Community Planning - Six-Monthly Update
Renfrewshire Council · 3 December 2025
Back to Leadership Board — 3 December 2025 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Leadership Board On: 3 December 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Community Planning - Six-Monthly Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 This report is the six-monthly update of recent activity of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership, covering the period from April to November 2025. It was agreed at Leadership Board in September 2022 that update reports would be provided every six months and would also include an update in relation to the development of the seven Local Partnerships. The previous update report was provided to the Leadership Board 2025. 1.2 This Board paper provides an update on the issues considered through the Community Planning Partnership Executive Group and other fora since the last update in April 2025, and highlights progress being achieved by partners collectively, as evidenced in the partnership’s recently agreed annual report, which is provided within Appendix 1 and 2 within this report. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that members of the Board note: • The progress being made to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities across the priorities of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership • The steps being taken to develop Local Partnership working • Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership’s Annual Report 2024/25 3. Background 3.1 This paper represents the regular 6 monthly update submitted to the Leadership Board for consideration on wider community partnership developments. This includes both the work of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Executive Group and
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PUBLIC the development of the Local Partnerships, which are part of the community planning structure. 3.2 Community planning is a statutory duty placed on Councils in Scotland and defined community planning partners under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. These public, private and third sector bodies are required to collaborate in Community Planning Partnerships. There are 32 Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland, one for each Council area. The broad aims of community planning activity are to improve outcomes for people and communities and to reduce inequalities in those outcomes. 3.3 Partners are also required to develop and jointly progress a Local Outcomes Improvement Plan. In Renfrewshire, this is referred to as our local Community Plan, a ten-year plan spanning 2017-2027. At the mid-term point of the plan in 2022, partners agreed that a refresh exercise should be undertaken. This was felt to be timely due to the impact of the COVID pandemic and also the cost of living crisis emerging at that time. 3.4 The vision set out within the Community Plan has remained: Working together to make Renfrewshire a fairer, more inclusive place where all our people, communities and businesses thrive. 3.5 The four priorities of the Community Plan have also been retained – that Renfrewshire is Thriving, Well, Safe and Fair. The refresh carried out in 2022 identified three main areas of focus for collaborative working through the Community Planning Partnership. These are: • Supporting low income families • Tackling health inequalities • Addressing the climate emergency 3.6 Within each area of focus, three or four action areas have been identified to drive improvement. 3.7 Community Planning Partnerships are required to produce and publish each year an Annual Report. The Annual Report sets out performance against priorities identified by each Community Planning Partnership and reports on action taken to improve outcomes. Section 5 provides an overview of the recent annual report which has been agreed by local partners in Renfrewshire. 4. Update on Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Executive Group 4.1 One special meeting and one regular meeting of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Executive Group have taken place during the period April -November 2025. 4.2 The special meeting held on 28 April 2025 included the members of the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel and was a workshop meeting focused on the results of the Renfrewshire Health and Wellbeing Survey.
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PUBLIC 4.3 This meeting was chaired by the Chief Executive of Engage Renfrewshire. Members of the Executive Group and the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel considered a presentation on the results of the Renfrewshire Health and Wellbeing Survey and discussed actions to be taken based on the findings of the survey. 4.4 The regular meeting of the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Executive Group held on 25 August 2025 considered: • Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 2024/25 – The Annual Report set out highlights of activity during 2023/24 that address the three areas of focus of Supporting Low-Income Families, Tackling Health Inequalities and Addressing the Climate Emergency. • Community Wealth Building – the Executive Group discussed a presentation on the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill and current delivery and potential of Community Wealth Building approaches to local economic development within Renfrewshire. The focus of Community Wealth Building is on retaining wealth within the local area and the public pound driving economic growth. The Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Billis due to receive Royal Assent in March 2026. Local authorities will have a responsibility to work with other public bodies to develop an action plan to be published within the next three years. • Local Employability Partnership – the Executive Group received a presentation on the work of the Local Employability Partnership in supporting people in Renfrewshire into employment and progressing in their career. The Local Employability Partnership has 29 delivery partners offering support to people in Renfrewshire seeking employment and has been successful in supporting 1902 unemployed or low paid people into employment. 4.5 Renfrewshire Forum For Empowering Communities is the Third Sector-led component of the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership structure, chaired by the Chief Executive of Engage Renfrewshire. The Forum held three meetings since April 2025. These meetings considered the results of Renfrewshire’s Wellbeing Survey, local influence, new Community Learning and Development (CLD) Governance arrangements and the Fairer Food Policy, from a third sector perspective. 4.6 A new Community Learning and Development Plan 2024-27 was approved in 2024, and new partnership arrangements have been put in place to support the delivery of the Plan. This includes a CLD Partnership Executive Group which is chaired by the Chief Executive of Engage Renfrewshire and includes local strategic partners. The CLD Partnership Group provides strategic co-ordination of community learning and development activity across Renfrewshire, shares priorities and measures the planning, delivery and monitoring of improvement actions and performance. 4.7 The CLD Plan is informed by the CLD Partnership Forum, made up of service providers and users. The Forum informs the CLD Plan and strengthens local partnership working.
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PUBLIC 5. Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 2024/25 5.1 As noted in section 3 above, each Community Planning Partnership in Scotland is required under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to publish an Annual Report setting out progress made being made against ambitions to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities. 5.2 A draft annual report for the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership for 2024/25 was developed and agreed in September 2025. The report notes the positive programme of work being progressed by partners in relation to supporting families, tackling inequality, and building a fairer, greener future. The report also notes positive performance across a number of Community Planning Partners on our collective priorities, and Renfrewshire’s strong partnership arrangements which deliver for local people. However, partners remain concerned about the challenges still faced by our communities in the wake of the pandemic and from the cost-of-living crisis, and the persistent inequalities that we know exist. The full annual report is attached at Appendix 1. 5.3 Key partnership activities highlighted with the annual report include: Supporting Low-Income Families • Across Renfrewshire, families were supported to live with dignity and opportunity. The Local Employability Partnership helped hundreds of parents into work, education, and training, while targeted programmes like Thrive Under 5 and Stronger Start provided holistic support for wellbeing, nutrition, and financial stability. • Advice services secured over £13 million in financial gains for residents, and new pathways like the Emergency Infant Formula scheme responded to urgent needs with compassion and care. • Partners have started to work together to understand how the CPP might be able to take a place-based approach to tackling local inequalities, starting with a Community Needs Assessment in the Gallowhill area of Paisley. Tackling Health Inequalities • Efforts to reduce inequality focused on improving access to work, mental health support, and community wellbeing. The adult Health and Wellbeing Survey produced by NHS GCC has given a range of insights into health and wellbeing across Renfrewshire, and partners have worked with lived experienced panels to understand community insights. • The partnership-led Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme has been drawing to a close over 2024/25, with an extensive programme of services and projects still in place to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and drugs, increase awareness and support recovery locally.
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PUBLIC • There has been a partnership focus on supporting people with disabilities and long-term conditions received tailored employability support, while initiatives like Ren10 and the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund strengthened local networks and reduced stigma. Older adults benefited from digital transformation and inclusive events, helping to reduce isolation and promote active ageing. Addressing the Climate Emergency • Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero advanced a just transition by creating green jobs, restoring nature, and embedding sustainability across services. • Community growing projects, biodiversity restoration, and digital inclusion initiatives like DigiZones helped ensure that climate action is inclusive and locally rooted 5.4 The Partnership have done some work over the past few years to develop an initial performance framework linked to the current Community Plan. It is recognised by partners that further work to refine this framework is required to make sure that it is much easier to demonstrate the positive difference that partnership working is making to the outcomes being experienced by local communities. An overview of the indicators currently being tracked is provided in Appendix 2. 5.5 The Community Planning Partnership Executive Group will continue to discuss and develop this approach with an annual horizon scanning focus at its next meeting in December 2025. 6. Local Partnerships 6.1 Local Partnerships are an integral part of the structure of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership. Since the last six-monthly report on development of the Local Partnerships to the Leadership Board, there have been three rounds of meetings of the seven Local Partnerships. These took place in April/May 2025, August/September 2025 and November 2025. The April/May 2025 Local Partnership meetings were special meetings which focused on consideration of funding applications. 6.2 Including the August/September 2025 Local Partnership meetings, 243 eligible funding applications were considered. A total of 152 grants were awarded to 123 different third sector organisations. 23 applications were referred to other applicable funding sources and 68 applications were not funded. The total value of Local Partnership awards from the 2026/27 Local Partnership budgets following the August/September meetings is £411,158.46. 6.3 The Local Partnership Development Programme continued delivery during April – November 2025. The appointment of a Local Partnerships Development Officer in October 2024 has helped deliver improvements to the operation of Local Partnerships, including additional support to applicants for funding and improved
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PUBLIC communications. The first in a proposed regular series of Local Partnership newsletters was produced and circulated in September 2025. 6.4 The timescale for the main 2025/26 funding round for Local Partnerships was successfully brought forward to April/May 2025 as a result of this additional capacity. Separately, the Celebrating Renfrewshire Participatory Budget exercise was also brought forward this year, enabling earlier awards for activities for young people aged 12-25 across the seven Local Partnership areas. 7. Next steps 7.1 The next meeting of Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Executive Group will focus on an annual stocktake by community planning partners to look at current and emerging issues that require to be addressed by partnership working. 7.2 The Executive Group will lead work to develop the strategic focus of the CPP to inform the development of a new community plan for 2027 and beyond. This will include planned inputs and discussion around data from the population health framework and newly emerging strategic plans and pieces of research such as the Renfrewshire Children’s Services Plan. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – There are no direct financial implications from this report. 2. HR & Organisational Development – none. 3. Community/Council Planning – The report sets out how partners are working together to achieve agreed outcomes defined in the Community Plan. 4. Legal - none. 5. Property/Assets – none. 6. Information Technology – none. 7. Equality and Human Rights – Community planning and Local Partnership work contributes towards the community planning outcomes for people and reducing inequalities 8. Health and Safety – none. 9. Procurement – none. 10. Risk – Progressing community planning working contributes to mitigating against the risk of poorer outcomes and increasing inequalities for people within Renfrewshire. 11. Privacy Impact – none. 12. COSLA Policy Position – COSLA is supportive of community planning as an approach to delivering outcome improvement and narrowing of inequalities in Scotland . 13. Children’s Rights – The three areas of focus identified in the refreshed community plan – Supporting Low Income Families; Tackling Health Inequalities; and Addressing The Climate
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PUBLIC Emergency – contribute to setting policy direction that supports progress in delivering Children’s Rights. 14. Climate Risk – The Renfrewshire Community Plan was refreshed in 2022 and one of its three areas of focus is Addressing The Climate Emergency. The Annual Report sets out actions being taken and tracks performance against outcomes. Author: Stuart Graham, Community Partnerships Manager, Chief Executive’s Service, 0141 487 1509
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1 PUBLIC Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 2024/25
