North Lanarkshire Partnership Strategic Leadership Board- 2021-22 Annual Oversight and Outcomes Report (Programmes of Work 56.2 and 75.1 Part 6)
North Lanarkshire Council · 6 February 2023
Back to Communities Committee — 6 February 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Communities Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref KH/JL Date 16/02/23 North Lanarkshire Partnership Strategic Leadership Board: 2021/22 Annual Oversight and Outcomes Report (Programmes of Work 56.2 and 75.1 Part 6) From Chief Officer, Business and Digital E-mail hasselk@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07903 096121 Executive Summary The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 aims to strengthen community engagement and empowerment through a range of statutory duties on public bodies and other organisations. These range from increasing levels of community participation in the planning and delivery of public services through to community management or ownership of buildings or land. The Act requires all public sector bodies to work together, and to engage with local communities on the issues that matter the most to them, to improve outcomes. There is a particular emphasis on addressing inequalities, poverty and socio- economic disadvantage in local areas. Community planning partners must also report publicly on their progress including where outcomes have been improved through joint planning, collaboration and effective partnership working - operationally and strategically. This Oversight and Outcome Report 2021 – 22 highlights where community planning in North Lanarkshire is making a positive impact in strengthening partnership working and improving outcomes in line with The Plan for North Lanarkshire’s shared ambitions and Committee is requested to approve the report attached as Appendix 2. The report also invites members to note planned self-evaluation activity to be undertaken during early Spring 2023 across community planning structures including the Strategic Leadership Board, nine Community Boards and recently formed Local Partnership Teams. This self-evaluation exercise will provide an opportunity to reflect on progress to date and importantly, identify where improvements and targeted action should be undertaken to strengthen community planning and our joint working arrangements. Recommendations It is recommended that the Communities Committee: 1) Approves the North Lanarkshire Partnership Strategic Leadership Board’s annual oversight and outcomes report 2021/22 attached as Appendix 2; and, 2) Notes planned self-evaluation activity to be undertaken in early 2023 and involving the Strategic Leadership Board, Community Boards and Local Partnership Teams.
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1. Background 1.1. In September 2021 the Policy and Strategy Committee considered a report on the work of North Lanarkshire Community Planning Partnership during the period 2019/20 and 2020/21. Members agreed that future reporting should comprise an annual review of progress by North Lanarkshire Partnership (NLP) in improving outcomes, along with delivery of the NLP Strategic Leadership Board’s own Programme of Work in support of The Plan for North Lanarkshire. 1.2. This reporting is a statutory requirement under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2015. The Community Empowerment Act aims to strengthen community engagement, capacity and resilience by making it easier for local individuals and communities to participate in the planning, design and delivery of public services and also to take direct responsibility for service delivery through community management or ownership of community assets or land including, where appropriate, the management and delivery of services and resources. Examples in North Lanarkshire include community facilities such as Glenboig Neighbourhood House and Coatbridge Indoor Bowling Club, plus community growing schemes and allotments. 1.3. The statutory basis for community planning was initially introduced through the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 which placed a responsibility on local authorities to initiate, facilitate and maintain joint work and collaboration between public sector agencies, including involvement and engagement with the voluntary and community sectors, in the delivery of public services. Community Planning Partnerships were also required to produce a Community Plan setting out the partners’ joint vision and agreed objectives for their area. 1.4. The 2015 Community Empowerment Act subsequently extended the statutory community planning duties to all public sector bodies, placing a requirement on all partners to improve outcomes with a particular emphasis on working together to address inequalities, poverty and socio-economic disadvantage in local areas. Working jointly, partners must • Prepare and publish a local outcomes improvement plan setting out the local outcomes which the Community Planning Partnership will prioritise for improvement. • Produce ‘locality plans’ for areas experiencing particular disadvantage – Local Outcome Improvement Plans – LOIPs. • Identify and agree priorities for communities experiencing the poorest outcomes and actively tackle these inequalities. • Directly involve community bodies, especially those which address socio- economic disadvantage, in community planning. • Review and report progress. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statements (20) Improve the involvement of communities in the decisions, and development of services and supports, that affect them (24) Review and design services around people, communities, and shared resources
