Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that Item 6(c) (iii) on the agenda, the ‘Young People’s Wellbeing Survey results’ had been deferred and would now be considered at the next meeting of the Board on 8 June 2023.  Apologies had been received from Cllr Greenwell (SBC) and Mr R. McCowan (Borders College).

(a) Consider Minute of the meeting held on 17 November 2022.  (Copy attached.)

(b) Consider Action Tracker.  (Copy attached.)

2.1       Copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 17 November 2022 had been circulated. 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minute for signature by the Chair.

2.2       Copies of an updated Action Tracker had also been circulated.  Ms Malster provided an update to the tracker.  With reference to paragraph 12.1 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, Mr McGrath gave an update on his proposal for each Community Council to set up a Citizen’s Panel.  Having contacted the Core Group of the Scottish Borders Community Councils Network and met with SBC Director Resilient Communities and SBC Participation Officer, Mr McGrath had discovered there were over 1,000 groups or organisations already operating across the Borders, with some 205 groups in Hawick alone.  In this respect Mr McGrath had written a note to all Community Councils and asked that this note be circulated to the Strategic Board. 

DECISION

(a)     NOTED the update and the completed actions.

(b)     AGREED that Mr McGrath send a copy of his note to the SBC Chief Executive for approval, prior to its circulation to the Board.

Note:  Councillor Jardine joined the meeting.

An update provided by Duncan Dunlop (Borders TSI).

3.1       With reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute of 16 June 2022, Mr Duncan Dunlop (TSI) and Ms Juliana Amaral (BAVS) gave a presentation on the role, function and recent developments within the Borders Third Sector Interface (TSI).  Case studies were shared with members to illustrate the recent work of the TSI, focussed around the Warm Spaces initiative and subsequent signposting to further support.  The valuable work of local volunteers was highlighted whereby they brought local knowledge of and enthusiasm to support their community.  The TSI was able to connect these volunteers with those in need and supported them to maintain momentum so activities happened quickly and safely.  The TSI role centred on a collaborative approach to community capacity building which brought statutory, housing and third sector stakeholders together.  The work that had been done in the village of Ayton, Berwickshire was highlighted; a Warm Space provision that now supported 90 people on a weekly basis.  At present there were 17 projects underway across the Scottish Borders, all based on a similar model of funding and disbursement.  National Lottery Match Funding had been made available to communities, along with statutory funding.  The learning from the projects was shared across the Borders in order to avoid duplication of effort.  The work of the TSI aligned closely with Place Making, social prescribing, community wealth building, financial inclusion and climate emergency action and made improvements towards reducing both health inequalities and reliance on Health and Social Care services.  Borders TSI continued to work closely with Dumfries and Galloway TSI to bring back Mental Health & Wellbeing funding to the Borders for 2023/24.  Other partners included SOSE, SOSREP and Borderlands. 

3.2       Future developments within the TSI were to result in a volunteering hub for all ages, skills and interests, an initial 14 staff members available to all communities with social enterprise development at the heart of economic development, and a name change of the organisation to ‘Borders Community Action (BCA)’ as of 1 April 2023.  The legacy partners Volunteer Centre Borders and The Bridge were to be wound up with all staff retained and incorporated into BCA.  BAVS was to continue their community development work and refocus attention on their three charity shops to become zero waste hubs, with this work complementing the work of BCA rather than competing.  The Scottish Borders Social Enterprise Chamber was under review as part of an independent evaluation of social enterprise delivery across Scotland.  Work was ongoing by The Bridge and BAVS to unite the Community Transport service as per the outcome of the 2021 consultation.  It was highlighted that the annual funding award of £309k had been the same over the past 11 years; there was a need to increase this funding to a target of £500k to maximise impact.  Borders TSI administration headquarters was to be relocated, with the possibility of an office at Council headquarters in Newtown St Boswells.  Consideration was to be given to how a community presence was to be maintained going forward.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

An update from Jenni Craig, Director Resilient Communities.  (Copy attached.)