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 2 PUBLIC Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................. 4 Supporting low-income families: Action Areas ............................................. 6 Provide opportunities and support to parents to enter, sustain and progress at work……………………………………………………………………………………….6 Join up support for families within communities ....................................................... 8 Provide support that allows families to live dignified lives and respond to the cost- of-living crisis .............................................................................................................. 12 Work together to support children and young people at risk of trauma and harm 20 Tackling health inequalities: Action Areas ................................................. 30 Tackle the barriers to work for people with disabilities and health conditions ...... 30 Provide a network of community mental health and wellbeing supports…..…….33 Reduce the impact of alcohol and drugs and support recovery .............................. 37 Make sure people can live safely and independently at home and in the community 42 Addressing the climate emergency: Action Areas ....................................... 45 Create good, green jobs and a green skills pipeline everyone can access………...45 Make sure there are local spaces and nature that support health and wellbeing .. 47 Deliver a ‘just transition’ towards net zero with fairness at its core ........................ 49 Develop adaptations to climate impacts for vulnerable people….........................50
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 3 PUBLIC Executive Summary This year, Renfrewshire’s Community Planning Partnership focused on what matters most: supporting families, tackling inequality, and building a fairer, greener future. In 2024/25, Renfrewshire saw continued positive performance across a number of Community Planning Partners on our collective priorities, and Renfrewshire’s strong partnership arrangements delivering for local people. However, we remain concerned about the challenges still faced by our communities in the wake of the pandemic and from the cost-of-living crisis, and the persistent inequalities that we know exist. Across every Community Planning Partnership, partners came together to respond to the cost-of-living crisis, improve wellbeing, and ensure that no one is left behind. Supporting Low-Income Families • Across Renfrewshire, families were supported to live with dignity and opportunity. The Local Employability Partnership helped hundreds of parents into work, education, and training, while targeted programmes like Thrive Under 5 and Stronger Start provided holistic support for wellbeing, nutrition, and financial stability. • Advice services secured over £13 million in financial gains for residents, and new pathways like the Emergency Infant Formula scheme responded to urgent needs with compassion and care. • Partners have started to work together to understand how the CPP might be able to take a place-based approach to tackling local inequalities, starting with a Community Needs Assessment in the Gallowhill area of Paisley. Tackling Health Inequalities • Efforts to reduce inequality focused on improving access to work, mental health support, and community wellbeing. The adult Health and Wellbeing Survey produced by NHS GCC has given a range of insights into health and wellbeing across Renfrewshire, and partners have worked with lived experienced panels to understand community insights. • The partnership-led Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme has been drawing to a close over 2024/25, with an extensive programme of services and projects still in place to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and drugs, increase awareness and support recovery locally. • There has been a partnership focus on supporting people with disabilities and long- term conditions received tailored employability support, while initiatives like Ren10 and the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund strengthened local networks
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 4 PUBLIC and reduced stigma. Older adults benefited from digital transformation and inclusive events, helping to reduce isolation and promote active ageing. Addressing the Climate Emergency • Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero advanced a just transition by creating green jobs, restoring nature, and embedding sustainability across services. • Community growing projects, biodiversity restoration, and digital inclusion initiatives like DigiZones helped ensure that climate action is inclusive and locally rooted. Introduction Renfrewshire’s Community Plan 2017-2027 set out priorities to support the vision of “working together to make Renfrewshire a fairer, more inclusive place where all our people, communities and businesses thrive”. The priorities are focused around four themes of Thriving, Well, Fair and Safe. Following a Strategic Needs Assessment, a refreshed Community Plan was agreed in September 2022. The refreshed Plan provides a sharper focus on three areas where collaborative action can support delivery of the vision above by supporting low-income families, tackling health inequalities and addressing the climate emergency. This Annual Report demonstrates the work being undertaken to deliver on these new areas of focus and shows how Renfrewshire continues to benefit from strong partnership arrangements that provide a collective approach to progressing the priorities of the Renfrewshire Community Plan. Community Plan Areas of Focus 2022-2027
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 5 PUBLIC Understanding Renfrewshire’s communities In 2024/25, new census data became available and provided a significant update in our understanding of the demography of Renfrewshire, particularly in relation to changing population patterns and the diversity of our communities. For example, local intelligence has highlighted that some of Renfrewshire’s communities are increasingly diverse, and this census data has helped to enhance our understanding of this and will help to inform Community Planning Partnership priorities moving forward. This year also saw the release of the NHS GGC Health and Wellbeing Survey results for 22/23, providing a range of important insights on a bread of health and wellbeing topics for Renfrewshire residents. The commitment of partners to listen and work alongside communities is well demonstrated throughout this 2024/25 Annual Report and continues to be a key theme and priority for Renfrewshire.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 6 PUBLIC Supporting low-income families: Action Areas Provide opportunities and support to parents to enter, sustain and progress at work The Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership has continued to plan and co- commission local employability services to help Renfrewshire residents make a successful transition towards employment and reduce unemployment in the area. The Local Employability Partnership commissioned the following organisations for 2024/25 to provide pilot projects and specific support to unemployed and underemployed parents: • I Was Gonnae Charity provided a music-based project to support parents through a motivational and creative employability programme • REEM – Renfrewshire Effort to Empower Minorities engaged and supported parents to build confidence and assisted them to take the first steps to engaging with employability services • BDA Ltd provided support to people interested in progressing into self-employment
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 7 PUBLIC • West College Scotland delivered a YES (Your Employability Skills) programme, a personalised learning programme to support parents with multiple barriers into employment • Daring Greatly were commissioned to deliver ‘Parents with a Purpose’, focussing on parents’ personal development and wellbeing activities. Renfrewshire’s employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, offers a wide range of tailored supports to help residents on their journey towards and into employment. In 2024/25 there has been a continued increase in the number of parents coming forward to use the services of Invest in Renfrewshire and the Local Employability Partnership funded organisations, with 486 parents accessing the service in comparison to 425 parents accessing the services last year. In 2024/25 there were 128 parents who progressed into employment and 7 progressed into self-employment. Funded Work Placements were commenced by 10 parents. Traineeship opportunities were funded for 18 parents within the Local Authority. There were 12 parents who entered Further Education and 132 who gained a qualification. The Transition to Work welfare fund was accessed by 44 parents in the year to support them financially in making this transition into employment. Parents were able to access up to £500 paid over a period of 13 weeks. In addition to this funding, they were able to receive support with clothing for interviews and for commencing employment and funding towards travel costs for the initial 3 months of employment. Digital champions in OneRen Library services have been supporting people with job applications and self-development, including support to access job searching sites, composing CV’s and completing job applications. Volunteer Digital Champions work with learners within the library to build their digital skills at drop-in sessions in Ferguslie Park, Johnstone and Paisley Central libraries, or on a one-to-one basis. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, Volunteer Digital Champions have provided 1,033.5 hours of support for learners wishing to improve their digital skills, an increase of 187% over the previous year’s provision. There has been an increase of almost 30% in free access to digital support within libraries since last year, with 35,837 instances provided.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 8 PUBLIC Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Scheme The Health and Social Care Partnership’s Health Improvement Team has been supporting businesses in Renfrewshire to sign up to the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland scheme. This builds maternal confidence and ensures mothers can breastfeed confidently and safely in a warm and welcoming environment. Since implementation of the scheme in 2022, 179 premises and 1,215 staff have been supported. In 2024/25, 50 premises signed up and 723 staff trained on breastfeeding and the law including HSCP, One Ren, Engage, Active Communities, Glasgow Airport, and GP practices. In addition, the team has supported Renfrewshire Council to sign up to the scheme and have trained front-facing staff. This also included supporting Renfrewshire Council to adapt their Parenting Leave and Pay policy to include guidance for managers with staff returning to work who want to continue breastfeeding. Join up support for families within communities The three-year Renfrewshire Children’s Services Partnership Plan covers the period 2023 – 2026. Key achievements during the second year of the plan include: • A physical education audit involving children, young people and teachers which has informed a new and improved framework for physical education. The draft First Level framework has now been completed and will be piloted further in schools across Renfrewshire. • The Upscaling Active Schools project has been working directly with targeted groups to introduce them to sport and physical activity or to increase their participation in sport and physical activity to the benefit of their health and wellbeing. Partner referrals and self-referrals have enabled us to engage and support almost 1000 individuals and families. • Engagement has been ongoing with Youth Services around their climate action work with children and young people, to identify opportunities to incorporate their views into Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero • Building on existing strong foundations in gathering children’s voices. A draft Voice Strategy and Plan has been developed by Renfrewshire Child Protection Committee. • Through the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, Children’s Services is engaging with partners to develop collaborative proposals to address the needs of Renfrewshire’s families in a way that is non-stigmatising, community-based, and underpinned by children’s rights. The Whole Family 1 2
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 9 PUBLIC Wellbeing Service has seen a rise in the average family wellbeing score across all measures while the Education Advisor to CAMHS has directly supported over 900 children and families across all Renfrewshire schools. Since the Whole Family Wellbeing Service began in January 2024 there have been a range of developments which has put the service at the forefront of early intervention and partnership working to support families and communities. These developments have included: • Family wellbeing multi-agency launch event in May • Families with ASN multi-agency partnership group • Family wellbeing space developed in St David’s primary and Castlehead secondary • Joint community and schools team P7 summer transition programme • Family support framework linked to stage intervention process • Continued development of Sleep work and increased number of Sleep Counsellors • Increased number of Non Violent Resistance parents groups • Successful system proof of concept ( FORT) • Additional ASN summer playscheme in Mary Russell school • Emotionally Based School Avoidance focus and training • 4 locality family launch events in November 2024 In their recent year 2 report of the impact of Whole Family Wellbeing, the Scottish Government highlighted as an example of good practice, Renfrewshire’s use of the FORT system as a platform to support improved data sharing and case management. The service has funded 15 third sector organisations through a grants process to provide a range of additional supports and added value to our work with families. The organisations funded between 2023 and 2025 have had their projects evaluated and WFW is moving into a new phase of funding for the third sector during 2025/26. The work of the ASN Family Wellbeing Partnership group is a good example of partnership working with parents with lived experience of additional support needs within their families. Parents are working with a wide range of agencies including Education, Social Work, Health, CAMHS, OneRen and the third sector to raise awareness of opportunities for families with children with additional support needs, and to build further capacity and create new opportunities where there are gaps in provision. Stronger Start is a person-centred wrap-around service that provides money advice and advocacy to women who engage with Blossom Maternity Services. Stronger Start aims to take an early intervention and prevention approach to support at-risk women to maximise their income, increase financial capability, increase resilience for the future
