Appendix 2(c) EIA form - LW grants
Argyll and Bute Council · 26 March 2025
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 26 March 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Equality Impact Assessment Section 1: About the proposal Title of Proposal Removal of £12,000 budget for Living Well grants Intended outcome of proposal Launched in September 2019, the Argyll and Bute Living Well strategy makes a commitment to support people living in Argyll and Bute with long-term conditions and those at risk of developing them. The strategy focuses on supporting people to manage their own health and supporting communities to build groups and networks which can link people together. More information about the strategy can be accessed here - Living Well Strategy — Living Well. Over the past 5 years, a small amount of in-year funding for third sector groups has been available in the form of Living Well grants. The Living Well grants were an opportunity for Third Sector or constituted community groups to fund projects that aligned to the key priorities of the Living Well strategy. This funding was aligned to the five-year, 2019-2024 strategy. The current iteration of this strategy is coming to an end; therefore this proposal will remove this small grant budget. Description of proposal The Living Well small grants budget funded non-recurring community projects from 2019-2025. The grants did not fund recurring projects. The grant projects funded under this workstream have either completed, or due to complete in 2025. The work of the Living Well Strategy evolved in 2022 into the Living Well Programme Board. This refresh has enabled a refocus on activity at two levels: 1. Community rehabilitation and wellbeing - Community Rehabilitation and Wellbeing Service to be provided by HSCP staff located within locality Physiotherapy departments and supported by Lead AHP. LiveArgyll facilities and staff to be accessed by these HSCP staff to deliver rehabilitation, strength & balance and education classes. 2. Community assets for Living Well priorities - person centred social support to connect people to community-based activities. This action includes developing and sustaining community-based support, for example using community development and co- production approaches. A community wellbeing development manager oversees the Community Assets steering group. This refresh has drawn in external & multi-partner funding to achieve actions identified by the programme board. In particular, the Community Assets for Living Well Priorities group has developed an action plan to focus on supporting community-based activities. A sub-group is also working to refresh the Living Well strategy from 2025. Due to the above changes, this proposal will remove the £12,000 budget for Living Well grants. HSCP Strategic Priorities to which the proposal contributes • Living Well and active citizenship
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Lead officer details Name of lead officer Samantha Campbell Job title Health Improvement Principal Department Public Health Appropriate officer details Name of appropriate officer Jenny Dryden Job title Health Improvement Lead Department Public Health Sign-off of EIA Date of sign-off Who will deliver the proposal? The current £12,000 budget sits with Public Health. The multi-partner Community Assets group will take forward community asset work under their workplan. Section 2: Evidence used in the course of carrying out EIA Consultation / engagement The grant process aligned to the Living Well Strategy 2019-2024. The requirement for this small grant fund has naturally come to an end, due to the evolution of the Living Well work, and the non-recurring nature of the funded projects and budget. Therefore, no specific engagement has been taken surrounding this proposal. Consultation and engagement will take place during the refresh of the strategy from 2025 onwards. Data: The budget available for grant funding has reduced year-on-year however has funded approximately five non-recurring projects per year. In 2024-2025, a maximum of £4000 per project could be applied for. The 2024-2025 projects are completing in 2025, and the previous year grants are all completed. Other information Gaps in evidence Section 3: Impact of proposal Impact on service users: Negative No impact Positive Don’t know Protected characteristics: Age X Disability X Ethnicity X Sex x Gender reassignment x Marriage and Civil Partnership x Pregnancy and Maternity x Religion x Sexual Orientation X Fairer Scotland Duty: Mainland rural population X Island populations X Low income X
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Negative No impact Positive Don’t know Low wealth X Material deprivation X Area deprivation X Socio-economic background X Communities of place X Communities of interest X If you have identified any negative impacts on service users, give more detail here: If any ‘don’t knows’ have been identified, when will impacts on these groups be clear? How has ‘due regard’ been given to any negative impacts that have been identified? For this project, service users are defined as the recipients of each grant funded project, i.e. the people the grant funding supported. No impact has been selected due to the following: • The projects were non-recurring and have all completed/due to complete in 2025 • Future need is picked up via ongoing work of the Living Well Programme board, which focuses on older adults and those with long-term conditions, thus mitigating any potential negative impact of this loss of grant funding in these population groups. • The grant funding was minimal, with a maximum of £4000 per project in 2024/25. Impact on service deliverers (including employees, volunteers etc.): Negative No impact Positive Don’t know Protected characteristics: Age X Disability X Ethnicity X Sex X Gender reassignment X Marriage and Civil Partnership X Pregnancy and Maternity X Religion X Sexual Orientation X Fairer Scotland Duty: Mainland rural population X Island populations X Low income X Low wealth X Material deprivation X Area deprivation X Socio-economic background X Communities of place X Communities of interest X If you have identified any negative impacts on service deliverers, give more detail here: If any ‘don’t knows’ have been identified, when will impacts on these groups be clear?
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How has ‘due regard’ been given to any negative impacts that have been identified? For this project, service deliverers are defined as the community groups/3rd sector organisations receiving the grant funding. Again, there are no negative impacts identified for specific population groups of 3rd sector organisations, due to the reasons listed above. However it should be noted that reduction in available funding for 3rd sector organisations across Argyll and Bute as a whole could have an impact on reducing the work these organisations can do, and contribute to instability of the 3rd sector. In year allocations or underspends from elsewhere in the budget may continue to be used to support grant-based health and wellbeing work. This will be on an ad hoc and non-recurring basis. Section 4: Interdependencies Is this proposal likely to have any knock-on effects for any other activities carried out by or on behalf of the HSCP? No Details of knock-on effects identified Section 5: Monitoring and review Monitoring and review In 2025, Public Health staff will work within a multi-partner subgroup to refresh the Living Well Strategy. During this work, if any impacts of this proposal are identified, this document will be updated accordingly.