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1.5. Included within the above is the requirement that community planning partnerships should annually review and report on their progress in improving local outcomes and access to opportunities. 1.6. Community planning is well established in North Lanarkshire, pre-dating the 2003 Local Government Act. The council, our partners and communities have long recognised and valued the importance of working together to identify shared local priorities and harnessing the resources, responsibilities and experience of each partner to address these through collaborative approaches and early interventions. 1.7. Community planning at an operational level is taken forward by a number of partnership working groups, illustrated at Appendix 1, while strategic direction is provided through NLP’s Strategic Leadership Board which comprises the chief officers and senior representatives from key partner agencies, including community and voluntary sector representation, as listed below. • Community and Voluntary Sector Partnership Group • Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire • NHS Lanarkshire • North Lanarkshire Council • Police Scotland • Scottish Enterprise • Scottish Fire and Rescue Service • Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire 1.8. In September last year, and as reported previously to the Policy and Strategy Committee at its meeting on 30 September 2021, NLP Strategic Leadership Board members reviewed progress and compliance with the Community Empowerment Act’s statutory duties, confirming progress against each of the above objectives as highlighted below. 1.8.1. Adoption and endorsement in March 2019 of The Plan for North Lanarkshire as “the vehicle for delivering shared priorities and improving outcomes for North Lanarkshire to support shared accountability and the delivery of priorities for the area across all partner agencies”, thereby fulfilling the requirement to prepare and publish a partnership local outcomes improvement plan. 1.8.2. Extensive engagement within local communities to develop Local Outcome Improvement Plans for each area capturing key priorities and the issues that mattered most to local people, including inequalities and socio-economic disadvantage, with regular progress reporting via both the Strategic Leadership Board and North Lanarkshire Council’s former Community Empowerment and Youth Equalities and Empowerment Committees. Reporting is now through this Committee. 1.8.3. Further reporting to relevant council committees on the more specific statutory duties within the Community Empowerment Scotland Act in relation to Community Asset Transfer, Participatory Budgeting, Participation Requests, Allotments and Food Growing Strategy. 1.8.4. Wider and more extensive reporting on the impact of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and delivery of the shared ambitions via the associated Programme of Work through annual reporting in March to the council’s Policy and Strategy Committee plus
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separate reporting, review and refresh of individual strategies as per the Strategic Policy Framework. 1.9. Continuing this established reporting framework, this report provides Committee with the NLP Strategic Leadership Board’s annual oversight and outcomes improvement report for 2021/22 and members are requested to note that this was approved by Strategic Leadership Board members at their meeting on 2 December 2022. 2. NLP Strategic Leadership Board – 2021-22 Oversight and Outcomes Improvement Report Pandemic Response 2.1. The year 2021 – 22 saw North Lanarkshire Council and our statutory, voluntary, business and community partners emerge from the pandemic and the critical emergency response demands that were placed on frontline, community and voluntary sector support services. NLP Strategic Leadership Board members noted at their meeting in early April 2021 that although North Lanarkshire was seeing some reduction in the number of positive Covid cases and the downward trend was positive overall, the figures continued to fluctuate daily with local spikes. This position largely continued throughout 2021/22 and while the rollout of the vaccination programme helped to reduce the severity and intensity of individual cases, Strategic Leaders continued to note in September that North Lanarkshire’s figures were amongst the highest in Europe, nearly 4 times higher than when the Board had last met in July and even a small percentage of people becoming seriously ill continued to have a major impact on hospital beds and demands on staffing. The situation remained fluid with Strategic Leaders monitoring the potential impact of the new Omicron variant in December and the heightened risk to transmission rates. 2.2. Against this backdrop, and co-ordinated through the outstanding efforts of the Local Resilience Partnership, partners demonstrated their ability and appetite to engage in new ways of working, protect communities and continue to deliver critical care, support and services. Equally, the response from North Lanarkshire’s communities was unparalleled and straight from the heart – demonstrating resilience, innovation and compassion to ensure that vulnerable residents were safeguarded and supported. 2.3. The commonality of purpose deployed to such good effect in delivering the pandemic response was a significant contributory factor in partners being able to work together and demonstrated that there is a different and better way of working. The Strategic Leadership Board has committed to learn from this in developing new ways of working that harness community capacity with integrated partnership services and clear strategic direction. 2021/22 Programme of Work Review 2.4. The review and examination of North Lanarkshire Partnership’s community planning activity over the past 12 months has highlighted that the Strategic Leadership Board’s work falls into four key areas: • Community empowerment and engagement; • Strategic priorities;