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 10 PUBLIC and increase health and wellbeing. The one-year pilot was implemented at Royal Alexandra Hospital and then rolled out to Inverclyde Royal and Vale Of Leven Maternity Units. The pilot concluded in January 2025 with additional funding of £190,434 being secured to allow Stronger Start to continue until January 2027. The service received a total of 135 referrals during the first year, with 105 of those coming from the RAH. A total of 98 women received both advice and advocacy support during the first year, with 85 women initially referred via the RAH. During the pilot, £150k of financial gains was achieved, which equates to an average gain of £1,500 per woman who received support. Stronger Start staff provided support on a variety of issues including benefits, debt, finance and charitable support, housing, immigration, asylum, and tax. Clients have been assisted to apply for grants such as Best Start and Crisis, as well as Council Tax Reductions and Universal Credit. Clients have also been supported with housing issues such as rent arrears, homelessness, and threatened homelessness. Skoobmobile is a mobile service providing activities and access to library services for children and families in communities that do not have a local library in close vicinity. The service works in partnership with schools and community organisations. This year: • 185 school sessions were attended by 5,706 children • 129 nursery sessions were attended by 1,550 children • 162 community outreach sessions were attended by 2,758 children and 1,553 adults. The Skoobmobile supported playschemes at Mary Russell and Riverbrae, as well as the ON-X summer camps. The service has also been involved in bringing play sessions to communities as part of the Winter Connections and Summer of Fun programmes and supporting primary schools storytimes and access to library digital resources and learning activities. Public Wi-Fi has been installed onboard, and the Skoobmobile is now part of the DigiZone offering in Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire Libraries are working with the Good Things Foundation to distribute free SIMs and mobile data to local people experiencing data poverty. Recipients are supported by a Digital Champion to activate their SIM, with further one-to-one digital skills support available if required. OneRen delivers fortnightly Job Clubs and Family Support sessions in partnership with Invest at Paisley Central Library as well as provision of a monthly Community drop- in session at Ferguslie Park Library in partnership with CARIS Special Education Services to offer support with; Speech, Language and Communication, Educational Agency,
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 11 PUBLIC Reading Support and Signposting. They also work with the Citizens Advice Bureau to provide weekly drop-in sessions in Johnstone and Renfrew Libraries. The “Multiply” programme, funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), aimed to deliver a programme of activities and learning to support adults aged 19+ and young adults 16-18 who are not in education, employment, and training to increase their confidence in using numbers and to improve maths skills in everyday life. Programmes supported people from helping with children's homework to learning how to cook nutritious meals on a budget, measuring a carpet and budgeting finances. The programme was overseen by Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership and delivered by a range of local partners. The programme came to an end in March 2025. Between April 2024 and the end of March 2025, 134 Multiply courses were delivered to 742 people.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 12 PUBLIC Provide support that allows families to live dignified lives and respond to the cost-of-living crisis Renfrewshire’s Local Child Poverty Action Report for 2024/25 sets out the activity that has taken place to reduce child poverty and looks forward to the actions planned for 2025/26 around the themes of the Scottish Government child poverty delivery plan, Best Start, Bright Futures. Delivering advice in partnership Advice Works and Renfrewshire Citizen’s Advice Bureau (RCAB) have continued to work closely to ensure people are getting the benefits they are entitled to and the best money advice. The Council funded RCAB general service gave over 7,100 appointments and has gained £2.48 million for the people of Renfrewshire this year. This is in addition to the 342 people seen by the Legal Service, who had additional gains of over £3,400. The Welfare Rights service had 463 contacts resulting in 249 clients and £383,813 in financial gain for clients. New debt cases this year have led to nearly £9.36 million worth of debt being managed. Overall, the financial gain for clients this year from new claims to benefit was over £13 million, with an additional £0.56 million in mandatory reconsiderations and appeals. Advice Works have also helped clients manage £12.47 million in debt. The Family Advice team works with families to maximise household income through advice and increasing take-up of wider supports provided by the Council, for example, free school meals, school clothing grants or employability support for parents. The service is provided by the Council’s Advice Works and supports families with children in early years and primary school settings. The Family Advice Service received 331
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 13 PUBLIC referrals during 2024/25, with 227 clients engaging. This led to client financial gains of £82,417.21. During 2024/25, the Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement Team refreshed their early-years financial inclusion pathway and delivered a briefing session to promote this with Health Visiting staff. Most referrals (55%) to the Family Advice Service were from the Health Visiting Team, with a number from Other Healthcare Staff, Social Work, Education, and Self-Referrals. A refreshed Family Advice Pathway (formerly Healthier Wealthier Children Pathway) has been implemented to increase referrals for families and child poverty priority groups with the highest levels of poverty. The service provides income maximisation advice and support for families. Support provided includes benefit checks, support applying for benefits, help to reduce and manage debts, access to emergency funds and grants, support with budgeting and assistance dealing with food and fuel poverty. Renfrewshire Citizen’s Advice Bureau are supporting an embedded model of advice in all Renfrewshire secondary and additional support needs schools. The School Support Service works with school staff, including guidance, pastoral and home link staff to reach families who are struggling with money issues and ensure preventative support is provided. During 2024/25, 263 advice appointments/contacts were made, and the service has helped 138 families with a client financial gain of £415,884. More than half of the client financial gains related to Universal Credit, although a significant proportion related to disability benefits. The School Support Service was initially a 2-year pilot to establish the most effective way to support young people and their families to maximise their income through using school premises and staff. The service has since been extended to run throughout 2025/26. Cost of the Nursery Day is a pilot project delivered by the Health Improvement Team (HIT) that supports early years establishments through upskilling staff to become a ‘Cost of the Nursery Day’ Champion. The Health Improvement Team worked closely with Fairer Renfrewshire and Education colleagues to ensure a collaborative approach to pilot development and implementation. Engagement and consultation were completed with parents, carers and staff from Home-Start, and with the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel. These groups reviewed proposed training content and were consulted on issues that were relevant to them.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 14 PUBLIC Cost of the Nursery Day was piloted during February and March 2025 with four training sessions delivered. In total, 18 staff from early years centres completed two training sessions to become ‘Cost of the Nursery Day’ champions. An evaluation of the pilot findings will be reported to the consultees at Home-Start and the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel, to inform the next steps for the roll out of the project across Renfrewshire. Thrive Under 5 The Health Improvement Team worked with partners Active Communities and Citizens’ Advice Bureau to deliver the pilot Thrive Under 5 Programme in Johnstone. The pilot aimed to reduce child poverty, increase healthy eating, physical activity, and reduce the likelihood of diabetes in the under 5s. The pilot ran from May 2024 to March 2025 provided the following support for families: • Support to apply for Best Start Grants and Scottish Child Payment • Applications for wider grants and benefits to maximise income including fuel support • Meal packs for every family at least twice a week for 8 weeks • Access to local food pantry with free membership and 12 free shops for families • Free cookery classes and cooking equipment as required for every family • Physical activity opportunities for the whole family • Onward referral to partner organisations such as Invest, or any others based on families’ needs. • 42 families, including 75 children, took part in the programme. 241 meal packs and 516 pantry vouchers were provided during the duration of the pilot. All families were provided with cooking equipment and weekly fruit and vegetables worth £11.74. • 30 families and 31 children took part in physical activity sessions with Gym Joey’s. Emergency Infant Formula Pathway Due to the cost of infant formula increasing by an average of 14%, access to formula has become challenging for families from the most deprived communities. Renfrewshire’s Emergency Infant Formula Pathway followed Scottish Government guidance published
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 15 PUBLIC in February 2024 to provide a safe, reliable route for parents with an infant under 12 months in urgent need to access formula milk and support for safe and responsive feeding. The pathway was developed in August 2024 and went live following briefing sessions delivered in September 2024. A total of 4 sessions were facilitated with 48 staff from Health Visiting, Family Nurse Partnership, a range of third sector, West College Scotland, and Renfrewshire Council staff. The pathway is rights-based, free from stigma, aligns with trauma informed approaches and is integrated into wider local supports and provisions to minimise repeated need for crisis intervention. The information on the Pathway is now included in the Pregnancy, Maternity & Early Years resource as part of Engage Renfrewshire's website. Monitoring has identified a total of 7 referrals since the pathway became live. The Renfrewshire Affordable Credit Alliance (RACA) comprises Renfrewshire Council, credit unions, and not-for-profit social enterprises like Fair For You. Its mission is to ensure equitable access to affordable credit. Supported by Engage Renfrewshire’s Affordable Credit Officer (ACO) in collaboration with Renfrewshire Council, RACA aimed to disrupt the cycle of illegal money lending (IML) through awareness initiatives. Over the past year, the ACO has engaged with organisations, including Housing Associations and organisations supporting those with mental health issues and caring responsibilities. She has also engaged with groups supporting child poverty priority groups carried out work with young people, speaking about safe borrowing, budgeting and other money concerns. In May 2024, RACA hosted a successful partnership Networking and Information Session, bringing together over 50 delegates to explore ways to strengthen financial resilience across Renfrewshire. 2024 also saw the launch of RACA’s educational resource, The Good Guide to Credit, which is now available across Renfrewshire’s library system, and is offered to new tenants at local housing associations. Renfrewshire’s Talk Money week event was an example of a cross-partner activity where Advice Works, RCAB and Scottish Social Security came together with Energy Advocates and Invest in Renfrewshire to support maximisation of income, supported by third sector partners and our Skoobmobile to attract and entertain families. Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement piloted Nourish Nurseries within 4 pre five centres. The pilot started in March 2024 and ran for 6 weeks, with each nursery receiving a weekly delivery of fresh vegetables from a local provider. The pilot encouraged creativity in how the produce was used in nursery learning activities, while promoting a positive relationship with vegetables.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 16 PUBLIC The model aligns with Setting the Table and the Peas Please initiative, both supporting the integration of fresh produce into early years settings and healthier eating habits from a young age. The pilot has been received positively, and an evaluation report is being developed to highlight the outcomes and support future funding. Renfrewshire’s food partnership, Fair Food Renfrewshire brings together key stakeholders from right across the local food system including the local authority, Renfrewshire HSCP, Health Board, third sector and community groups, public sector establishments and food growers to develop a healthier, fairer and more sustainable food system locally. They are working towards developing a food strategy for Renfrewshire to achieve four key priorities: • Ending food insecurity and the need for foodbanks. • Increasing access and availability of growing grounds in every town and village within Renfrewshire. • Widening access and availability to educational opportunities regarding nutrition and cooking skills, within education, health, and community settings. • Encouraging individuals and businesses to buy local food, and encourage organisations to use local food suppliers within a procurement policy context Last year, Fair Food Renfrewshire became a member of Sustainable Food Places, giving the partnership access to additional support and expertise from regional and national partners. This year the partnership joined forces with the Waste and Resources Action Programme to support Food Waste Action Week 2025, encouraging individuals and families to buy loose fruit and veg to reduce food waste and save money. Fair Food Renfrewshire has established a food support working group made up of representatives from local emergency and community food providers such as Renfrewshire Foodbank and community larders and pantries. The group is working to develop a new, sustainable model of food provision in Renfrewshire to support those experiencing food insecurity with an improved holistic approach. The Fairer Renfrewshire programme work focuses on tackling poverty and inequality in Renfrewshire looking at financial insecurity and the cost-of-living crisis, food and fuel insecurity. Street Stuff is a partnership programme between Renfrewshire Council, St Mirren Football Club, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue and Engage Renfrewshire. It provides free multi-sport, gaming and Youth Club activities for children aged 8 – 16 across Renfrewshire in the evenings and at weekends. Street Stuff buses have free Wi-Fi to ensure young people aren’t digitally excluded and provide/support school holiday programmes for ages 5 – 14 which includes the provision of a healthy meal, including over the festive break and in October.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 17 PUBLIC The Summer of Fun Programme delivered over July and August 2024 was very well received, with Council funding providing a comprehensive free programme, supported with free food and drinks. Activities included: • Summer camps - 2,776 attendees, 44% of children from lone parent families, 36% from large families and over a fifth from families where a family member has a disability • Specific summer camps for young people with Additional Support Needs, with 193 families using this support • Street Stuff activities for young people aged 8 – 16, which had 2,221 attendances across 7 locations • An Adult and Family learning programme, attracting 54 families • 249 events delivered across all 12 libraries including craft activities, sessions from the Dog Trust , old school Scottish games and Animal Man Mini Zoo • A small grants programme led by local community groups and organisations delivering free activities benefitting over 577 adults and 1,939 children. The Winter Connections Programme funded 42 projects to provide free activities and hot drinks, snacks and food for parents and children at community venues and libraries throughout Renfrewshire over the winter period in 2024/25. This year’s programme delivered a wide range of activities, including line dancing, songwriting, and retro gaming and benefitted over 2,500 people. One Ren supported the programme by offering hot drinks, soup, and snacks in all Renfrewshire libraries.