Provost’s Citizenship Awards
North Lanarkshire Council · 24 April 2023
Back to Communities Committee — 24 April 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Communities Committee ☒approval ☐noting Ref SP Date Click here to enter a date. Provost’s Citizenship Awards From Stephen Penman, Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) E-mail PenmanSte@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Stephen Penman, 07947 997750 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to propose changes to the Provost’s Citizenship Awards following consultation with the Provost. In 2019, the then Youth, Equalities and Empowerment Committee approved the creation of the Provost’s Citizenship Awards to recognise the vital work carried out by dedicated individuals in their own communities which can often go unrecognised. It is recognised that individuals and groups can be role models for others, inspiring people to participate in activity which benefits their community. Nominations were sought from members of the public, with three individual winners and three group winners chosen by a panel chaired by the Provost and including other elected members, the council’s chief executive and the chair of the community planning partnership. The panel judged nominations against a set of criteria. The first awards took place in early 2020 (and were the only in-person awards due to Covid- 19). Following consultation with the Provost, it is proposed that community boards and elected members from across the council are more involved in nominations and that a new system of award is commenced to ensure that the whole of North Lanarkshire is represented in the awards while making more awards available. Recommendations It is recommended that the committee: 1) Approve the proposed new arrangements for the Provost’s Awards including the change of name from the Provost’s Citizenship Awards. 2) Otherwise note the content of this report.
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1. Background 1.1 The Provost’s Citizenship Awards were approved by the then Youth, Equalities and Empowerment Committee in 2019 and commenced in 2020. The purpose of the awards was to celebrate outstanding contributions to communities by individuals and groups which were often unrecognised. 1.2 Nominations for the awards are made by members of the public. Eligibility criteria is as follows: - Nominees should reside, work or attend school/college within North Lanarkshire - Awards may be granted posthumously in recognition of recent achievements - A person may receive an award in more than one year in recognition of a particularly outstanding community contribution or involvement in another initiative - Unsuccesful nominees may be nominated in future years - Nominations must be apolitical in nature - Elected members of North Lanarkshire Council are not eligible - Employees of North Lanarkshire Council are eligible for recognition for activities not directly linked to their employment with the council 1.3 The judging panel is chaired by the Provost and consists of the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive, the chair of the Community Planning Partnership and a nominee from each political group. 1.4 Nominations are judged on the following criteria: - Significant contribution to the local community - Leadership on a community issue resulting in development and regeneration of an area or enhancement of community life - Involvement in a lead role in an initiative which has brought about significant change and added value to community life - Inspiring qualities as a role model for the local community - Outstanding achievement in a particular field - Contribution to enterprise/employment in North Lanarkshire 1.5 Three individual awards and three group awards are presented under the current arrangements. It had been intended that the awards would take place at a civic lunch but this has not been possible due to Covid-19. 2. Report 2.1 The current arrangements present a number of challenges. The first is that many more nominations have been submitted than awards available. While this would be the case under any nomination system, the limited nature of only having six awards means that the potential to recognise achievement across the whole of North Lanarkshire is limited. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements
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2.2 Another challenge is a lack of geographical and community diversity in the awards given the limited number and an inability to guarantee the spread of nominations across the whole of North Lanarkshire. 2.3 Discussions have taken place with the Provost about the awards. Following this, a new system is proposed which guarantees geographical diversity, increases the number of awards available and involves members of community boards and all elected members – as representatives of the communities they serve – in proposing award recipients. 2.4 While it is proposed that there is no change to the eligibility criteria described above, it is proposed that the categories for the awards are revised as follows: - Community Group Award: for group involvement in a lead role in an initiative or initiative which has brought about positive change and added value to community life - Community Volunteer Award: for an individual who has demonstrated leadership in the community resulting in the development and regeneration of an area or enhancement of community life - Excellence Award: for a group or individual demonstrating excellence in their chosen field, e.g. academia, the arts, business, sport, culture or science - Special Achievement Award: for other exceptional acts or an achievement an elected member deems appropriate for award 2.6 Under the new system, nominations for awards will be sought from members of the nine community boards as people who have a high degree of knowledge of local communities and achievements within them. 2.7 In addition, elected members, as representatives of communities, will be asked to submit nominations. While recognising that some ward boundaries do not neatly match community board boundaries, elected member nominations will be matched to the most appropriate community board area. 2.7 Following the lose of nominations, the Provost will select one winner per award per community board area, judging against the criteria described above. This will result in a maximum of 36 awards across North Lanarkshire, recognising that there is a possibility that nominations may not be submitted across all categories in a board area. 2.8 The awards, re-titled the Provost’s Awards, will be presented at a civic reception hosted by the Provost in the autumn of 2023. The nominations period for awards will open in June following the next cycle of community board meetings. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The measures of success will be: • A Provost’s Awards which better represents the contribution made by people across North Lanarkshire. • Appropriate recognition for achievements, with more awards available • The promotion of award winners as role models who inspire people in communities, leading to better community participation
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4. Supporting documentation None Stephen Penman Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Emgagement)
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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 Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ 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 and Organisational Development? 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 Solutions? 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 ☒
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) 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? 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? 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? 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.