4.1       With reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, Ms Jenni Craig, SBC Director Resilient Communities, gave a presentation updating members on progress by the Task Group on the CPP Improvement plan.  The plan comprised three actions: 1) Prioritise - to refresh the Local Outcome Improvement Plan/Community Plan (LOIP) as a result of the pandemic; 2) Governance - to review current Community Planning partnership structures and processes in relation to effective decision making; and 3) Performance - to ensure the Partnership’s long term outcomes were supported by a short and medium term performance framework.  In terms of actions for Priorities 1 and 3, the proposed 12 month timeline for development of the refreshed Community Plan was shared, with the final draft ‘Community Plan and Actions’ to be completed by August/September 2023.  Currently the Task Group was engaged in data gathering in order to assemble and agree a list of top priorities for the Plan.  April and May were to see the development of a draft Plan for review at the Programme Board in May 2023, the creation of a performance management framework for measuring actions and development of both an engagement plan and an IIA.  Consultation on the draft CPP Plan with locality groups, third sector partners and key stakeholders was scheduled for June and July, with the final draft of the CPP plan and the IIA to be completed by the end of July 2023.   August and September was to see the handover to partnership organisations to deliver the plan and actions, following approval at Council.  In terms of Priority 2, mapping of governance arrangements already in existence in other areas was ongoing and was being supported by the Improvement Service.

4.2       Ms Craig also highlighted the statutory reporting requirements of the previous 2018 Community Plan whereby Scottish Government was to be informed of improvements to priority outcomes, the extent to which CPP had participated with community bodies in carrying out its functions, and the extent to which participation had been effective in enabling community bodies to contribute to community planning.  A project team had been identified to develop the progress report, the content of which was to be accessible to the public with little or no knowledge of Community Planning.  Partners were asked to provide information for the progress report on their theme area as required.  Work continued and there were no concerns or exceptions to report at this time.  In response to question around the future role of CPPs it was confirmed that evidence was being collated currently by Scottish Government, and Scottish Borders Council would keep a watching brief on this as it evolved and ensure that any significant changes were reported back to the CPP.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

Consider proposal for a themed approach from Jenni Craig, Director Resilient Communities.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by Ms Jenni Craig, SBC Director Resilient Communities, which proposed that the quarterly Community Planning Partnership meetings (Joint Programme Board and Strategic Board) were to be structured around the themes of the Community Plan.  The four themes were as follows: 1) Enough money to live on; 2) Access to work, learning and training; 3) Enjoying good health and wellbeing; and 4) A good place to grow up, live and enjoy life.  The alignment of the meetings to the themes was to enable time for detailed discussion one theme at each meeting, along with progress reports on the achievement of outcomes identified in the 2022/23 CPP Work Plan.  While this would allow a particular focus on each theme, other items would also be considered as part of each agenda.

DECISION

AGREED that meetings were to take a themed approach from Summer 2023 as follows:

·         Summer 2023 - Theme 3 Enjoying good health and wellbeing;

·         Autumn 2023 – Theme 2 Access to work, learning and training;

·         Winter 2023 – Theme 1 Enough money to live on; and

·         Spring 2024 – Theme 4 A good place to grow up, live and enjoy a full life.

Progress report from Jenni Craig.  (Copy attached.)

6.1       With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, copes of a progress report on Theme 1 – Enough money to live on, had been circulated.  Ms Jenni Craig, SBC Director Resilient Communities, highlighted that work by both the Strategic Group and Operational Group continued apace to address the challenges faced by communities, funded by the £1.2m Cost of Living Fund.  A total of £33,576 had been awarded to 12 community organisations to date which focussed on the provision of warm spaces through individual grants of up to £2k.  The allocation of funding was to continue to support local organisations in providing advice and financial assistance to communities and the communications plan had been shared with the multi-agency group to further raise awareness of current support on offer.  Most of the fund had been spent and decisions were being taken now with regards to using the remaining balance or for it to be carried forward to 2023/34.  A full report on the partnership response to the cost of living crisis was to be brought to the meeting in Winter 2023. 

6.2       In terms of the development of a plan that was to support parents into employment, an audit was underway of what support was currently in place or in the pipeline in order that gaps were identified.  SBC had implemented a change in HR policy which ensured that Modern Apprentices were to receive the living Wage from 1 April 2023.  In terms of community wealth building, in partnership with SOSE and Dumfries & Galloway Council, horizon scanning was underway to consider the establishment of flexible working hubs.  Scottish Government was consulting on the legislation that was to put the advancement of community wealth building on a statutory footing and could be accessed via https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-community-wealth-scotland-consultation-paper/ until the end of April.  This was a key consultation for SBC and its partners to respond to collectively.  The partnership was to focus on the collaboration of the public sector with private, third and community sectors to ensure that more of the wealth generated by communities was retained therein.  The response was to be developed and circulated via email to obtain agreement from the CPP given the tight timescale.

