Agenda and minutes

The Management Committee heard a presentation by John Scott, ODS Consultants who had been commissioned by Argyll and Bute Council to undertake an evaluation of the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF) Pathfinder in Argyll and Bute.  A copy of a summary report was also circulated which set out the key findings and recommendations.

 

After discussion it was agreed that Josephine Stojak, Brian Barker and David Dowie would get together and draw up a remit to enable the Health and Wellbeing Theme Group to identify solutions and make recommendations to this Committee as to the rationalisation of projects with common ground and to sustain projects funded by time-limited, ring fenced funding such as BNSF.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2005 were accepted as an accurate record and the following points were noted:

 

1.      Item 1 -  the Minutes of the Previous Meeting of 8 December 2004

 

Lolita advised she would be meeting with Patrick Flynn shortly to clarify Communities Scotland’s contribution to the Community Planning Partnership budget.

 

2.      Item 2b – Update on CPP Website

 

Lolita reported that at present the CPP Website was not the final product and reminded Partners to include a link to the CPP Website in their own websites.

 

3.      Item 3a – Preparations for CPP “Biennial Conference”

 

Contributions for the conference pack would be invited from partnerships and significant partners (rather than all partners).

 

4.      Item 3d – Update from Theme Group Leaders

 

It was agreed that representatives from this Committee should attend the next meeting of Argyll and Bute Isles Local Economic Forum on 11 May 2005.

 

5.      Item 6 – AOCB

 

Donald MacVicar reported that the Bid for European Funding for Soroba had been successful.

The minutes of the meeting of the Community Planning Partnership held on 4 March 2005 were noted.

Lolita reported that the surplus in the CPP Budget was more than originally anticipated and confirmed that she would bring a detailed report to the next meeting.

The Management Committee noted progress on the preparations made for the forthcoming Biennial Conference being held on 10 June 2005.

 

Julian Hankinson confirmed that he would provide Lolita with a list of the Community Council representatives who would be attending the Conference.

 

It was noted that Andy McKay-Hubbard had been appointed as the Council’s new Research Officer and that he would give a presentation on the Argyll and Bute Profile at the Conference.

Lolita confirmed that the CPP Annual Progress report was still in draft form and would be issued in due course to all Partners for comment.

The Management Committee noted the final report detailing the  results of the 8^th questionnaire to the Citizens Panel prepared on behalf of the Community Planning Partnership by IBP Strategy and Research.

 

Brian Barker confirmed that once the detailed data was received from IBP Strategy Research, Chris Carr, Research Associate for Argyll and Bute Council would be able to provide a more detailed analysis on the results.  Brian advised that if any Partners wished further or more specific information on the results they could contact Chris direct on tel: 01546 604260 or email: christine.carr@argyll-bute.gov.uk

 

After discussion it was agreed that these results should also be passed to relevant Groups to enable them to address issues highlighted in the report.

 

Superintendent Raymond Park agreed to take this report to the next meeting of the Community Safety Forum.

Lolita gave an update on progress with the Bute and Cowal Community Planning Pilot and the Management Committee noted decisions taken at the Area Partnership meeting held on 1 April 2005.

·         Theme Group 1 (Gavin Brown)

·         Argyll & the Islands Local Economic Forum (Alan Milstead)

·         Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire Local Economic Forum (Aileen Edwards)

·         Theme Group 3 (Donald MacVicar)

Health and Wellbeing Theme Group

 

Caroline Champion spoke to a report from the Health and Wellbeing Theme Group.  It was noted that the Theme Group had endorsed a request for funding from the Health Improvement Fund to provide children in pre school education with fruit and vegetables and the Management Committee agreed to endorse this request also.  

 

It was also noted that the Theme Group had considered a report from DRIVESafe on progress to date and a request for support in putting a bid to the Management Committee for Partnership funding to enable the initiative to continue to develop and build on this progress.  It was noted that the Theme Group had endorsed this report which  was submitted separately to the Management Committee for consideration.

