that delivery of this would require both leadership and resource investment, with all partners having a key role.  A Task Group was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Presentation by James Lamb.  (Attached)

4.1       With reference to paragraph 8 of the Minute of 4 March 2021, copies of a presentation with an update on Place Making had been circulated.  Naomi Sweeney, SBC Project Manager, advised that there had been presentations and discussions at all the Area Partnerships since Spring 2021.  Facilitated Area Partnership workshops were planned for 14 and 26 March 2022 which would allow an understanding of place making, agreement to a memorandum of understanding and prioritisation of communities.  During 2022/23, a Forward Plan would be developed which would include prioritised communities and Borderland target towns.  The role of the Area Partnerships was to agree and monitor actions and themes, Locality Plans and their delivery, while also considering future priorities.  In terms of implications for the CPP review, the place narrative looked at what was good/a strength; what and needed to change, where and why; what changes would make a difference; and what opportunities existed.  A vision and objectives would be developed along with priorities, projects and action plans.  Learning from place plans would allow common themes to be recognised between communities, localities and the wider Borders.  This would contribute to the refresh of the Community Plan and the Borderlands Towns Investment Programme.  Project development and delivery would need to be considered alongside service planning and delivery, and by securing funding a project pipeline would then be ready to roll out. 

4.2       Cllr Bell referred to outcomes and asked for clarification on the output from the place making process.  There was some confusion around the definition of place making which for some communities was a process to feed into the Local Development Plan, while another could view it as a developing a better understanding of how everyone worked together.  A Locality Plan in Community Planning terms was based on reducing inequalities.  Ms Sweeney advised that place making was an ongoing consultative process.  Workshops were being held to establish 15 place plans for this year, with the aim of having plans for the 69 Community Council areas thereafter.  Four of the plans related to Borderlands funding and were being produced quickly.  It was very much around working with the capabilities and capacity of communities to produce the rest.  Some communities were keen to proceed while others would require support.   The terms ‘place making’ was confusing but a local place plan looked at the objectives of a community and the actions needed to join these up.  There was no prescriptive way to put together a place plan so they would vary.  Cllr Bell sought further clarification on the outputs for locality plans and those in place plans.  Cllr Rowley advised that different communities had different views on this, with some communities doing place planning themselves to determine how their communities would evolve and develop and what they needed in terms of services, etc.  The SBC Director Resilient Communities further advised that there was no definitive answer at the moment as there would be different outputs from different communities so this would need to come  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Presentation by Michael Cook. (Attached)

5.1       Michael Cook, SBC Policy Officer, gave a presentation on the Climate Change Route Map which, although it was an SBC-led document, had an absolute focus on partnership and collaboration.  The presentation covered:

• Scope of the route map – aligned with Scottish Government net zero emissions target of 2045, with interim targets for reductions of 75% by 2030, and 90% by 2040.  The route map was a long term plan with phased definition and delivery (Phase 1 was 2022/24).  There were 5 themes:  resilience, transport, nature based solutions, energy and waste management.
• Route map milestones and actions – each of the 5 themes set out a clear objective, purpose and milestones, with priority actions identified fir each theme which were due to be approved by Council at the end of March.  Actions would constantly evolve, shaping a strategy and framework for the future.
• Net Zero action within CPP – a number of points were given for discussion:  the role of the CPP in delivering Climate Change Route map actions; how to embed Net Zero imperatives; the need for training; and governance of Net Zero within the CPP.

            Note:  Councillor Rowley left the meeting at this point and Councillor Carol Hamilton assumed the Chair.

5.2       Members discussed the following aspects of the presentation:

• We needed to change people’s behaviours and habits through knowledge and training and work out how we lived as a community.  Borders College had received £380k to lead on a Net Zero project and all schools, social landlords and others will have free access to training, so there was an opportunity to broaden that out and work with partners.  It was what we do differently in our day to day lives that changed the habits of our students, etc. particularly around sustainability. 
• Climate change governance was being developed in the context of place making and discussions with partners going forward.  Thinking of carbon literacy and where organisations needed to be in terms of their thinking, about 60% of getting ultimately to Net Zero was about behaviour change so it was vital to strengthen the whole dialogue with communities and each other. 
• While the CPP was saying that communities would be driving priorities, but they themselves may not see climate change as a priority. 
• Climate change needed to be understood as a priority for the CPP and each individual organisation had a responsibility not only to take this forward individually but to make connections to take this forward collectively.  This needed to be a continual agenda item focussed on connecting actions.
• While there was self-determination by communities, organisations also had a leadership role and a high level Advisory Group, with the CPP providing leadership and momentum, would help operational interfaces being put in place.  This could be developed further over the summer.
• Community funding had been made available to BAVS to help deliver zero emissions community transport by 2025 and a pilot for electric bikes was currently underway in Duns, before the pilot would move to Reston.
• It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Update from Tim Patterson on the contents of the ADP Annual Review and highlight Annual Report 2020/21.  (Attached)

Copies of a report giving an update on the contents of the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP) Annual Review and highlight Annual Report 2020/21 had been circulated.  Tim Patterson, Director of Public Health introduced the report and Fiona Doig, Head of Health Improvement/Strategic Lead ADP, presented the key points.  The highlight Annual Report showed positive progress in many of the reporting areas and progress in relation to areas for improvement identified in the ADP Strategic Plan 2021-2023.  Prevention of drug related deaths remained a priority for all ADP partners.  Extraordinary efforts had been made to meet and keep engage with people most at risk during the pandemic, with a great deal of effort made across the services.  In response to a question about a lack of mental health support, Ms Doig advised that people who had experienced trauma or adverse childhood events were more likely to misuse drugs/alcohol and come to harm.  Children who grew up in families where that happened were also more likely to become users.  The Third Sector could refer people directly and a clinical psychologist worked in the community.  The challenge for mental health services coming out of the pandemic was to take on new clients and funding had become available to increase the skill set within the Third Sector to help those with mental health issues.  

DECISION

NOTED.

Marjorie Hume advised that the Third Sector Interface was going through a transformation in the next 4 months and it was hoped to bring an update to the Board at the June meeting. 

DECISION

NOTED.

The next meeting of the Strategic Board was scheduled for 2pm on Thursday 16 June 2022.

The Strategic Board noted that its next meeting was scheduled to take place on 16 June 2022 at 2pm.  This meeting would be held via Microsoft Teams and would be livestreamed.