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• Partnership initiatives and joint working; • Strengthening governance, accountability and reporting. 2.5. Taking each of these as individual themes, Appendix 2 provides a summary of the Strategic Leadership Board’s own Programme of Work during 2021/22. Reflecting the earlier decision by the Policy and Strategy Committee to strengthen accountability and public reporting through submission of this annual oversight report, it is recommended that consideration by this Committee is appropriate given the Strategic Leadership Board’s priorities in relation to community empowerment and this Committee’s remit: Continuous Improvement 2.6. Since partners endorsed The Plan for North Lanarkshire as the locality improvement plan in March 2019, community planning in North Lanarkshire has continued to develop with a number of significant milestones including: • Establishment of the nine Community Boards in the late summer of 2020 and publication of their individual Local Outcome Improvement Plans (LOIPs) the following year in November 2021; • Alignment of the Community Boards model with the council’s senior management team in December 2020 and the identification of Community Co- ordinators with either an area-based or strategic focus; • Establishment in April 2022 of Local Partnership Teams to support the Community Boards in developing and delivering their LOIP priorities. 2.7. During this time the council’s Business Strategy Manager within Business and Digital has recommended that “a formal review (or self-assessment) of the effectiveness of the Community Boards should be undertaken once these relatively new arrangements have become more established.” Moreover, NLP Strategic Leadership Board had earlier agreed in December 2021 that “the Board undertake a self-assessment during 2022 reviewing its operation and future direction.” 2.8. To this end, a formal self-evaluation exercise, undertaken by the Improvement Service with the council’s Chief Officer Audit and Risk nominated as the Champion responsible for overseeing activity, will be undertaken in early Spring 2023. To ensure that the views of all participants and those with a role in the different layers of community planning are incorporated, the self-evaluation will involve: • NLP Strategic Leadership Board members; • The nine Community Boards; and, • Officers and Local Partnership Team members supporting community planning. To oversee plans to work with communities to ensure effective participation in improving services with our community planning partners as set out in the following legislation:- • The Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003, and • The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
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2.9. The self-evaluation exercise will be organised around four themes (People, Focus, Interactions and Alignment) to ensure that the focus remains on improving outcomes for local people and communities. This introduces an element of triangulation in order to consider the effectiveness of the inter-relationships and interactions across all Boards, individuals and groups and includes ways to cross- check results from multiple sources. 2.10. The findings and recommendations from the self-evaluation will be used to strengthen community planning during 2023/24 and inform the future direction and priorities, both strategically through the Leadership Board, and at a community level through the work of the Community Boards and Local Partnership Teams. 3. Measures of success 3.1. Continued compliance by the council and community planning partners with statutory duties, responsibilities and reporting requirements enacted through the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 and the more recent, and wider reaching, Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. 3.2. Effective joint planning, collaboration and partnership working by the council, partner agencies, voluntary and community organisations and local communities themselves resulting in improved outcomes and increased prosperity and growth for all in line with the shared ambitions in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. 3.3. Continued development of community planning at a local level through the work of the Community Boards and Local Partnership Teams with increased engagement, participation, capacity and resilience within North Lanarkshire’s communities. 3.4. Enhanced and strengthened strategic direction and clarity of purpose, including the development of individual improvement action plans for NLP’s Strategic Leadership Board, Community Boards and Local Partnership Teams through the planned self- evaluation. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1. Appendix 1 Community Planning Partnership Working Arrangements in North Lanarkshire Appendix 2 NLP Strategic Leadership Board – 2021-22 Oversight and Outcomes Improvement Report Katrina Hassell Chief Officer, Business and Digital
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? NLP Strategic Leadership Board previously identified action to address climate change as one of its strategic priorities and as such the Board approved its ACT Now Plan 2021 to 2025 in April 2021. 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? NLP Strategic Leadership Board, in collaboration with the council’s Chief Officer Strategic Communication and Engagement, is developing a partnership approach to co-ordinate and publish communications and content from all partners via the MyTown pages hosted on North Lanarkshire Council’s website. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? There is a risk that the council and our partners do not comply with our statutory duties, responsibilities and reporting requirements enacted through the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. There are further risks associated with community planning in North Lanarkshire failing to achieve its clear and stated aims of improving outcomes for local communities and reducing socio-economic disadvantage, poverty and inequalities particularly in our most disadvantaged communities. These risks are managed through Service Risk Registers and individual project risk registers where appropriate. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.