 

After discussion it was agreed to support this initiative in principle but that it would be up to individual Partners to decide if they would wish to buy into this.

 

Josephine Stojak advised that there may be a possibility of resources from NHS Argyll and Clyde through endowment funds and that she would look into this.

 

Argyll and Bute Local Economic Forum

 

Ken Abernethy advised that the Local Economic Forum (LEF) had not met since the last meeting of the Management Committee but confirmed that the LEF would undertake to provide Quarterly reports to the Management Committee.  He advised that this would be discussed at the LEF meeting on 11 May 2005.  Ken advised that the following items would also be discussed at that meeting:

 

• LEF Draft Strategy
• Baseline Economic Picture based on 2001 stats
• Presentation from Patrick Flynn on Argyll and Bute Local Social Economy Plan
• Presentation on the National Park

 

It was agreed that the presentation from Patrick Flynn would also be of interest to the Community Planning Partnership and it was agreed to put this on the agenda of a future meeting.

 

Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire Local Economic Forum

 

Aileen Edwards reported on the SED Local Economic Forum meeting held on 2 March 2005 and confirmed that the Forum’s Annual Report would be presented to the Community Planning Partnership in July.

 

Theme Group 3

 

Donald MacVicar gave an update on the last meeting of Theme Group 3 which had been very positive.  He advised that a set of meetings throughout the year and a revised membership of the Group had been agreed.  He reported that a gap in Environmental and Conservation issues had been identified and that this would be addressed by the Group.   Donald also confirmed that the Group had completed the Audit Scotland Questionnaire on Community Planning.  It was noted that the Group had heard a presentation by the Advice Network as well as a supplementary presentation by Alison Taylor on the Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Management Committee gave consideration to a report prepared by Arlene Cullum, Corporate Funding Officer, about the Big Lottery Fund which was seeking views on its proposed outcomes, priorities and ways of engaging with the voluntary, community and statutory sector.  Along with this report the Management Committee gave consideration to a response prepared by Muriel Kupris on behalf of the Community Planning Partnership. 

 

After discussion it was agreed that Brian Barker would make some adjustments to this response and arrange for it to be submitted to the Big Lottery Fund.

Brian Barker advised that he had received from the Scottish Executive a process for identifying additional areas.  He reported that each Community Planning Partnership would only be allowed to put forward one additional area and advised that this would probably be Colonsay, Jura and part of Islay.

 

A meeting was planned for 3 May with representatives from the Executive’s Rural Policy Team to discuss the research.  Members of the Management Committee had already been invited to attend if interested.

The Management Committee considered a pro forma regarding the Audit Scotland Community Planning Baseline Review.  Lolita advised that she had completed the pro forma and asked the Committee to identify areas where information was incorrect/incomplete (especially the sections on partnership working, policy context and successes/barriers) so that the pro forma could be submitted to Audit Scotland.

 

It was agreed that Lolita, Andrew Campbell, Brian Barker and David Clements would meet to discuss this further and that if any other Partner wished to make comments to contact Lolita or David (01546 604205 david.clements@argyll-bute.gov.uk).   It was noted that the deadline for submission of the pro forma had been extended to 27 April 2005.

The Management Committee discussed the draft submission to be included in the self assessment pack to be submitted to Audit Scotland as part of the Best Value Audit and David Clements confirmed that he was happy with the content of this.

 

David also asked if each Partner could forward to him a short paragraph to include with the submission on how they perceive Community Planning and how it has helped them do their job including a note of what is working and any areas they feel require improvement - david.clements@argyll-bute.gov.uk.

1.      Josephine Stojak asked if the Community Development Programme could be considered as a future agenda item for the Management Committee and advised that Stephen Whiston would be able to give a presentation on this.

 

2.      Josephine also advised that a Workforce Planning Day would be taking place on 6 May 2005 if anyone was interested.

18 May 2005 (if needed)

15 June 2005

Wednesday 15 June 2005 at 10.30 am in the Scottish Natural Heritage Offices, Kilmory Industrial Estate.

 

The reserve date of 18 May is not being used.