Tackling poverty and inequalities strategy group meeting

TACKLING POVERTY AND INEQUALITIES STRATEGY GROUP MEETING

25^th August 2017

Council Chamber
Buchan House

Peterhead

10.00am
Present:

Brian Allan (Accountant – Aberdeenshire Council)

Ewen Allardyce (Employability Coordinator – Aberdeenshire Council)

Keith Anderson (Head of Development & Support – Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action)

Irina Bonavino (Policy Officer (Community Planning) – Aberdeenshire Council)

Martin Brebner (Team Manager European Policies & Programmes – Aberdeenshire Council)

Nicola Graham (Area Manager – Skills Development Scotland)

Val Gunn (European Programmes Coordinator – Aberdeenshire Council)

Morna Harper (Economic Development – Aberdeenshire Council)

George Howie (Principal Health Improvement Officer – Aberdeenshire Council)

Annette Johnston (Tackling Poverty & Inequalities Coordinator – Aberdeenshire Council)

Angie Millett (Employer & Partnership Manager – Jobcentre Plus)

Mhairi Reid (Admin Assistant – Aberdeenshire Council)

Gillian Robertson (Commissioning and Performance Manager - Aberdeenshire ADP)

Chris White (Area Manager - Aberdeenshire Council) – Chair

Apologies:

Erin Wood (Policy Officer (Corporate & Community Planning) – Aberdeenshire Council)

Moyra Stephen (Strategic Policy Lead (Corporate & Community Planning) – Aberdeenshire Council)

Welcome and introductions Chris welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies The apologies submitted are noted above.

Minutes of TP&I Group Meeting – 12^th May 2017 No changes were noted to the minute of the meeting.

Matters Arising All matters arising are on the agenda.

Health & Social Care Update George updated the group on the integration of the Health Improvement Group with the Tackling Poverty Inequalities Group. He advised that the steer for this was given at the Community Planning Executive in Spring. George, Chris and Annette have had initial discussions regarding this and can see the merit in merging the two agendas. It was noted that it is vital to take stock of the current agenda’s and ensure we have the correct membership and agenda going forward. George was asked if the Health Improvement Group had a budget that would come across with the merge. He advised that there is a small staff resource and various pots of funding around that can help support. The group will be kept up to date with this. George provided the following updates on other Health & Social Care Activities: Through Participatory Budgeting 74 projects have been awarded funding across Aberdeenshire. The Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership have recently produced an information pack for Aberdeenshire Unpaid Carers. George will send Mhairi the link to be circulated. Amanda Roe is leading on collating a response from Aberdeenshire Council for the Socio-Economic Duty consultation. The deadline for comments is close of play today. Any comments can be passed to Irina.

2017 Action Plan a) Integrating agendas This item was discussed under the Health & Social Care Update. Annette added that a bid has been submitted by the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership to the Employability Innovation and Integration Fund. Gillian is leading on this and provided the group with the following information: The project will provide additional resources to support unemployed people with mild to moderate health conditions with a focus on condition management. The project looks to fund some additional OTs, Mental Health workers, Keyworkers which build on the Here for You Compass Point model and an Advice/Support worker who would be based in Peterhead GP Surgery engaging with hard to reach clients. It was noted that there is no financial implication to this group. b) Communities Committee Workshop Annette advised that due to structural changes within Aberdeenshire Council, this group now has to report to the Communities Committee. A workshop is being arranged with Elected Members and a briefing note on Tackling Poverty & Inequalities has been sent to Ritchie Johnson. c) Draft Annual Report Annette has pulled together a draft Annual Report for TP&I for the 2016/2017 financial year. There are no pictures or quotes in the report at the moment as it is still in draft format. Comments on the layout should be sent to Annette week commencing 11^th September.

ESF a) Quarterly Monitoring Report Martin advised that Scarlett Butler has now left the Council and Val Gunn has taken up the role of European Programmes Coordinator. Recruitment has taken place to back fill Val’s post dealing with the ESF Claims and Louise Gibson will be starting in September. The ESF Quarterly Monitoring Report was issued with the agenda. Martin advised that some of the projects are behind schedule with their claims due to a number of challenges/issues however he is hopeful that they will be able to catch up as time progresses. The Inclusive Aberdeenshire budget is almost fully committed with only £48,862.88 remaining. For Aberdeenshire Employability Pipeline there is £1,427,997.61 Ewen advised that the HANLON System should hopefully help with the transferring of required data and Val and Martin have recently received training on this. b) Confidential Matter The group discussed the confidential report and agreed with the recommendations. The outcome of the discussion was that Chris would send a letter to the three organisations detailing the actions required.