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Appendix 1 North Lanarkshire Partnership Structures
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Appendix 2 NORTH LANARKSHIRE PARTNERSHIP STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP BOARD ANNUAL REVIEW AND IMPROVING OUTCOMES REPORT 2021/22 1. COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT Community Boards 1.1. Following their establishment in the summer of 2020, North Lanarkshire’s nine Community Boards continued to meet remotely throughout 2021/22. The Boards support community participation, providing a single co-ordinated approach to governance and accountability in the local areas and the mechanism by which local people may engage in community planning. The Boards encourage involvement by organisations and individuals who may be less well represented or have limited previous experience of engaging in community-led activity and decision making. This includes young people, representatives from BAME communities and older people. Area-wide special interest groups are also encouraged to attend, recognising that not all voluntary activity is place-based and there is a need to ensure that people who come together through sharing a particular interest or identity have a platform where they can help to shape and influence decision making and service delivery. Board meetings were live-streamed via the council’s YouTube channel and online participants could submit questions in realtime via the Community Matters mailbox. The timing and scheduling of Board meetings reflects local people’s preferences and draft agendas, issued well in advance, allow local matters to be identified and brought forward. Topic specific or special meetings are also convened, reflecting local priorities or new developments. During 2021/22 Terms of Reference were produced and all Boards moved to being chaired by a local representative. Local Outcome Improvement Plans 1.2. November 2021 saw publication of Local Outcome Improvement Plans (LOIPs) for each of the nine Community Board areas. Extensive community engagement informed the initial shaping of the LOIPs before the final detail, including individual local priorities for each area, was developed by Short Life Working Groups in each area comprising local representatives and Partnership staff. The LOIPs set out how The Plan for North Lanarkshire’s shared ambitions will be delivered locally, along with actions to tackle the issues that matter most to local communities. Towards the end of 2021/22 the focus shifted to developing individual delivery plans for each LOIP and management and monitoring arrangements. Local Outcome Improvement Plans November 2021 Local Outcome Improvement Plans (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) Community Board Development Programme 1.3. Supporting Community Board members, enabling and helping them to develop the skills and confidence to undertake their roles, is critical to effective and meaningful community empowerment and engagement. Similarly, partnership officers who support the work of the Boards may be less experienced in collaborative working at a local level and as such, they are often keen to learn about the roles and responsibilities of the other agencies and colleagues around the table. To this end, Training Needs Analysis activity identified where training or awareness raising was required and the council’s Training and Organisational Development Team and Libraries Service designed and structured an online Community Board Development Portal. This provides access to tailored training and resources for community representatives and colleagues from partner agencies and has been specifically designed to support place-based partnership working, community development, empowerment and engagement.
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1. COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT / CONT Local Resources and Participatory Budgeting 1.4. During November and December a series of Listening Events were held with each Community Board to consider and inform development of the council’s 2022/23 financial budget. North Lanarkshire Council finalised and agreed its approach to mainstreaming Participatory Budgeting and this was shared with Community Boards during their November cycle of meetings while a Task and Finish Group designed the routemap to outline the process for Services. Quarterly reporting to the Strategic Leadership Board and North Lanarkshire Council’s Community Empowerment Committee provided robust oversight and ensured activity remained on track. Community Concordat 1.5. Work is underway to develop and agree a community concordat between North Lanarkshire Partnership, communities and voluntary organisations. Through the concordat, subsequently renamed as The CommUnity Agreement, shared values and approaches to working together will be developed and signed-off by all parties creating a culture of improved confidence and trust with shared commitments to working collaboratively to improve people’s wellbeing, strengthen equality, inclusion and ultimately, enhancing sustainability and resilience within North Lanarkshire’s communities. 2. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2.1. In addition to Community Empowerment, North Lanarkshire Partnership’ Strategic Leadership Board identified Mental Health, particularly action to reduce the stigma and discrimination that is so often linked to mental health illness and wellbeing issues, and action to tackle the climate emergency as key strategic priorities where partners could support a place-based approach and add value through collaboration and co-production. Community Empowerment (Lead Partner – NLC) Mental Health (Lead Partner – NHSL) Climate Change (Lead Partner – VANL) Town and Community Hubs (Lead Partner – NLC) Development of integrated Town and Community Hubs as a shared ambition within The Plan for North Lanarkshire is seen as a key driver underpinning and supporting each strategic priority. Action on Climate Together (ACT) Now Plan 2021 to 2025 2.2. In April 2021 Strategic Leaders approved the Partnership’s 4 year strategy with the aim of North Lanarkshire Partnership’s climate action priority is led and co-ordinated by Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire on behalf of all partners. 2.3. A Partnership Climate Change Co-ordination Group has been established with membership from all partner agencies and this continues to meet bi-monthly to plan joint action, monitor progress and support local communities in developing their own climate change agendas and projects. In June the ACT Now website was launched, followed by the publication of bi-monthly e-bulletins from August 2021. “Supporting achievement of net-zero carbon emissions in North Lanarkshire at least by 2045 – but earlier if possible - through an “inclusive and green recovery” from COVID-19 which is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable and which improves people’s quality of life, wellbeing and equality.”
