Agenda item

Presentation on:

(a)        Draft Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP); and

(b)        Locality Plans.

4.1     Colin Banks, SBC Lead Officer for Localities, gave a brief overview of the requirements within Part 2 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, for each Community Planning Partnership to publish a Local Outcomes Improvement Plan and report progress annually; and divide the area of the local authority into smaller areas, identifying those experiencing significantly poorer outcomes than those elsewhere, and publish a Locality Plan for each area, reporting on progress annually.  These Plans required to be published by 1 October 2017.  The Plans also needed to show an understanding of local needs, circumstances and aspirations of communities; how participation by communities, business and the third sector had helped to develop and influence this understanding; clear and agreed priorities for improving local outcomes and tackling inequalities; short (1 year), medium (3 years) and long term (10 years) outcomes; and how community planning partners were deploying resources in support of the agreed outcomes.

Noted.

4.2     Draft Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP)

Mr Banks continued with his presentation on the Draft LOIP which covered the Vision for the Plan “by working with our communities and through targeted partnership action the quality of life will improved for all who live in the Scottish Borders” which was set against the context of population projections.  There were 5 themes in the Plan:  our ageing population; our children & young people; our vulnerable adults and families; our health and wellbeing; and our economy and skills.  The LOIP looked at Borders-wide issues, while Locality Plans would look at specific issues within particular communities.  A range of information sources - including national and local statistics, community views, and professional knowledge and expertise - was used to help identify inequalities and differences to give an understanding of the key issues and challenges and arrive at the outcomes for each of the 5 themes in the Plan.  An example was then given of an outcome.  To support the delivery of the outcomes, the Partnership would also adopt a number of principles/ways of working.  In February/March 2017, community views were sought in a variety of ways – the Scottish Borders Household survey; community events and breakfasts; our place surveys; Instagram; and graffiti wall posters (like, dislike, change) from youth groups.   There was a need to look further into greater use of social media in future, with an example given of the approach being taken by Perth and Kinross Council which was mainly on-line, dynamic and interactive.  Feedback would now be requested from the Strategic Board, with public consultation on the LOIP starting in mid-July to the end of August.  Timescales were flexible but Plans had to be published by the statutory deadline of 1 October 2017.

4.3     Locality Plans

With regard to Locality Plans, a similar approach and template would be used as that of the LOIP.  This would include local evidence and resources, as well as local outcomes and priorities, which could differ from those in the LOIP.  The draft Plans would need to be presented to the Strategic Board after wider public consultation.

4.4     Members of the Board discussed both the LOIP and the Locality Plans.  Reference was made to the challenging timescale for production and publication of the Plans and the importance of getting the views of the community, in as innovative a way as possible, to ensure engagement and ownership.  SBC Chief Executive, Tracey Logan, confirmed that the aim was to have enough content and outcomes in the Plans to be able to publish by the due date as a starting point, but the documents would be dynamic and outcomes/information added as localities got to work.  Links to other relevant pre-existing plans would also be included so that there was as flat a structure as possible to avoid confusion.   Elaine Torrance gave some details of the engagement which had been undertaken during the production of the 5 Health and Social Care Locality Plans which could be used to inform this process.  The best solution was to have one portal to access all plans and drill down further from there with links to other sites.  It was recognised that those who would benefit most from this were those hardest to reach so everything needed to be simple, accessible, and readable.  It was confirmed that online access would allow people to participate to build the plan and local forums would be used for face to face engagement and to establish which groups needed to be contacted and involved.  Information would also be available in a variety of formats - including print - for local distribution to a wide range of places such as doctors’ surgeries, libraries, leisure centres, SBConnect (the Council newspaper), etc. which would take cognisance of those who did not access information online.  Jenni Craig, SBC Service Director Customer & Communities, confirmed that there would be a range of stakeholders involved in any consultation exercise and officers would be available to come and speak to Groups over summer and into September. Care would need to be taken that with a number of consultations underway at any given time that there was some cohesion so communities did not suffer “consultation fatigue”.  A further point for consideration was the demographics of the Borders so there needed to be a balance in terms of outcomes. 

Action:

Note:  Councillor McAteer left the meeting at 1:30 p.m.