DECISION

(a)     NOTED the update; and

(b)     AGREED to consider the response to the Scottish Government Community Wealth Building consultation via email.

Progress report from Shona Mitchell - Skills Development Scotland.  (Copy attached.)

7.1       With reference to paragraph 8 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, copies of a report providing an update on Theme 2: Access to work, learning and training, had been circulated. Ms Andrea Hall, Skills Development Scotland, reported that in the time since the report had been written, the School Leaver Destination Return (SLDR) had been published on 28 February.  This gave details of the percentage of school leavers who had left education between September 2021 and September 2022 and entered into a positive destination.  The Scottish Borders had 1252 leavers (0.9% above the National average) which was an increase on previous trends of around 1100, of which 1210 (96.6%) went on to a positive destination (further/higher education, employment, voluntary work).  60% of leavers were S6, 30% were S5 and 10% were S4 which mirrored the National picture.  There had been a higher than previous number of S4 and 5 leavers, partly attributed to the buoyant labour market.  20 individuals were currently unemployed and seeking work, while 13 were unemployed and not seeking work.  36.8% of school leavers progressed into higher education (4.4% below the National average).  31.4% of school leavers entered into employment (6.3% above the National average).  A follow up SLDR survey was to be conducted on 3 April 2023 to ascertain whether these positions had been sustained.

7.2       A refresh of the Local Employability Partnership (LEP) was underway from now until July 2023 to develop its vision and priorities going forward.  The focus of the partnership was on: transitions; an all-age employability support; and targeted interventions of specific groups (geographic or characteristic based) which utilised data on the local labour market and the voice of service users.  The recruitment of an Employability Manager was expected to provide leadership of this work stream and facilitate the two way flow of information between the LEP and the CPP.  Support groups already existed in the Borders which provided a challenge in the establishment of reporting mechanisms into the CPP.  It was noted that a report by James Withers, on his independent review of the skills delivery landscape to ensure the public body landscape for skills remained fit to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future, was due to be published hopefully before the next meeting of the CPP.  It was suggested that a discussion on the report’s outcomes be held at the most appropriate Strategic Board meeting thereafter.

DECISION

            NOTED the update.

Progress report.  (Copy attached.)

(i)   The new Mental Health Improvement & Suicide Prevention Plan – Fiona Doig and Steph MacKenzie (Public Health).

(ii)  Draft Health & Social Care Strategic Framework – Chris Myers (Joint Integration Board).  (Copies attached.)

(iii) Young People’s Wellbeing Survey results – Christine Brown (SBC).  (Copies attached.)

8.1       The Partnership Manager, Ms Clare Malster, reported that there was a vacancy for the lead officer of Theme 3, and it was anticipated a new lead officer would be appointed shortly.  With reference to paragraph 7 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, copies of a report providing an update on Theme 3: Enjoying good health and wellbeing had been circulated.   Fiona Doig and Steph Mackenzie (NHS Borders) then provided members with an overview of the new Mental Health Improvement & Suicide Prevention Plan, called ‘Creating Hope in the Scottish Borders’ which was to be discussed in greater depth at the next meeting.  Survey templates in all policies for anchor organisations and FSD had been developed and circulated to members of the Joint Programme Board.  The vision for the Creating Hope action plan was to increase the number of people in good mental health at every age and stage of life and to reduce the number of suicide deaths in the Scottish Borders, whilst working together with partners and communities to tackle the inequalities that contributed to poor mental health and suicide.  A key principle was partnership engagement in the creation and delivery of the plan.  The Area Partnerships were included in the engagement process for development of the plan in 2022.  Further proactive engagement with localities was to be undertaken in 2023 around the areas of ‘Mentally Healthy Communities’ and ‘Suicide Safer Communities’. Wider community planning aims and actions were to consider mental health impacts in order to reduce deaths by suicide and support people and communities affected by suicide. Many actions that were effective in reducing suicide and promoting better mental health lay out-with the health sector, within local planning partnerships and other agencies. The integration of mental health and wellbeing into Impact Assessments, along with guidance for promotion of mental health and wellbeing were to be produced in line with the action plan.