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2. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES / CONT 2.4. North Lanarkshire Council provided funding to VANL in 2021-22 to employ a Project Assistant to support climate change co-ordination and awareness raising and in February 2022 NHS Lanarkshire confirmed that they would be able to continue this financial support for a further year. 2.5. Marking the critical importance of November’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, ACT Now supported delivery of the council’s employee and local business engagement events in May and October, raising awareness and providing participants with simple actions that we can all take, either at home or in the workplace, to reach the ambitious target of Net Zero by at least 2045 and 2030 within North Lanarkshire Council. 2.6. November also saw the launch of Holytown Climate Action Town initiative. This is one of 7 pilot projects being led by Architecture and Design Scotland and funded through the Scottish Government. Supported by VANL, NHS Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, the project will work with local people and organisations in Holytown to empower and support place-based climate action and transitioning towards net zero in ways that reflect Holytown’s local environment, opportunities and industrial legacy. 2.7. Towards the end of 2021/22 VANL worked in partnership with New College Lanarkshire, Northern Corridor volunteers, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Community Learning and Development to design a pilot Community Climate Change Action Project with initial funding of £30,000 provided through the Scottish Government’s Community Based Adult Learning Fund. The pilot has subsequently led to full rollout in 2022/23 and the recruitment and training of up to 40 volunteer Community Climate Co- ordinators to support climate conversations and action within their families, social and community networks. Mental Health and Wellbeing – Including Action to Reduce Stigma and Discrimination 2.8. Having adopted ‘Good Mental Health for All’ in June 2020, partners reaffirmed their commitment to supporting mental health and wellbeing at the beginning of the year, with a particular focus on reducing stigma in the workplace. Key priorities and the ‘asks’ of partners in relation to the ‘Good Mental Health for all Strategy’ are: • To seek parity between physical and mental health care • To recognise the need for flexibility in the recovery approach • To focus on tackling poverty (including the impact of jobs/income security on children and families • Be Co-ordinators for addressing mental health stigma and discrimination • Commitment to training, education and capacity building • To consider the impact of adult mental health on children.
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2. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES / CONT Well Connected 2.9. Well Connected is Lanarkshire’s social prescribing programme. Well Connected makes it easier for people to take part in leisure and volunteering activities to improve wellbeing, as well as providing valuable information and advice in areas such as social security benefits, employment matters, volunteering, lifelong learning and stress control. Being ‘well connected,’ with opportunities to socialise and engage in wider community or leisure activities, is known to help combat feelings of low mood, stress and improve self-esteem and confidence overall. Individuals’ abilities to develop positive ways of coping with life’s challenges are increased, as well as practical support in learning new skills or how to deal with and manage some of the problems that can cause anxiety and low mood such as money worries, loneliness and unemployment. In May 2021, when ongoing pandemic restrictions continued to limit opportunities for people to socialise or attend health care and support services in person, the Well Connected app was launched providing digital access to a range of wellbeing supports. Reducing Mental Health Stigma and Discrimination 2.10. Strategic Leaders are perfectly placed to champion training, positive messaging and action in the workplace to reduce potential mental health stigma and discrimination. Similarly there is a key role for managers in identifying the signs of mental health issues amongst team members and having the skills and confidence to discuss these in ways that are appropriate, supportive, non-discriminatory or judgemental and ultimately, lead to improving the mental health and wellbeing of individual employees. During 2021 Lanarkshire Links supported recruitment and training of 6 workplace based Stigma Free Co- ordinators and delivered multi-agency training for 19 managers from partner agencies over two days at the end of March 2021. Winter Messaging Campaign 2.11. The festive period can be a particularly anxious time for many individuals, with feelings of loneliness or loss heightened, and wider concerns such as financial worries or relationship issues brought into sharp focus. In response the Partnership’s 2021 winter messaging campaign focused on highlighting support available over the festive season; reducing the stigma attached to suicide and reaching out to people who were feeling low or suicidal to encourage them to talk. Messaging advice focused on staying active, being kind, connected and mindful with signposting to support resources including the Samaritans, Breathing Space and Childline provided.