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 18 PUBLIC Benefits of the programme included connecting people with each other, reducing social isolation and encouraging new people to engage with services. It also helped to create a sense of belonging to the local community, provide fun activities, reduce financial costs and provide access to information and advice. Established in 2022/23, the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel has continued to meet throughout 2024/25, supported by STAR Project, ensuring that people on low incomes have their voices heard on the policies and decisions that most impact their lives . The Panel has provided insight into their experiences around transport which fed into the development of a Local Transport Strategy. They have also worked with the Council’s Commissioning and Creative Events Lead to ensure that the Events strategy was inclusive of people facing barriers to participation. The Panel has continued to meet with Invest in Renfrewshire, and their feedback has been actioned in the development of a new project for those at the beginning of their employment journey and they have also been involved in the Cost of the Nursey Day pilot delivered by the Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement Team during 2024/25. In August 2024, in their joint Digital Exclusion Report, the Accounts Commission and Auditor General recognised Renfrewshire’s #DigiRen network’s person-centred, place-based approach as an exemplar in understanding and addressing digital exclusion. #DigiRen is co-chaired by Engage Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Council and brings together a diverse coalition of over 180 individuals from more than 80 unique organisations, spanning the Public, Third, Community, Voluntary, Academia, and Social Housing sectors. This broad collaboration has been instrumental in ensuring digital inclusion is embedded across local services and strategies. In September 2024, #DigiRen hosted a joint hybrid event at Paisley Central Library, aligning with the Digital Poverty Alliance’s National End Digital Poverty Day. The event brought together nearly 100 delegates, both in person and online, providing a crucial platform for Audit Scotland to present its findings and for key stakeholders to discuss innovative solutions to digital exclusion. With a growing network and continued recognition at a national level, #DigiRen is at the forefront of shaping a more digitally inclusive Renfrewshire. A key priority and success during 2024/25 was the creation of DigiZones across 21 venues in Renfrewshire. This project was co-designed with a range of partners and those with lived experience, and provides a consistent approach and branding, offering digital support, free access to devices and WiFi or signposting. During National Get Online Week, in October 2024, DigiZones launched across our network of 12 Libraries, 6 CLD Adult Learning Centres, 4 CLD Youth Venues, Station Seven in Johnstone (with 3rd
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 19 PUBLIC sector partners Active Communities) and a mobile library (The Skoobmobile) was transformed into a mobile DigiZone. An evaluation framework was co-produced and is demonstrating considerable positive impact with the following information based on Q4: • Over 100k visitors; • 236 training sessions delivered; • Over 208 hours of digital champions support delivered; • 14 devices loaned as part of device lending library; • Over 8.7k public devices accessed; and • Over 10.7k public access WI-FI sessions. Through OneRen Leisure’s under 5 swim initiative, free access is provided to parents with children under 5 years. This initiative significantly improved access to OneRen venues, reducing financial barriers to participation. OneRen libraries have provided free events throughout the year including the Will Eisner Week Comic Book Festival (13 events over the week beginning 1 March 2025), the Schools programming element of the Paisley Book Festival, the Janet Coats Memorial poetry prize, a programme of Easter/October Week/Christmas holiday activities as well as the Marvellous Makers Summer Reading Challenge 2024, which was delivered by libraries in partnership with the Reading Agency. There was a special launch event with award winning children’s author Lindsay Littleson at Paisley Central Library in June 2024. Children also collected 2 free swim passes for OneRen swimming pools and other incentives to encourage them to read throughout. IN-Ren: Advancing Equality and Inclusion in Care Services In 2024, IN-Ren played a role in facilitating a cross-sector partnership between Scottish Care and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to develop and launch an Anti-Racism Policy for all care providers across Renfrewshire. This landmark initiative aims to create a more inclusive, equitable, and respectful environment for both care providers and those receiving care, ensuring that everyone in the sector is treated with dignity, regardless of their race or ethnicity. The development of the policy was driven by the collaboration of key stakeholders from various sectors, with a focus on creating a robust, actionable framework that could be adopted across Renfrewshire’s care services. This approach reflects the importance of collective responsibility in addressing racism and promoting inclusivity within healthcare and social care settings.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 20 PUBLIC As part of the process, IN-Ren hosted a fact-finding session that provided a platform for both residents and workers to share their lived experiences. This open dialogue allowed individuals to highlight challenges, offer insights, and suggest solutions for creating a more inclusive and welcoming care environment. By listening to those directly impacted by racial inequalities in the care sector, the session ensured that the policy would be informed by the real needs and experiences of the local community. Work together to support children and young people at risk of trauma and harm The joint inspection of Renfrewshire Children’s Partnership was awarded a Very Good grade in the report published on 22 October 2024, recognising their effective support for children and young people at risk of harm and their families. This achievement reflects a strong partnership approach, with Renfrewshire Council's Children’s Services, Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Police Scotland, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Association, Children’s Hearing System, and third- sector organisations all playing essential roles. You can read the full report here. The re-design of social work services continued throughout 2024/25, with an aim to improve the capability and capacity within the service to drive change forward. The re- design, which has incorporated Families First, Home Link and Care Experienced Home Link into the Renfrewshire Family Wellbeing Service, has streamlined the way that family support is accessed and provided to ensure consistency and equity across localities. Renfrewshire Council continues to pledge that when children are accommodated by the council, brothers and sisters will be placed together where it is appropriate to do so. Young people have been returned to Renfrewshire via the Close to Home initiative. The majority of all looked after children continue to live in a community setting either with their own family or with an alternative family. Choose Life Training The HSCP Suicide Prevention Strategic Group is now well established with a workplan and subgroups in place including a new Data subgroup. 17 suicide training courses were delivered during 2024/25 per the table below, with a total of 231 attendees from a wide range of services and organisations including Health
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 21 PUBLIC Emergency Infant Formula Pathway Due to the cost of infant formula increasing by an average of 14%, access to formula has become challenging for families from the most deprived communities. Renfrewshire’s Emergency Infant Formula Pathway followed Scottish Government guidance published in February 2024 to provide a safe, reliable route for parents with an infant under 12 months in urgent need to access formula milk and support for safe and responsive feeding. The pathway was developed in August 2024 and went live following briefing sessions delivered in September 2024. A total of 4 sessions were facilitated with 48 staff from Health Visiting, Family Nurse Partnership, a range of third sector, West College Scotland, and Renfrewshire Council staff. The pathway is rights-based, free from stigma, aligns with trauma informed approaches and is integrated into wider local supports and provisions to minimise repeated need for crisis intervention. The information on the Pathway is now included in the Pregnancy, Maternity & Early Years resource as part of Engage Renfrewshire's website. Monitoring has identified a total of 7 referrals since the pathway became live. The Renfrewshire Affordable Credit Alliance (RACA) comprises Renfrewshire Council, credit unions, and not-for-profit social enterprises like Fair For You. Its mission is to ensure equitable access to affordable credit. Supported by Engage Renfrewshire’s Affordable Credit Officer (ACO) in collaboration with Renfrewshire Council, RACA aimed to disrupt the cycle of illegal money lending (IML) through awareness initiatives. Over the past year, the ACO has engaged with organisations, including Housing Associations and organisations supporting those with mental health issues and caring responsibilities. She has also engaged with groups supporting child poverty priority groups carried out work with young people, speaking about safe borrowing, budgeting and other money concerns. In May 2024, RACA hosted a successful partnership Networking and Information Session, bringing together over 50 delegates to explore ways to strengthen financial resilience across Renfrewshire. 2024 also saw the launch of RACA’s educational resource, The Good Guide to Credit, which is now available across Renfrewshire’s library system, and is offered to new tenants at local housing associations. Renfrewshire’s Talk Money week event was an example of a cross-partner activity where Advice Works, RCAB and Scottish Social Security came together with Energy Advocates and Invest in Renfrewshire to support maximisation of income, supported by third sector partners and our Skoobmobile to attract and entertain families. Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement piloted Nourish Nurseries within 4 pre five centres. The pilot started in March 2024 and ran for 6 weeks, with each nursery
Page 30
Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 22 PUBLIC receiving a weekly delivery of fresh vegetables from a local provider. The pilot encouraged creativity in how the produce was used in nursery learning activities, while promoting a positive relationship with vegetables. The model aligns with Setting the Table and the Peas Please initiative, both supporting the integration of fresh produce into early years settings and healthier eating habits from a young age. The pilot has been received positively, and an evaluation report is being developed to highlight the outcomes and support future funding. Renfrewshire’s food partnership, Fair Food Renfrewshire brings together key stakeholders from right across the local food system including the local authority, Renfrewshire HSCP, Health Board, third sector and community groups, public sector establishments and food growers to develop a healthier, fairer and more sustainable food system locally. They are working towards developing a food strategy for Renfrewshire to achieve four key priorities: • Ending food insecurity and the need for foodbanks. • Increasing access and availability of growing grounds in every town and village within Renfrewshire. • Widening access and availability to educational opportunities regarding nutrition and cooking skills, within education, health, and community settings. • Encouraging individuals and businesses to buy local food, and encourage organisations to use local food suppliers within a procurement policy context Last year, Fair Food Renfrewshire became a member of Sustainable Food Places, giving the partnership access to additional support and expertise from regional and national partners. This year the partnership joined forces with the Waste and Resources Action Programme to support Food Waste Action Week 2025, encouraging individuals and families to buy loose fruit and veg to reduce food waste and save money. Fair Food Renfrewshire has established a food support working group made up of representatives from local emergency and community food providers such as Renfrewshire Foodbank and community larders and pantries. The group is working to develop a new, sustainable model of food provision in Renfrewshire to support those experiencing food insecurity with an improved holistic approach. The Fairer Renfrewshire programme work focuses on tackling poverty and inequality in Renfrewshire looking at financial insecurity and the cost-of-living crisis, food and fuel insecurity. Street Stuff is a partnership programme between Renfrewshire Council, St Mirren Football Club, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue and Engage Renfrewshire. It provides free multi-sport, gaming and Youth Club activities for children aged 8 – 16
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 23 PUBLIC across Renfrewshire in the evenings and at weekends. Street Stuff buses have free Wi-Fi to ensure young people aren’t digitally excluded and provide/support school holiday programmes for ages 5 – 14 which includes the provision of a healthy meal, including over the festive break and in October. The Summer of Fun Programme delivered over July and August 2024 was very well received, with Council funding providing a comprehensive free programme, supported with free food and drinks. Activities included: • Summer camps - 2,776 attendees, 44% of children from lone parent families, 36% from large families and over a fifth from families where a family member has a disability • Specific summer camps for young people with Additional Support Needs, with 193 families using this support • Street Stuff activities for young people aged 8 – 16, which had 2,221 attendances across 7 locations • An Adult and Family learning programme, attracting 54 families • 249 events delivered across all 12 libraries including craft activities, sessions from the Dog Trust , old school Scottish games and Animal Man Mini Zoo • A small grants programme led by local community groups and organisations delivering free activities benefitting over 577 adults and 1,939 children.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 24 PUBLIC The Winter Connections Programme funded 42 projects to provide free activities and hot drinks, snacks and food for parents and children at community venues and libraries throughout Renfrewshire over the winter period in 2024/25. This year’s programme delivered a wide range of activities, including line dancing, songwriting, and retro gaming and benefitted over 2,500 people. One Ren supported the programme by offering hot drinks, soup, and snacks in all Renfrewshire libraries. Benefits of the programme included connecting people with each other, reducing social isolation and encouraging new people to engage with services. It also helped to create a sense of belonging to the local community, provide fun activities, reduce financial costs and provide access to information and advice. Established in 2022/23, the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel has continued to meet throughout 2024/25, supported by STAR Project, ensuring that people on low incomes have their voices heard on the policies and decisions that most impact their lives . The Panel has provided insight into their experiences around transport which fed into the development of a Local Transport Strategy. They have also worked with the Council’s Commissioning and Creative Events Lead to ensure that the Events strategy was inclusive of people facing barriers to participation. The Panel has continued to meet with Invest in Renfrewshire, and their feedback has been actioned in the development of a new project for those at the beginning of their employment journey and they have also been involved in the Cost of the Nursey Day pilot delivered by the Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement Team during 2024/25.