8.2       Copies of a report and the final draft of the Scottish Borders Health & Social Care Strategic Framework 2023-26, which would inform the Community Planning Partnership and seek its approval to adopt the Framework as the approach of the ‘Enjoying good health and wellbeing’ theme, had been circulated.  It was a statutory duty of the Integration Joint Board to produce a 3 year strategic plan in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, Scottish Borders Council, the Health Board and wider partners.  The Strategic Framework had been developed to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of Borders communities, based on the needs of those communities and to prioritise areas which were considered to have the greatest impact on the health and wellbeing outcomes.  Public consultation exercises had been undertaken with particular attention paid to engaging the sectors of society that were usually harder to reach.  Findings from consultation and data gathering had been compared against the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes, with all currently below benchmark percentage targets.  A risk based approach was undertaken to identify strategic issues that required proactive management.  The resulting framework outlined  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Progress report from Vinnie Fisher - Police Scotland, to include:

(i)         Climate Change Route Map

(ii)        Practitioner Advisory Group

(iii)       Climate Change Workshop for Partners.

(Copy attached.)

9.1       With reference to paragraph 9 of the Minute of 17 November 2022, copies of an update on Theme 4: A good place to grow up, live and enjoy a full life, had been circulated.  The report proposed that the CPP be invited to endorse the Scottish Borders Climate Change Route Map (CCRM).   The CCRM provided a strategic framework for collective action on a just transition to Net Zero and related adaptation action across the Scottish Borders.  Chief Inspector Fisher renewed his request to partners to identify an appropriate officer to participate in a partnership Practitioner/Advisory Group which was to provide technical and practical support to the Board on this urgent priority.  A workshop supported by Edinburgh Climate Change Institute was to take place on 20 March with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions.  Its purpose was to initiate work on establishing an approach to area-wide baseline emissions data, to be used to plan, manage and monitor progress against key emissions sources.  Partners were requested to ensure they were represented appropriately at the workshop.

9.2       In relation to the cleaner, greener travel outcome, a baseline review of data provided by the 42 bus and community transport routes and journeys had been undertaken.  This was to be overlaid on employee postcode data from NHS Borders and Borders College to establish if there were any new travel opportunities.  There had been an online public consultation exercise, the results of which were to feed into the local transport network review.  The PINGO Demand Responsive Transport pilot was on target to exceed 12000 passengers by the end of March 2023.  With further enhancements it was hoped that the trial was to be extended.  In relation to Place Making, potential dates were to be identified for the Programme and Strategic Boards to come together for a workshop to be facilitated by Scottish Futures Trust and Scottish Government Place Team.  The purpose of the workshop was to reflect on the Borderlands workshops held with communities and the wider engagements in other communities.  The workshop should also highlight the role of the new TSI in Place Making.  A date in the weeks commencing 17 and 24 April was to be considered.  In relation to domestic violence, the DAAS Service Manager was currently preparing a draft infographic to be targeted to the wider community which highlighted the various ways they could ‘reach in’ and seek support/report.

DECISION

NOTED the update.

Integrated Children and Young People's Progress Report 2021-22 for noting only. (Copy attached.)

Copies of the Integrated Children and Young People’s Report 2021-22 had been circulated.

DECISION
NOTED.

Consider Forward Planner. (Copy attached.)

Copies of a Forward Planner for meetings and items for agendas had been circulated. 

DECISION

NOTED.

12.1     Ms Karen Hamilton (NHS Borders) reported that NHS Borders Board was to hold a public meeting in Jedburgh Town Hall on 30 March.  This was the first of a series of meetings across the Borders in 2023 to be widely publicised.

12.2     Mr Colin McGrath (SBCCN) suggested another theme which could be added “A Good Place to have your say and influence decisions.”  The Director Resilient Communities advised that the opportunity to make amendments/suggest new themes was part of the refresh of the Community Plan discussions.

DECISION

NOTED.

The next meeting of the Community Planning Strategic Board is scheduled for 8 June 2023 at 2pm.

The next meeting of the Strategic Board was confirmed as 8 June 2023, taking place online via Microsoft Teams starting at 2:00pm.