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2. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES / CONT Activities included: • Supportive messaging via social media and targeting older people, middle-aged people, young people and those feeling lonely over the festive period; • Awareness raising and helpline contact numbers emblazoned across a council vehicle allowing extensive reach into individual communities, towns and villages across North Lanarkshire; • Media and local newspaper articles; and • Distribution of materials allowing partners to promote the winter messaging campaign within their own organisations. Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund 2.12. In late 2021 Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL) received £995,000 from the Scottish Government to fund community based mental health and wellbeing support services delivered by Community and Voluntary Sector organisations across North Lanarkshire. The timescale was tight with funding decisions by 30 March 2022 and successful projects implemented during the following year. Partners rallied to the challenge, recognising the impact of Covid on peoples’ mental health and wellbeing and the need to ensure that vital supports such as befriending, listening, physical activities and referrals to more specialist supports where appropriate, were all readily available. Informed by Scottish Government guidance, partners quickly agreed the principal purposes of the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Funding in North Lanarkshire - to improve mental health and wellbeing; reduce mental health inequalities; and tackle stigma and discrimination. Groups considered to be “at risk” were identified and prioritised including women; victims of male sexual violence and domestic abuse; people with a long-term health condition, disability or diagnosed mental illness; people from minority ethnic backgrounds; people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage; refugees with no recourse to public funds; LGBTQ+ and people who had experienced bereavement or loss. Priority activities included: • Providing rapid and accessible support especially to people affected by Covid, recently bereaved and those who were at risk of suicide; • Mental health signposting and referral services; • Money and employment advice and support; • Improving social inclusion and connection to reduce isolation and loneliness; and, • Healthy living support such as: good sleep; healthy eating; physical activity; and nature-based activities. Success in numbers… • Launched on 16 November 2021; • 84 applications, valuing £2.2m received; • Cross sector Award and Assessment Panel established; • 32 grass roots projects funded; • Additional £720,000 awarded by the Scottish Government for allocation by end of March 2022 based on the success of the scheme and North Lanarkshire’s capacity to deliver even more.
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2. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES / CONT The Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is complemented by a £350-400K annual Children and Young People’s Mental Health Fund, also managed by VANL through the Community Solutions on behalf of NLC (with funding from Scottish Government). This fund supports community and voluntary organisations to provide community-based support to children and young people in liaison with school clusters. Total investment in mental health and wellbeing support through community and voluntary sector to March 2022 was £2 million. Town and Community Hubs 2.13. Partners recognise Town and Community Hubs’ potential to promote increased collaborative working and better integration ensuring that individuals are supported, encouraged and cared for at each key stage of their life. Already colleagues from Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are making use of the hub facilities in Shotts and Routes to Work have been developing outreach surgeries in Coatbridge and Cumbernauld hubs. The Leadership Board receives regular updates on the hub programme to identify at the earliest opportunity where shared campuses may be an option and to capture partners’ needs locally. 3. FURTHER PARTNERSHIP WORKING & JOINT INITIATIVES 3.1. The Strategic Leadership Board has formally approved key strategies and policies that support delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire’s vision of “shared prosperity and economic growth for all,” whilst underpinning delivery of our statutory responsibilities under the Community Empowerment Act to address socio-economic inequalities and agree shared priorities and actions for communities experiencing the poorest outcomes. Annual and project specific update reports are submitted to the Strategic Leadership Board allowing partners to review progress, scrutinise performance and identify where outcomes and opportunities are being improved and strengthened. Strategic Leaders are able to identify any roadblocks or hurdles, including resource constraints, and examine where they can bring clarity, or sharpen the focus of partnership working, through strategic direction and leadership. “Towards A Fairer North Lanarkshire” 2020 to 2023 and Local Child Poverty Action Report 3.2. Following Partnership approval in June 2020 of the Tackling Poverty Strategy, the Strategic Leadership Board continued to receive regular updates including annual review and approval of both ‘Towards a Fairer North Lanarkshire’ and the ‘Local Child Poverty Action Report’ in advance of submission to the Scottish Government by the extended deadline of 30 September 2021. Recognising the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on families who were already experiencing financial hardship, the updated Tackling Poverty Strategy included four drivers to improve outcomes: • Increase income via employment; • Increase income via Social Security benefits; • Reduce the cost of living including food poverty and insecurity; and, • Address fuel poverty.