Community Planning a) Child Poverty 220 responses were received to the Child Poverty survey. The deadline has been extended to allow teaching staff to submit their views. If you have yet to respond to the survey and wish to do so please let Irina know. The interviews with families have been delayed due to holidays therefore the workshop which was planned to take place on 8^th September, to give participants an opportunity to input in to the project prior to the final recommendations being agreed, will be rearranged. Kate Bond is meeting with Scottish Government officials to discuss the new LOIP priorities of which child poverty is one. Kate and Amanda will ensure they are aware of the work being done in Aberdeenshire. b) Citizens Panel Irina advised that Ian Wallace has now moved on. Daniel Greig will be filling the post however at present Erin & Irina are taking things forward. The most recent newsletter is available at www.ouraberdeenshire.org.uk along with previous questionnaires and results. The Citizens’ Panel Annual Plan was approved by the CPP Executive earlier this week. Irina will send it to Mhairi to be circulated for information. c) SOA We are transitioning from the SOA to the LOIP Priorities and the final SOA report is being pulled together at present. Annette handed out the Employability section of the report and asked for comments to be sent to her by close of play on Monday.

Regeneration Morna advised that there is not much to report since the last meeting. Alastair Rhind, Strategic Regeneration Executive, is currently developing an Enterprise Centre in Fraserburgh Town House. The Peterhead Skills Hub, Compass Point, is now open and in operation. Due to the closure of Peterhead Projects, negotiations are ongoing regarding Peterhead Caravan Park with various group/individuals looking to take this on. Christine Webster is currently drawing up a 6 monthly report for Area Committees. Morna is looking into a Social Enterprise Fund to help Social Enterprises start up. She hopes to have a paper out regarding this soon.

Financial Inclusion a) Partnership Approach to Money & Debt (Conference) The Conference was held in May and positive feedback was received from delegates. The Here for You Centre showed their film at the Conference for the first time which was very well received. A report on the Conference is currently being produced which will be shared with the group. b) Welfare Reform Update David Hilber has moved on from his post as Project Officer - Welfare Reform and has been replaced by Natalie Greenland. A lot of changes are due to take place in March 2018 when Universal Credit full service goes live in Banff, Fraserburgh and Peterhead Job Centres. Some Job Centres in the Angus area are going live in November this year and a few of the Aberdeenshire postcodes are covered by Montrose Job Centre therefore we will be given an opportunity to see how the full service works prior to March 2018. Angie explained that Universal Credit full service will cover all in work or out of work benefits and anyone making a new claim will be put onto Universal Credit. Everything is managed online which is going to be a big change for a lot of clients. Concerns have been raised in relation to the increased need around digital support, partners are looking at different ways of engagement and looking at building capacity.

Employability Ewen provided the following updates to the group: The post of Digital Job Coach within the Employment Support Team is being discontinued as the ask from clients is at such a basic level that Key Workers are able to deal with it. The post will revert back to a permanent Key Worker (30 hours per week) to be based in Peterhead. A successful applicant for the post of Senior Key Worker is awaiting final checks and should hopefully be starting with the team soon. SDS are arranging an employment event in Banff on 20^th September to assist with the growing concerns around the rise in unemployment figures for this area. Following the event, Ewen might arrange for a similar one to take place in Turriff with the support of the Employability Partnership. Discussions are ongoing with the ESF Team regarding using the funding to improve the Employment Support Team. Ewen is looking at costings at present to employ two specialists to deal with redundancies and clients with mild to moderate mental health issues. In conjunction with Aberdeen City, a meeting has been arranged by CITB to see if there is a need for a regular forum to be established in the North to look at Community Benefits. A regular forum meets in the Central Belt and has proved to be successful. The bid has been submitted for Fair Start Scotland and the decision will be known in October. This is a joint bid with Aberdeen City and various 3^rd sector partners. The funding would support 2,200 adults with additional needs into employment. Those involved in the bid are very keen to form a partnership that can work together to deliver outcomes even if the bid is unsuccessful.

Finance Brian advised that he has no concerns regarding the finance. Chris asked if information on payments to the Information & Advice Services could be reported to the group. Brian will arrange for this.

AOB Chris advised that Mhairi will be on maternity leave from the middle of November. Her post is currently being advertised and will be filled for her absence.

Dates of Future Meetings 24^th November 2017, 10am, Buchan House, Peterhead