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 25 PUBLIC In August 2024, in their joint Digital Exclusion Report, the Accounts Commission and Auditor General recognised Renfrewshire’s #DigiRen network’s person-centred, place-based approach as an exemplar in understanding and addressing digital exclusion. #DigiRen is co-chaired by Engage Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Council and brings together a diverse coalition of over 180 individuals from more than 80 unique organisations, spanning the Public, Third, Community, Voluntary, Academia, and Social Housing sectors. This broad collaboration has been instrumental in ensuring digital inclusion is embedded across local services and strategies. In September 2024, #DigiRen hosted a joint hybrid event at Paisley Central Library, aligning with the Digital Poverty Alliance’s National End Digital Poverty Day. The event brought together nearly 100 delegates, both in person and online, providing a crucial platform for Audit Scotland to present its findings and for key stakeholders to discuss innovative solutions to digital exclusion. With a growing network and continued recognition at a national level, #DigiRen is at the forefront of shaping a more digitally inclusive Renfrewshire. A key priority and success during 2024/25 was the creation of DigiZones across 21 venues in Renfrewshire. This project was co-designed with a range of partners and those with lived experience, and provides a consistent approach and branding, offering digital support, free access to devices and WiFi or signposting. During National Get Online Week, in October 2024, DigiZones launched across our network of 12 Libraries, 6 CLD Adult Learning Centres, 4 CLD Youth Venues, Station Seven in Johnstone (with 3rd sector partners Active Communities) and a mobile library (The Skoobmobile) was transformed into a mobile DigiZone. An evaluation framework was co-produced and is demonstrating considerable positive impact with the following information based on Q4: • Over 100k visitors; • 236 training sessions delivered; • Over 208 hours of digital champions support delivered; • 14 devices loaned as part of device lending library; • Over 8.7k public devices accessed; and • Over 10.7k public access WI-FI sessions. Through OneRen Leisure’s under 5 swim initiative, free access is provided to parents with children under 5 years. This initiative significantly improved access to OneRen venues, reducing financial barriers to participation.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 26 PUBLIC OneRen libraries have provided free events throughout the year including the Will Eisner Week Comic Book Festival (13 events over the week beginning 1 March 2025), the Schools programming element of the Paisley Book Festival, the Janet Coats Memorial poetry prize, a programme of Easter/October Week/Christmas holiday activities as well as the Marvellous Makers Summer Reading Challenge 2024, which was delivered by libraries in partnership with the Reading Agency. There was a special launch event with award winning children’s author Lindsay Littleson at Paisley Central Library in June 2024. Children also collected 2 free swim passes for OneRen swimming pools and other incentives to encourage them to read throughout. IN-Ren: Advancing Equality and Inclusion in Care Services In 2024, IN-Ren played a role in facilitating a cross-sector partnership between Scottish Care and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to develop and launch an Anti-Racism Policy for all care providers across Renfrewshire. This landmark initiative aims to create a more inclusive, equitable, and respectful environment for both care providers and those receiving care, ensuring that everyone in the sector is treated with dignity, regardless of their race or ethnicity. The development of the policy was driven by the collaboration of key stakeholders from various sectors, with a focus on creating a robust, actionable framework that could be adopted across Renfrewshire’s care services. This approach reflects the importance of collective responsibility in addressing racism and promoting inclusivity within healthcare and social care settings. As part of the process, IN-Ren hosted a fact-finding session that provided a platform for both residents and workers to share their lived experiences. This open dialogue allowed individuals to highlight challenges, offer insights, and suggest solutions for creating a more inclusive and welcoming care environment. By listening to those directly impacted by racial inequalities in the care sector, the session ensured that the policy would be informed by the real needs and experiences of the local community. Work together to support children and young people at risk of trauma and harm The joint inspection of Renfrewshire Children’s Partnership was awarded a Very Good grade in the report published on 22 October 2024, recognising their effective support for children and young people at risk of harm and their families. This achievement reflects a strong partnership approach, with Renfrewshire Council's Children’s Services, Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Police Scotland,
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 27 PUBLIC the Scottish Children’s Reporter Association, Children’s Hearing System, and third- sector organisations all playing essential roles. You can read the full report here. The re-design of social work services continued throughout 2024/25, with an aim to improve the capability and capacity within the service to drive change forward. The re- design, which has incorporated Families First, Home Link and Care Experienced Home Link into the Renfrewshire Family Wellbeing Service, has streamlined the way that family support is accessed and provided to ensure consistency and equity across localities. Renfrewshire Council continues to pledge that when children are accommodated by the council, brothers and sisters will be placed together where it is appropriate to do so. Young people have been returned to Renfrewshire via the Close to Home initiative. The majority of all looked after children continue to live in a community setting either with their own family or with an alternative family. Choose Life Training The HSCP Suicide Prevention Strategic Group is now well established with a workplan and subgroups in place including a new Data subgroup. 17 suicide training courses were delivered during 2024/25 per the table below, with a total of 231 attendees from a wide range of services and organisations including Health Improvement, Social Work Adult and Children’s Services, Learning Disability Service, Active Communities, Community Mental Health Team, Community Learning and Development, Day Services, RAMH, Rehabilitation and Enablement Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue, West College Scotland, and local primary and secondary schools. Activities related to The Promise are coordinated across Children’s Services and other Council services and with various partners such as the Renfrewshire HSCP, the Police and the third sector. A Promise Mapping Tool is used to track progress and inform decision-making. The Promise Manager and Ambassador in Renfrewshire provide support to teams and services within the council to raise awareness about The Promise and assess how they can best support Care Experienced individuals.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 28 PUBLIC The Promise team also engage with the Care Experienced community to ensure their voices are heard and their needs are met in service design and delivery, and they can contribute to the development of policies. The Promise Champs programme, led by Youth Services, empowers Care Experienced young people to voice their needs and drive change. Activities such as leadership training, summer clubs, and festive events foster a sense of belonging and community among participants. Additionally, the Promise Arts and Culture Programme provides creative opportunities for Care Experienced young people, helping them build social and cultural capital. Several initiatives support the workforce in delivering The Promise, including the Promise Human Library, which matches Care Experienced young people with professionals in their field of interest, and the development of a Care Experienced Staff Network. A cornerstone of Renfrewshire's approach is the Promise Keeper Network, comprising, by end March 2025, over 362 local champions from various services, including social work, education, and the third sector. These Promise Keepers are empowered to enact changes within their services, share knowledge, and promote positive, non-stigmatising language as outlined in the Renfrewshire Language Policy. In 2025/26, the aim is to expand the Promise Keeper Network by recruiting more local champions and increasing visibility and awareness of The Promise across various services. Workforce support will be further enhanced by expanding initiatives such as the Promise Human Library and the Care Experienced Staff Network. The introduction of guaranteed interviews for Care Experienced individuals will be fully implemented, aiming to address barriers to employment and promote equality. The Care Experienced Data Dashboard and the Promise Progress Framework will be enhanced to provide more comprehensive insights into progress and impact. Funded Promise Projects managed by Corra and funded by the Scottish Government’s Promise Partnership Fund include: • This project aims to reduce school exclusions within the Care Experienced community within Johnstone High School. The pupils of Johnstone High School played an important role in designing the job description for this role. This project also includes Contextual Safeguarding work, which will be delivered by Barnardo’s to create greater understanding of the risks that children and young people are exposed to in a range of different places, such as at home, at school, online or in their local communities.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 29 PUBLIC • This project creates a Promise Team in St Andrew’s Academy to overcome the challenges caused by “last minute” transitions. The aim is to provide intensive support for any child who will be moving from primary to St Andrew’s Academy. Police Scotland’s Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Division have a dedicated missing- person coordinator, who has good links and relationships with private and Local Authority care homes. Working with care home staff, the Philomena Protocol has now been fully embedded in the area, which involves carers collating all relevant information in relation to each individual child, ensuring that information is quickly accessible in the event of a missing episode. The missing person coordinator has established excellent working relationships with house managers, social work and external partners to offer alternative support and outreach programmes to come of our more vulnerable young people. Police Scotland officers regularly provide sessions for school pupils around crime, support and reporting mechanisms. Inputs are provided on topics that may cause harm/risk/trauma, for example bullying, internet safety and consent. The Police Scotland Partnership and Preventions team also promote the Fearless programmes with pupils and schools. This programme enables young people to pass on information about a crime anonymously. There is also regular support on the Division social media platforms for Crimestoppers/Fearless and child protection. In response to the UK-wide disorder that took place during the summer of 2024, IN- Ren/DEAR (Diversity Equality Alliance Renfrewshire group) convened a meeting to hear from members of ethnically diverse support groups about their experiences and concerns, and to propose solutions. The meeting brought together representatives from PACHEDU, Sewing Together All Nations, the Scottish Refugee Council, the School of African Culture, Kairos, and Inspiring Families. One of the key issues raised was the need for a unified and inclusive approach to messaging within schools to promote understanding, prevent tensions, and support young people from all backgrounds. As a result, discussions have since progressed with the Chief Social Work Officer for Renfrewshire, the Children’s Services Directorate Management Team, and the Children’s Services Partnership. Scottish Fire and Rescue’s Fireskills programme engages with young people and aims to educate them about the dangers of participating in risk taking behaviour and build positive relationships between young people and the emergency services. The Fireskills course was delivered in partnership with Renfrewshire Youth Team with input from Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance SORT and Glasgow Airport Fire Service. Members of the Community Action Team have had training on providing a trauma- informed approach. Fire Safety Support and Education interventions are delivered to
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 30 PUBLIC young people known to have started fires and officers deliver presentations to schools, community groups and youth clubs. Online training on the value of being trauma-informed has been developed and piloted within the Council and will be rolled out on the iLearn platform in the second half of 2025. Options for making this available to the wider workforce are currently being reviewed. The Trauma Informed and Responsive Renfrewshire steering group has a refreshed membership and includes our partners from the HSCP. The group meets quarterly and provides strategic oversight to ensure consistency in embedding trauma informed practice and to foster closing working on this topic. Tackling health inequalities: Action Areas Tackle the barriers to work for people with disabilities and health conditions Two key target groups for Renfrewshire’s Local Employability Partnership (LEP) are people with health issues and people with disabilities/long term conditions. The Disability sub-group, co- chaired by DWP/HSCP, commissioned some research in 2024/25 to provide insight from Renfrewshire residents who have disabilities and long- term conditions. 52 people engaged in the research - both users of employability services and those who have not, and the findings have helped to shape the support on offer in 2025/26. Of those who had engaged with employability support, feedback was very positive. In 2024/25, 519 people with disabilities /long term conditions accessed LEP Employability support. This included specialist key worker support provided by Invest and access to two LEP commissioned supported employment programmes delivered by Values into Action Scotland and Search, managed by Renfrewshire Council.