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3. FURTHER PARTNERSHIP WORKING & JOINT INITIATIVES / CONT During the height of the pandemic referrals for benefits advice increased by a monthly average of 500%, reaching 1000% at their height. In 2021/22 the council’s financial inclusion service, including housing and social work services, generated £35,006,809 in additional income for the residents of North Lanarkshire. Community Safety 3.3. In April partners approved the new community safety strategy – “Improving Community Safety in North Lanarkshire: A Strategy to Improve Lives 2020-25”. The Strategy reflects the Scottish Government’s ambition for a Safer and Stronger Scotland and incorporates the statutory duties on both the council and Police Scotland in relation to tackling antisocial behaviour. Tackling antisocial behaviour makes a significant contribution to improving community safety and the Strategy’s collaborative approaches, across a broad spectrum of community safety activity, make it more effective in addressing local issues and helping people to be safe and feel safe in their communities. The Strategy’s primary focus is on preventing and reducing crime, however, its actions extend to important issues such as gender based violence, community justice, counter terrorism, and home and fire safety. Improving community safety makes an enormous contribution to The Plan for North Lanarkshire, making our area a better place to live, work and visit, and where homes, workplaces and public spaces are inclusive, safe and feel safe for everyone. UK Resettlement Scheme 3.4. Partners also endorsed and committed to work together to support individuals and families resettling in North Lanarkshire through the Afghan Locally Employed Staff Relocation Scheme and the UK Resettlement Scheme, which extended and opened up the resettlement programme to countries other than Syria. Recognising that families are often fleeing persecution and violence and increasingly have complex needs, partners agreed to link directly to consider their potential medical, health and wellbeing needs and to work together to complete resettlement of up to 180 individuals in line with the Partnership’s previously agreed commitments. At the time, 43 families (153 people) had resettled in North Lanarkshire and 20 children had been born to Syrian families since 2015. Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly 3.5. During 2021/22 partners worked towards changing attitudes and creating a positive culture around breastfeeding. Although attaining Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland accreditation was a clearly stated goal, partners’ ambitions went much deeper and were based on a shared commitment to give babies the best start in life and support new mums to feel more confident, capable and comfortable when breastfeeding – especially in public and while out and about. Across Lanarkshire as a whole, breastfeeding rates remain lower than partners would wish them to be. Links to deprivation are a particular concern with mums in the most deprived areas being much less likely to breastfeed their babies. Against the ongoing backdrop of poverty, health inequalities and Covid, the council, NHS Lanarkshire and VANL worked together, through a Task and Finish Group, to develop a Framework to embed cultural change and improve breastfeeding rates. The Task and Finish Group worked closely with the Children and Families Directorate at the Scottish Government. Included within the Framework are targeted actions to normalise breastfeeding, increase rates and support mums and their families, including promoting a supportive return to work environment for breastfeeding women across all business sectors.
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3. FURTHER PARTNERSHIP WORKING & JOINT INITIATIVES / CONT Pan-Lanarkshire 3.6. The Poverty and Health Inequalities seminar in June 2021 provided an opportunity for North and South Lanarkshire Community Planning Partnerships and NHS Lanarkshire colleagues to explore what needs to change and where we need to work differently to tackle systemic inequalities and limiting life opportunities and choices. Guest speakers included representatives from the University of Strathclyde and The Health Foundation (a charitable trust committed to improving individuals’ health and wellbeing and bringing about improvements in healthcare services). Over the course of the afternoon and through multi-agency workshops the 46 participants were able to: • Share progress on tackling inequalities across both Community Planning Partnerships; • Identify learning from COVID-19 across the wider system to inform a whole-system approach to recovery and the future design and delivery of services; • Share successful examples of whole-system working to tackle inequalities; • Identify opportunities for improving collaboration on inequalities; and • Agree next steps for both Community Planning Partnerships to jointly maximise their impact. Key recommendations from the event included: • Identifying the ‘touch points’ where opportunities exist for conversations with service users about ‘What matters to you’ and extending reach to seldom heard voices. • Moving away from delivering services through a paternalistic ‘for people’ approach to developing services ‘with’ people. • Using Community Boards, and their locally produced Local Outcome Improvement Plans to work differently within our local communities. • Encouraging staff to be creative in developing their work with communities and service users and accepting risks. • Empowering and upskilling our staff through learning and development including Trauma Informed Practice training. • Switching from ‘downstream’ reactive spend to ‘upstream’ preventative spend. Following on from the seminar, partners agreed three priority workstreams where opportunities existed to work jointly at a pan-Lanarkshire level, and these are being taken forward during 2022/23. 1. Employability and the role of partners in supporting employability initiatives and creating sustainable, fair work opportunities for Lanarkshire residents. 2. Drugs misuse and tackling the high incidence of drug related deaths in Lanarkshire. 3. Identifying where better integration and individually tailored care management plans can be developed to support individuals who are frequently treated at hospital Emergency Departments and identified as High Resource Users due to their complex health, psychological and social needs. In February NLP was invited by the Improvement Service to showcase the event and demonstrate how partnership working is being strengthened and leading to improved outcomes for local communities. Our work was singled out as one of two examples provided to the Deputy First Minister during his discussions with the Chair of the national Community Planning Improvement Board.
