Agenda item

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 being established to progress the work required.  Netta Meadows emphasised one really important point which came out strongly in the workshop held in January that as the overall Plan was being refreshed, the focus would be on the outcomes we were trying to achieve and that is what we would measure.  This would not be easy to do and it would be a challenge to get those outcomes right, ensure they remained at a strategic level, but a collective approach would help.  It would be better to do a few things well rather than attempt to do many things badly.  By having a clear framework and approach to deciding what the main priorities were, the links could be mapped out along with the dependencies.  The Regional Economic Strategy outcomes could also be considered as part of this work.  Marjorie Hume commented on the need for the Community Planning Partnership to consider how it looked to others externally.  Too much information did not work well for communities.  It was hoped that the Partnership would have the same priorities as communities as that would achieve greater input and realisation from communities.  Jenni Craig confirmed she would send out details of the Working Group to ensure all partners were represented.

DECISION

AGREED to:

(a)     note the progress made in relation to the Review;

(b)     approve the Draft Improvement Plan; and

(c)     the proposed partnership approach to deliver the Improvement Plan and the relevant timescales.