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 31 PUBLIC The LEP has also provided grant funding to Scottish Union of Supported Employment to work with local employers in 2024/25 including local anchor organisations such as Renfrewshire Council. The shared goal is to achieve more job outcomes for disabled people and people with long term conditions and better rates of retention, by building the capacity of employers to attract, recruit and retain jobseekers. The Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership subgroup on Health Conditions and Recovery, chaired by the Health Improvement Team, works to support people in Renfrewshire in recovery from health conditions to improve their employability. The group brings together and supports services while identifying gaps to people accessing support to work or in-work support. This group also looks at support for those in recovery from addictions and mental health, commissioning mental health support for employability clients through RAMH and Youth Inspired. This provided talking therapies on a 1:1 and group work basis to 71 clients in 2024/2025. The group has continued to progress their Action Plan throughout 2024/25. Key pieces of work have included the promotion and evaluation of mental health support for employability clients and the delivery of mental health training for employability staff, including Scottish Mental Health First Aid, Trauma-Informed Practice workshops, and Neurodiversity Awareness sessions. The subgroup has also continued to progress work on an “Asking the Employability Question” toolkit for staff working in health and social care settings. The toolkit’s purpose is to increase staff confidence when discussing employability with the individuals they work with and increase knowledge of referral routes.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 32 PUBLIC Skills Development Scotland (SDS) deliver an all-age guidance service to all residents of Renfrewshire including career information, advice and guidance on career choices, advice on the routes into career including jobs, apprenticeships, training and learning, support with CVs, application forms and interviews. They also offer free redundancy advice and support, as the lead agency of Partnership Action for Continuing Employment. As part of the Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership, SDS’s local management team have been actively involved in the commissioning process for employability provision within Renfrewshire through the assessment of LEP Grant bids, including those for people with disabilities and health conditions and increasing access to mental health support and counselling services for young people.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 33 PUBLIC OneRen’s Vitality Programme of exercise classes allows for people with long term medical conditions to exercise safely in their community, whatever their functional ability. 539 Vitality classes were delivered in 2024/25 with the attendances rising by 32% from the previous year to 11,890. Provide a network of community mental health and wellbeing supports Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund Engage Renfrewshire has, since 2021, distributed over £1.5 million to more than 160 projects across Renfrewshire for Community Mental Health and Wellbeing programmes aimed at adults. This programme of work, funded by Scottish Government, has made a significant impact, offering a wide range of initiatives that focus on improving mental health, promoting wellbeing and supporting community resilience. Notable initiatives include Waterbaby Arts, an organisation dedicated to creating high- quality dance performances by and for artists with disabilities; ‘Talk Menopause’ workshops, monthly sessions hosted by RAMH that are open to Renfrewshire residents, providing crucial support and information; and CREATE Paisley, which delivers tailored programmes to help young people navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood, fostering resilience and personal growth. The Renfrewshire Wellbeing Network has grown to include 222 members, reflecting the collaborative spirit and shared commitment to enhancing mental health across the region. The network connects organisations, practitioners, and community members who are all working towards building a healthier and more supportive environment for individuals at every stage of life. With increasing pressures on mental health services, this funding allows for proactive, community-based solutions that complement traditional healthcare services. Engage Renfrewshire have also directly funded, through the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, the Renfrewshire Anti Stigma Alliance which is an alliance of third and public sector organisations looking to tackle mental health stigma and offer supports and guidance both to the public and other third sector organisations. During 2024/25 OneRen received 324 referrals to the Health and Wellbeing team via a referral form on the OneRen website. Their Social Prescribing Coordinator manages these referrals and provides support and information to individuals who would benefit from accessing and attending activities. The service is client centred. The menu
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 34 PUBLIC includes knitting and crochet groups, book groups, film clubs, health and cultural walks, exercise classes and Sporting Memories. External community activity supplements the offer and can include community choirs, planting in a local allotment, Men's Sheds, activities at the St Mirren Foundation, with Kairos and the STAR project. This includes the introduction of 10 Mental Health First Aiders who completed their training in December 2024. This service is being launched in May in conjunction with Mental Health week. Supported by the Community & Mental Health Fund, Open Aye, a photographic participation group, has developed a programme of regular therapeutic nature-based arts activities for refugees living in Renfrewshire. By combining creativity, nature and social connection, the project is helping to reduce isolation, support mental health and improve integration. Through creative expression, refugees can share their experiences, build confidence and develop a sense of belonging. Beyond the immediate benefits, the project has fostered connections between participants and local support groups, strengthening Renfrewshire’s refugee integration network. This approach not only provides direct support to individuals but also helps to create a more inclusive and welcoming community. The Ren10 mental health and wellbeing supports has helped connect teams and services across education, social work, health and the third Sector which has meant the journey and outcome of those using Ren10 can be better understood. Key activity has included the development of non-violent resistance approaches, inter- agency training and the creation of digital supports. The network/ platform is open and accessible to all in need and helps bridge the gap between universal services that deal broadly with wellbeing and the specialist support for severe mental health conditions. During its first year, the service supported over 1,000 children and young people, including 125 who were care experienced. Well in Renfrewshire (WiRe) is a collaborative approach to make information on community-based supports and activities easier to find and to develop new opportunities to improve wellbeing. The HSCP has developed an interactive map with partners’ input, and since launching in July 2024 it has had over 5,000 views on the HSCP website and over 1,300 active users.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 35 PUBLIC Police Scotland make use of the TIFY (This Is For You) Card for Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, which provides links to support services for adults requiring additional support/specialist support rather than police involvement. Inputs have been provided to all frontline officers in the division, ensuring they are better equipped when dealing with concern for persons and persons in mental health distress. The Culture, Arts, Health, and Social Care (CAHSC) Partnership is Renfrewshire’s innovative approach to bringing arts and culture to residents (18+) engaging in social care services. By funding an arts and culture coordinator post embedded within the Health and Social Care Partnership, CAHSC can create opportunities for some of Renfrewshire’s most disadvantaged residents to access arts and culture and improve their health and wellbeing. Thanks to CAHSC funding, 10 training sessions were delivered to build capacity within services to deliver more creative projects and provide information on conditions and topics affecting service-users in Renfrewshire. 135 people attended 10 sessions with 78 feedback responses received. Older Adults Day Service Digital Transformation The HSCP Day Services Team has been transforming the lives of older adults with a range of 15 social groups per week delivered on Microsoft Teams. This was started through COVID, but has continued to grow, with 25 current registered users and up to 15 group sessions per week delivered over the course of 2024/25.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 36 PUBLIC The groups cover everything from Falls Prevention to knitting, quizzes, news discussions, friendship groups, digital skills, and internet safety. The groups call themselves the “Digital Buddies” with an age range from 72 to 100 years old and includes participants who are registered blind, deaf, or have learning disabilities. The service has seen friendships and romance blossom and is key to reducing loneliness and social isolation. The eldest member Janet ‘Nettie’ Mclean has been encouraged to write a memoir and reminds us of the value of our older generation, illustrated by an old African proverb: “When an old person dies a library is lost.” Strengthening Opportunities for Older People in Renfrewshire (SOOPIR) The SOOPIR event has been running for 10 years, bringing older people together to celebrate ageing and improve both mental and physical wellbeing in later life. The planning and delivery are facilitated by workers from the HSCP, Renfrewshire Council Sheltered Housing, Renfrewshire Seniors Forum, and ROAR Connections for Life and they, along with volunteers from Seniors Forum and local High Schools decorate, organise, and serve refreshments on the day. Ticket cost is kept low to maintain affordability, there is entertainment to involve and engage participants, and information stalls from the likes of Citizens Advice, Care and Repair, Energy Advice, and Food Train. Each year has a theme e.g., Royal Wedding, Halloween, Country & Western, and in October 2024 over 300 people gathered in the Lagoon Centre in Paisley to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Entertainment over the years has ranged from Glasgow Senior Citizens Orchestra to ballroom fitness, to a ceilidh band, to choirs, all of which aim to involve and engage participants regardless of ability. The event helps to build confidence, knowledge and friendships thus reducing loneliness and isolation and are often described as the highlight of the year. Reduce the impact of alcohol and drugs and support recovery The Alcohol and Drugs Change Programme has been drawing to a close over 2024/2025, with most projects now completed or moved into mainstream provision, either in whole or in part. The Harm Reduction Response Team (HaRRT) service is delivered through a mobile unit, which has been situated in specific areas in relation to near fatal overdoses and suspected drug deaths. HaRRT plays a key role in supporting individuals who may not
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 37 PUBLIC be in contact with other services, providing access to harm reduction advice, equipment, and services, to support their health, safety and wellbeing. This Service is currently transitioning to a commissioned service model, with a tender process taking place in early 2025. My Life Ahead (MyLA) is a housing-led project has been delivered in partnership with Turning Point Scotland and provides support for individuals and families in Renfrewshire whose daily lives are impacted by drug and/or alcohol use and require wraparound support to sustain, or access settled housing. For those supported by MyLA there have been positive outcomes emerging in terms of reduction in alcohol/drug use; people being supported to successfully access settled housing and the specialist services they require; those with a history of non- engagement now working positively with the MyLA team. Police Scotland’s Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Division work closely with the Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership and make use of the Connected and Caring cards, which provide signposting to local services for support. Safeguarding Vulnerable Young People Partnership Programme - Schools This project has provided targeted support in a Renfrewshire school with pupils experiencing significant challenges and are identified as at risk of missing out on education. A Principal Teacher was recruited to provide enhanced pastoral support, to those who may be experiencing issues relating to alcohol and/or drug use (own or parental), and poor mental health, with the aim to improve outcomes relating to attendance, exclusions, and health and wellbeing. I Am Me were commissioned to develop an interactive Stigma Awareness training package aiming to improve the understanding, awareness, and confidence of the workforce in relation to stigmatising language around alcohol and drugs, and the impact of stigma on individuals and communities. The resources have been co- developed with people who have lived and living experience of drug and alcohol use and recovery. As part of the Connected Communities Programme, this training aims to align with other current and emerging pieces of work, such as Every Contact Counts. Alcohol and Substance Awareness Educational resources were developed for use in nursery, primary, and secondary settings, and continue to be accessed by schools across Renfrewshire. The packs were produced by I Am Me Scotland, Renfrewshire Children’s Services, teachers, Police Scotland, NHS, Renfrewshire HSCP and, most importantly, children, young people, and those who have lived experience of drug and alcohol use. These packs continue to be utilised across Renfrewshire schools, as well as by wider partners across Scotland.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 38 PUBLIC Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABIs) is a key element of the Scottish Government’s Alcohol Strategy to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. Public Health Scotland has recently published recommendations such as encouraging community outreach programmes to reach individuals at higher risk of alcohol related harm in wider settings, as well as strengthening training and support for practitioners who deliver ABIs. Renfrewshire ADP commissioned a specific Alcohol Brief Intervention Practitioner who has been in post since October 2024. During this time, 70 staff from several care groups, such as Community Mental Health Team, Criminal Justice Social Work, and Circle Recovery Service have received training to equip the staff with the skills to feel confident and able to deliver an ABI effectively, whilst supporting early intervention and engagement. Training sessions continue to be offered to partners across Renfrewshire. The delivery target per year is 1,116 ABIs and in 2024-2025 a total of 2,185 ABIs were recorded. Positive feedback has also been provided by individuals who have engaged with service. So far, a total of 12 referrals for support have been linked directly with the delivery of an ABI. Fibro Scan Pilot The first Fibro Scan clinic was established in December 2024 as a joint pilot community outreach initiative, run by the Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service (ADRS) along with liver nurses from the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The clinic is designed to offer eight appointments per month to increase detection and identification of early liver disease/fibrosis or undiagnosed cirrhosis. It is anticipated that by facilitating easier access to the service it will improve attendance, reduce barriers, and promote long term engagement. To date, 5 clinics have taken place resulting in 38 individuals receiving fibro scans. 21% of the scans carried out have resulted in referrals to the consultant out-patient clinic with 6 referred urgently for intervention. A further 21% were allocated a review appointment and scan in a year’s time, along with advice on lifestyle, and given verbal and written information on alcohol-related liver disease. Although it is too early to highlight the outcomes of the pilot outreach service, it should be noted these patients may not have come to the attention of the liver team for months or years. Liver disease is known as the ‘silent killer’ as it can be largely asymptomatic in its early stages and without accessing this outreach service, this could have resulted in poorer health outcomes for the patients. Public Health Scotland has recently reported the number of people with chronic liver disease in Scotland is projected to increase by 54% by 2044, and without effective prevention and early