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4. GOVERNANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING Partnership Working Arrangements including Statutory Partnerships 4.1. During 2021/22 Strategic Leaders reviewed North Lanarkshire’s partnership working landscape and agreed that Board oversight of wider statutory partnership working arrangements could be strengthened through consideration of an annual update on the work of the: • Children’s Services’ Partnership Board; • Community Justice Partnership; • Public Protection Chief Officers’ Group; and, • consideration of the Chief Social Work Officer’s annual report, to provide wider context and shared understanding. As such, the Children’s Services Plan, the Community Justice Outcome Report and an annual recap on structures are now included in the Leadership Board’s schedule of reporting activity. The self-assessment of public protection arrangements and in particular, the work of the Chief Officers’ Group was completed in 2021/22. Local Partnership Teams 4.2. To support partnership working and accountability at a Community Board level, effective joint planning and resourcing arrangements with shared accountability and responsibility across partner agencies, are critical. The Strategic Leadership Board convened a workshop in August providing partners with the opportunity to consider local management and oversight arrangements and how these could be integrated within wider community planning structures. Under the strands of ‘Operations, Organisation and Oversight’ partners considered: • What needs to be in place to support the Operation and effective development of Community Boards? • How Partnership teams will Organise to plan activity and resources at a local level in support of the LOIPs and wider ambitions within The Plan for North Lanarkshire. • How partner agencies, individually and collectively, ensure appropriate representation, responsibility and accountability for Oversight of local community planning whilst ensuring alignment with wider strategies and partnership working to remove duplication. Four Local Partnership Teams are now in place, linked to Community Board areas and comprising Partnership managers with responsibility, either at a locality or thematic level (for example: Sustainability; Driving Digital Locally; Community Development; and Tackling Poverty). Community Co-ordinators 4.3. Community Co-ordinators have been identified from within North Lanarkshire Council’s corporate management team (CMT) to drive forward the LOIPs and galvanise wider partnership activity around a shared understanding and collective actions. The true potential of the Community Co-ordinators lies in their ability to create a culture of co-production where community members feel valued and are able to influence, inform and help shape service delivery in their areas. Community Co-ordinators are not merely ‘problem solvers’ but rather ‘place-shifters,’ creating the environment and empowering local communities to operate strategically and work with partners to bring about lasting improvements – for individuals, families, neighbourhoods and towns.
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4. GOVERNANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING / CONT 4.4. Partners are adding further value by identifying senior officers from within their own organisations to support the Co-ordinators. In addition a ‘CMT – Co-ordinator – Community Board’ interface meeting is convened after each cycle of Community Board meetings. This provides a forum for joint planning and workflow management and makes best use of resources through co-ordination, consistency and minimising the risk of duplication by identifying where an existing partnership delivery vehicle is already in place and best positioned to support delivery of LOIP actions or initiatives stemming from the Community Boards. Framework for Demonstrating Improved Outcomes for Communities 4.5. Work to develop the Partnership’s ‘Framework for Demonstrating Improved Outcomes for Communities’ commenced towards the end of 2021/22. In November the Accounts Commission’s updated Statutory Direction introduced clearly defined requirements on local councils around community engagement and empowerment. The emphasis is on evidencing that the council is carrying out community planning for the “improvement in the achievement of outcomes.” In addition, the Accounts Commission expects councils (in agreeing outcomes with partners and communities) to report on how they have engaged with, responded to and helped to empower communities, including those who require greater support. In February Strategic Leadership Board members focused on developing an outcomes reporting model that will be used by North Lanarkshire Partnership to assess progress and performance in delivering on NLP’s priorities and plans and ensuring that Partnership activities can demonstrate improved outcomes that make a real difference for local people and communities. Subsequently approved in June 2022, the Framework also includes a number of case studies highlighting just some of the services and initiatives that have been developed locally to improve outcomes. Further Action 4.6. Representation and membership of NLP’s Strategic Leadership Board extended to include: • The chair of VANL recognising VANL’s position as the Third Sector Interface and a community body that, “represents the interests of persons who experience inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage.” • The Chief Accountable Officer of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire to support joint planning, integration and delivery of whole-system approaches towards improving outcomes and what matters most to local people. Agreement to prepare this annual performance overview identifying where partnership working is improving outcomes and to submit to North Lanarkshire Council for information and in compliance with Community Empowerment Act public reporting duty. Wider networking, engagement and opportunities for joint work enhanced through links with the Community Planning Partnership Board; Police Scotland’s Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing division; the Improvement Service; Public Health Scotland; and Scottish Government. Agreeing in early 2022 to publish Strategic Leadership Board minutes and to develop a Partnership Communication and Engagement Strategy, making optimum use of the MyTown web pages and social media channels.