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 39 PUBLIC intervention like this pilot, alcohol harms will continue to impact services and devastate lives in the future. Alcohol and Drugs Needs Assessment Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) commissioned a needs assessment in June 2024 to provide a population based comprehensive understanding of need and challenges experienced within Renfrewshire relating to alcohol and drug use. This included scoping existing services and resources to support the identification of gaps in provision as well as assessing the demand and capacity needs. The needs assessment is aligned to national frameworks and responds to increasing concerns around alcohol and drug related harm and inequalities in access to support. The assessment will inform commissioning decisions and will identify potential areas for service development and/or improvement as part of the wider commissioning process. Some of the headlines from the needs assessment include: • the need to address the imbalanced equilibrium between alcohol and drug provision and priorities • the need to review current resource allocation and whether it meets strategic priority areas, and • an increased focus on prevention and early intervention. The Needs Assessment concluded in January 2025 with the findings expected to be reported at the end of May 2025. Renfrewshire ADP will work with partners to develop a local Delivery Plan aligned to the findings of the Needs Assessment and will organise a key stakeholder event to progress key actions. Provision of Naloxone Kits Renfrewshire’s proactive approach to the distribution of Naloxone and training reflects commitment to reducing the number of drug related deaths. In Renfrewshire, services provided 1,023 Take Home Naloxone kits, a life-saving medicine that reverses an opioid overdose, to people in our communities in 2024/25 (662 in 23/24). The recommended annual provision should be 9-20 times the number of opioid related deaths, so this is more than the 2024/25 target of 740. The ADP Support Team in conjunction with HSCP colleagues will continue to offer free Naloxone Training Sessions in locations throughout Renfrewshire. ADP Connected and Caring at Christmas Campaign
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 40 PUBLIC Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership organised a week-long Christmas Campaign to promote harm reduction, raise awareness about alcohol and drug recovery services, and support local communities during the festive season. The campaign engaged with various community partners, distributed care bags, and included media outreach to amplify its message. The Christmas Campaign demonstrated the power of community collaboration and media engagement in promoting harm reduction and raising awareness about recovery services. The activities successfully connected individuals with resources, educated stakeholders on vital harm reduction strategies, and offered direct support to vulnerable populations. Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Education Alcohol and drug prevention activity has continued within the HI team. The Prevention and Education Sub-Group has been recommenced with good attendance from Renfrewshire Council (RADAR, Children’s Services, Education, Community Development), Action for Children, St Mirren, STAR Project, RCA Trust, NHS GGC and Renfrewshire ADP, Renfrewshire HSCP. Terms of Reference for the Group have been shared and will be agreed at the next meeting in June 2025. The Action Plan will be progressed during 2025/26 with priorities agreed and aligned with national and local strategies. Support has been provided to the ADP Alcohol Death Prevention Lead with the review of licensing applications that have been submitted to Renfrewshire Licensing Board. A report has also been completed on the effectiveness of the work carried out by Renfrewshire HSCP in response to licensing applications submitted to Renfrewshire Licensing Board. This paper provides an overview of licensing applications submitted to Renfrewshire Licensing Board from February 2022 to November 2024 and has been submitted to Renfrewshire ADP. A total of 13 Naloxone and Overdose Awareness training sessions were delivered by the team between June 2024 and March 2025. Three of these sessions were delivered as part of Renfrewshire training calendar and 10 were delivered as ad hoc sessions. All sessions were delivered face to face throughout Renfrewshire. Across all sessions there was a 70% attendance rate (118 total attendees) and an average attendance of 9 participants at each session. Training will continue to be delivered during 2025/26. Increasing Awareness of Alcohol and Drugs in Renfrewshire
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 41 PUBLIC During 2024, key partners worked collaboratively in the development of a number of events and campaigns to raise awareness of treatment services available throughout Renfrewshire as well as access to harm reduction resources. • Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service organised an ‘Open Day’ to enable local people and staff from other care groups to visit the building to find out more information about local services, harm reduction information, and messaging. The Harm Reduction Response Team visited a number of local communities to promote the service and deliver key harm reduction messages. • During Alcohol Awareness Week Renfrewshire ADP Support Team encouraged community participation through discussions on alcohol related harm aiming to foster open conversations and support alternative choices. • This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day held on 31 August 2024 was marked with events across Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire’s ADP Support Team in collaboration with the Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service (ADRS), alongside partners, hosted information hubs in various venues across Renfrewshire. The hubs provided the opportunity to learn more about local services and receive Naloxone training. • After the stalls closed there was a short processional walk to the Chapel of St Mirin at Paisley Abbey where stories of recovery were shared from those with lived and living experience, as well as a short poem. In the evening, buildings and landmarks across Renfrewshire were lit up purple in remembrance, joining landmarks across the world to remember those who have lost their lives. Medication Assisted Treatment standards aim to improve access, choice and care for people affected by problematic substance use across Scotland, with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships taking the lead role in supporting their delivery. These evidence-based standards enable the consistent delivery of safe, accessible, high-quality drug treatment across Scotland. These are relevant to people and families accessing or in need of services, and the health and social care staff responsible for the delivery of recovery orientated systems of care. Renfrewshire’s Alcohol and Drugs Partnership has been praised by Public Health Scotland for their ongoing hard work and commitment, demonstrating year on year sustained improvements in standards of care, stating it is “a reflection of the consistent levels of innovation, hard work, and sharing of good practice by local teams.” Renfrewshire’s performance journey can be charted from the introduction of the standards in 2022 until 2025, with red being the lowest score and blue the highest. The standard in Renfrewshire has been green for two consecutive years and is testament to the hard work and dedication of the services involved.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 42 PUBLIC Make sure people can live safely and independently at home and in the community Adult Support and Protection Service Inspection A major focus in 2024/25 was the anticipated Joint Inspection of Renfrewshire HSCP’s Adult Support and Protection processes and procedures. In the report published in March 2025, Inspectors stated that “in Renfrewshire, the inspection found clear strengths in ensuring adults at risk of harm are safe, protected and supported.” The final report has now been published and Renfrewshire is one of only two Partnerships in Scotland to receive ‘very effective’ progress statements against the two quality indicators, with Inspectors concluding: ‘the partnership’s key processes for adult support and protection were very effective and demonstrated major strengths supporting positive experiences and outcomes for adults at risk of harm’; and ‘the partnership’s strategic leadership for adult support and protection was very effective and demonstrated major strengths supporting positive experiences and outcomes for adults at risk of harm’. The full report can be found here. Delayed Discharge Performance Renfrewshire has maintained its position as the highest performing HSCP in Scotland for Standard Delayed Discharge for the third year running. The team has achieved this due to a combination of measures including: • Ongoing redesign and change work undertaken to improve efficiency and effectiveness of Care at Home services in Renfrewshire, with a continued focus on supporting Hospital Discharge and Waiting Times for services. • Continued strong partnership working with external providers, Acute services, hospital based Social Work staff, and Locality teams. • Results: reduced waiting times for new care packages, sustained Delayed Discharge performance, and continued improvements to service delivery. The Delayed Discharge Team was also recognised as the overall winner of the local HSCP category for Renfrewshire at the NHSGGC Staff Awards ceremony in May 2024. Police Scotland host regular community engagement events, assisted by partners, to provide advice on home security, doorstep crime, online safety, personal safety and fraud. This includes Shut out Scammers campaigns, Acquisitive Crime campaigns, and the After Dark campaign. These events are further supported by sharing additional information on the Renfrewshire and Inverclyde social media accounts.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 43 PUBLIC Scottish Fire and Rescue’s Community Action Team received training from Telecare to increase their knowledge of the system and to be able to confidently talk about what services they can offer at Home Fire Safety Visits to keep occupiers safe. They also provide fire-retardant bedding, bins and mats to those who need them. During Home Fire Safety Visits, they raise awareness and provide information about local services to assist those who may require extra support or adapted equipment in their home, for example, strobe light fire alarms for individuals with sensory impairment. Officers also attend groups such as ROAR to provide fire safety and older driver inputs and refer individuals who may benefit from ROAR services through their Home Fire Safety Visits. Care at Home Inspection An unannounced inspection of the Care at Home Service was graded as Good and Very Good in the Care Inspectorate’s report published on 2 October 2024. The inspection report highlighted how people supported by the service had positive experiences and were treated with dignity and respect. It further noted individuals were supported in a safe and personalised manner, and people and their families felt assured their opinions mattered. The report recognised significant strengths in the care provided, particularly in how it supports positive outcomes. Throughout the report, a consistent message was that frontline staff, managers, and senior leaders are all committed to working together to deliver the best possible care and outcomes for those who use our Care at Home services. The full report is available here - Care Inspectorate Inspection Report of Care at Home Services. Care at Home Staff Regrade Care at Home services has undergone a review to ensure it operates efficiently and effectively to meet service demand and deliver the most effective services to people across Renfrewshire. Part of this review work was to explore the redesign of frontline Care at Home worker job outlines, with a supporting objective of seeking to improve staff retention. The roles of Home Care Worker and Senior Home Care Worker were comprehensively reviewed by Renfrewshire HSCP in conjunction with Trade Union representatives and Renfrewshire Council HR, as part of an improvement and modernisation project. The outcome of this work saw the role of Home Care Worker increase from Grade 2 to Grade 4, and the Senior Home Care Worker role increase from Grade 4 to Grade 5, based predominantly on the understanding all postholders would complete training to cover the new task of ‘administration of medication’, whilst it also recognised the significant
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 44 PUBLIC rise in people they support with more complex needs. Consequently, there has been significantly more recruitment interest in the roles due to the higher grading and decreased levels of sickness absence in comparison to 12 months ago (5% reduction) and 2 years previous (8% reduction), as of March 2025. Providing Breaks from Caring Supporting carers to get a break is a priority of the IJB’s Carers Strategy which recognises that breaks support the caring relationship and promote the health and well-being of the carer and the supported person. A break is any form of service or assistance which enables the carer to have periods away from their caring routines or responsibilities. Breaks can take many forms, and a carer might need an hour each week, a day here and there, a week or two for a holiday, or a combination of all of these. In partnership with Renfrewshire Carers Centre, two new services supporting breaks launched in 2024/25. The Carers Discount Card launched in July 2024 and provides carers with a range of discounted opportunities across Renfrewshire, helping carers keep costs down during these challenging times. 428 cards have been issued to carers and 63 local businesses have signed up to the scheme since launch. In March 2025, the Short Breaks Service launched to provide micro-grants to carers so they can take a break and enjoy physical activity sessions in partnership with Daring Greatly and craft activities in partnership with Sewing2gether All Nations. OneRen’s Live Active Referral Scheme is a health behaviour change intervention that supports inactive people, many of whom have a long-term medical condition, to become more physically active. It provides additional support for an individual, ensuring follow up is carried out regularly. All abilities are catered for, from low level walking and wheeling, strength and balance classes and a Sporting Memories community class, to more moderate circuit classes and supervised gym sessions. OneRen received 1052 referrals to the programme in 2024/25.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 45 PUBLIC Addressing the climate emergency: Action Areas Create good, green jobs and a green skills pipeline everyone can access Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero aims to capture the opportunities of a just transition to net zero - creating local green jobs, developing sustainable skills and embedding community wealth building and a wellbeing economy at the heart of what we do. There is regular engagement with local business and 3rd sector organisations to collaborate and raise awareness of the net zero agenda and we are taking a proactive approach to explore how we can provide every person with the opportunity to reskill and upskill to participate in a just transition to net zero through work with Skills Development Scotland and local education and training providers to ensure that training opportunities exist for the jobs that will be created. Renfrewshire Council is committed to increasing spend with local suppliers and building an inclusive, green and resilient economy. Meet the Buyer events are one way the Council is bringing together key representatives, such as the NHS and UWS, so local businesses can learn more about contract opportunities with public sector organisations and upcoming plans. Producing proposed pipelines of projects and activities links with the net zero skills transition and will identify local employment, supply chain and manufacturing opportunities and requirements ahead of time. This helps local businesses and our local workforce plan for what is on the horizon, attracting investment, supporting business growth and retaining and creating local sustainable employment opportunities with a skilled workforce.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 46 PUBLIC We are also supporting local businesses through initiatives such as the Net Zero Business Grant, which offers local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) grant funding of up to £10,000 to cover up to 50% of eligible costs to enable changes to business premises and/or operations to reduce their carbon footprint. As part of enhancing the Council’s structure in response to the climate challenge, a centralised Sustainability Team has been established in the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Service. The team will lead on the climate responsibilities the Council has and advance our net zero aspirations further. This will involve working across the Council and with local partners and communities. Supported by colleagues in the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland led on a Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Pathfinder (CESAP). The pathfinder looked at the demand for skills across key sectors identified as important to the transition to net zero and provided an enhanced evidence base to allow for the development of an effective skills response, identified issues and gaps, and highlighted appropriate areas for current and future focus. It also looked at decarbonisation of domestic and commercial heating to understand the potential job opportunities and the consequent demand for skills. Two pilot areas were identified in Shetland and Glasgow City Region. Partners were provided with the evidence collected in each region and agreed on three areas of action for each region to take forward which will help address the identified skills challenges. Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero aims to optimise biodiversity and nature locally to enhance our natural environment and ensure everyone can enjoy and access nature. Renfrewshire’s Green Network Project is an ongoing project which aims to enhance green spaces to conserve and restore native biodiversity. Over 30 sites were selected and have been developed across Renfrewshire following a period of public consultation. Planning is now underway to develop future potential projects which includes visual enhancement of existing sites using plug plants, low growing road edge seed mix and interpretation signage to raise awareness of the sites. There are opportunities to learn from the existing project areas to improve future phases through expanded public consultation, and increased education and awareness within communities. This may include exploring opportunities to work alongside other engagement being undertaken by other services to optimise and maximise responses and input.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 47 PUBLIC Restoring Renfrewshire’s Rivers Project is an ongoing Council project which aims to tackle invasive non-native plan species (INNS) and restore natural habitats along 5 watercourses within the Renfrewshire Council area - River Calder, Locher Water, Dargavel Burn, Old Patrick Water and Sergeantlaw Burn. Site reconnaissance work began in April 2024, with Surveys for INNS plants on all 5 of the watercourses carried out between mid-June and late October. The project encourages the support and contribution of local volunteers from the community to work alongside Biodiversity officers. There are currently over 50 volunteers on the project mailing list, with regular public events held to raise awareness of the project and provide information on how to take part. Various local partners work closely with the project including local community groups, countryside rangers, RSPB and local landowners. The project is currently funded from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund until January 2026. Make sure there are local spaces and nature that support health and wellbeing Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero aims to optimise biodiversity and nature locally to enhance our natural environment and ensure everyone can enjoy and access nature. Since its launch in October 2023, the Sustainable Communities Fund has supported a range of projects that promote community collaboration and wellbeing and provide for a greener future, with nature projects including a Community Garden and Outdoor Learning Area, a Sensory Garden, and a range of community growing projects across Renfrewshire. The Fund will strengthen work within communities to identify opportunities for land and assets within local areas and develop projects that benefit those who live there - connecting people through regenerated local spaces, tackling inequality through community collaboration and building connections through projects and activities that alleviate loneliness and isolation. Nature-based solutions are also being implemented to reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and alleviate issues such as surface water management and temperature control, while making our local areas nicer places to walk, wheel, cycle and spend time in. This includes delivery of the initial phase of the Clyde Climate
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 48 PUBLIC Forest with the planting of 3,000 trees (‘whips’) and the delivery of new biodiversity areas. Community Based Growing Initiative Funding As part of the Community Food Framework, the HSCP developed a small grants community based growing initiative. 10 organisations were awarded funding and began their growing initiatives in May 2024. Finding Your Feet service-users’ harvest yielded a variety of vegetables and herbs, with potatoes being successful. The funding also had a wider impact as it benefited other organisations sharing the space. Third Sector group Create Paisley contributed to the garden's planting design; Who Cares? Scotland’s children’s autism group used the garden for play; HomeStart hosted family growing playdates; and a local primary school’s Primary 7 class helped with the garden's upkeep. Community Food Framework The HSCP Health Improvement Team secured funding from NHSGGC Public Health to implement a Community Food Framework within Renfrewshire that aligns with Fair Food Renfrewshire principles and Community Wealth Building. The plan aims to support healthy eating through community-based awareness-raising and skills development activities with a view to help improve diet, support a healthier lifestyle, and reduce health inequalities. The Framework took place from May 2024-March 2025 and the funding enabled: • Provision of free training for 11 local community chefs to help develop community food literacy and deliver cookery programmes to local organisations and families. • Delivery of 9 free cookery classes which included ingredients for families to take home and cook themselves. • A small grant fund, which supported 10 local organisations to begin, or continue developing, healthy community food provision/growing that promotes dignity and resilience within Renfrewshire. • Helping organisations that support people from ethnic minority backgrounds to target health and food activity and increase access to healthy foods – activity delivered to 27 participants. • Providing training opportunities to 14 third sector organisations to support employability. Overall, food was provided to a total of 384 people of which 249 were under 18; 83 people were at risk of type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity; 20 people with
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 49 PUBLIC additional support needs; and 70 people with mental health issues were supported through the framework. Deliver a ‘just transition’ towards net zero with fairness at its core The climate crisis is not felt equally – often the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities, who have contributed least to climate change, are most impacted. Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero puts people and our communities at the centre of our transition to net zero to address existing and future inequalities to create benefits and opportunities for all. The activities planned for 2024-25 listed below hope to contribute to one of the priority areas for action in the alleviation of fuel poverty through improved energy efficiency and provision of affordable energy. • The commencement of developing a Ren Zero community engagement programme to inform, educate and upskill local communities, stakeholders and our workforce. • Following the approval of Renfrewshire’s Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy and the successful delivery of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) district heating network, feasibility studies have been completed to expand the current network as well as exploring additional district heating networks in Paisley. • Renfrewshire Council has been successful in securing funding to develop Outline business Cases for potential heat networks in Paisley Central and an extension of AMIDS, with partnership working to optimise the opportunities including UWS, OneRen, NHS, Scottish Water and Glasgow Airport. Engagement has been ongoing with Youth Services around their climate action work with children and young people, to identify opportunities to incorporate their views into Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero. Formal engagement has been undertaken with Renfrewshire’s Youth Climate Champions, to support young people’s voices in climate campaigns and increase climate awareness. The Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel have also been asked to share their views and feedback relating to all aspects of the Plan for Net Zero and a focus on their local areas. A Local Transport Strategy, supported by revised Active Travel and Public Transport Strategies, called “Travel Renfrewshire 2035” was approved by Renfrewshire Council’s Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board on 5 November 2025, informed by far-reaching data gathering engagement exercises. This included online surveys, stakeholder workshops and pop-up engagement sessions at supermarkets and direct in person workshops with community organisations. We specifically engaged with group
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 50 PUBLIC representing people with disabilities and those who are particularly affected by the cost-of-living crisis. The draft strategy was issued for further consultation in November 2024 Subject to the feedback for the consultation it is expected that the final strategy will be ready by summer 2025. Develop adaptations to climate impacts for vulnerable people Severe weather and climate impacts are already affecting our communities. Renfrewshire’s Plan for Net Zero has a focus on resilience and adapting to a changing climate to prioritise actions that enable us to prepare, respond and recover from severe weather and climate impacts and reduce the risks and vulnerability of our communities, infrastructure and nature. An Adaptation Plan will be developed in 2026 which will capture adaptation solutions and outline a phased programme of priority actions which are designed to respond to and address the local impacts of climate change that are already happening, as well as prepare for future climate risks across the Renfrewshire area. These actions will be centred around communities, security and resilience, infrastructure and our local environment. Renfrewshire’s Energy Advocacy Officers work with a wide range of external partners to support residents in resolving domestic energy issues. The advocacy service supported a total of 934 households in 2023/24, contributing to over £250,000 in savings. It is a people orientated service aimed to provide help to those who need it, and it has received recognition from other local authorities and Energy Action Scotland. Renfrewshire Council is exploring large scale renewable energy generation in collaboration with multiple internal services and external specialists to evaluate sites in Renfrewshire that could be commercially viable. This aims to optimise locally generated energy opportunities and maximise the renewable energy generated locally being used locally. This approach increases energy security and resilience, brings about increased emissions reductions; provides opportunities for increased energy cost savings at a local level; more cost effective, locally sourced energy, revenue generation and enhanced community benefits. As part of the Glasgow City Region, Renfrewshire will benefit from a share of £3.5 million of funding to accelerate the delivery of public EV Charging Infrastructure, which should see over 3,000 additional charge points installed over the coming years. The project is currently being scoped out, with suitable locations being identified and prioritised based on clear metrics such as deprivation, flood risk and existing local infrastructure.
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Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership Annual Report 51 PUBLIC
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PUBLIC Appendix 2 – Draft Community Plan Performance Framework Dashboard Summary: 2024/25 Performance Indicators 🔺🔺 Areas requiring review Indicator Issue Commentary Real Living Wage ↑ 19.3% earn below RLW Rising trend from 12.5% (2022/23) to 19.3% (2024/25); higher than Scottish average. New Business Start-ups ↓ Below target 265 vs target of 320 in 2024/25; declining trend. Procurement Spend on Local Enterprises ↓ Below target 20.15% vs target of 21%; still below desired threshold. Health Perception (General) ↓ 73% rate health as good Down from 79.7% in 2017/18; 68% in most deprived areas. Attainment Gap (Literacy & Numeracy) Persistent gap Literacy gap at 14pp (target: 10); Numeracy gap at 11pp (target: 9). Children Living in Poverty ↑ 24% Above Scottish average (21.8%); second-lowest in family group. Drug & Alcohol Hospital Stays ↑ Above target Drug stays: 260.66 (target: 170); Alcohol stays: 712 (Scotland avg: 594.5). Telecare (75+) ↓ Significant drop From 61 to 40 per 1,000; shift to basic alarms. Climate Emergency Indicators Data gaps Most indicators under “Thriving”, “Well”, “Fair”, and “Safe” lack data.
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PUBLIC ✅ Areas of Improvement Indicator Progress Commentary Claimant Count ↓ 3,755 → 3,315 Positive trend in unemployment-related benefits. Economically Inactive (16–64) ↓ 25.9% → 21.4% Lower than Scottish average; positive labour market movement. Employability Programme (INVEST) ↑ 288 sustained in work Exceeds target of 180; strong retention. Parents Supported by INVEST ↑ 486 total 54% moved into positive outcomes; 295 improved incomes. Free School Meal Uptake ↑ 60.2% Up from 52.5%; meets target. Adult Support Plans for Carers ↑ 192 Significant increase from 25 (2022/23). Drug-related Deaths ↓ 50 → 27.5 Positive reduction, though still above national average. Alcohol & Drugs Waiting Times ↑ 98.5% seen within 3 weeks Exceeds 90% target. Community Alarm Access (All Ages) ↑ 2,503 → 3,767 Reflects increased support needs and service adaptation.