Argyll and Bute TSI Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 13 August 2024
Back to Bute and Cowal Area Community Planning Group — 13 August 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Page | 1 Argyll and Bute Third Sector Interface (ABTSI) Third Sector Support Advisor for Cowal and Bute: Janis Marshall Reilly - janismarshallreilly@argylltsi.org.uk Facebook page for Cowal and Bute TSI news can be found by clicking here. This update covers the period from 30th April 2024 to 17th July 2024 TSI activity for quarter one 2024-2025 has involved: - completing the final version of the TSI funded Community Wealth Building report - reviewing our budgets - supporting member organisations and the wider community through the council and IJB budget processes - planning for our next business plan and new strategy Scottish Government/Parliament, the TSI landscape and policy activity Holyrood’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee has launched a consultation on third sector funding aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the public funding process. Third sector organisations and their funders have until the 16th August to respond to the survey: Pre-budget 2025-26 scrutiny - Third sector funding principles - Scottish Parliament - Citizen Space With the change of Westminster Government, the TSI network is keeping an eye out for potential changes to the structure of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and other national funding programmes. Local strategic partnerships Community Wealth Building (CWB) progress Two further community action groups have arisen to implement parts of the TSI funded Community Wealth Building report: The first is a group dedicated to identifying ways of making community renewable projects more accessible to local communities in Argyll and Bute.
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Page | 2 The second is a local group to Helensburgh and Lomond interested in adopting CWB methods for their local place planning - and to identify their ask of the TSI in terms of CWB support. The Community Planning Partnership (CPP)’s Community Wealth Building steering group will meet for a final time in August 2024 to identify how to take forward the specific recommendations contained in April’s report. Community Benefits from major infrastructure projects Part of the Community Wealth Building report output was a review of how we approach community benefits arising from major infrastructure schemes. We are working with some emerging local coalitions in Dunoon to consider the structure of a potential fund and a public event is planned for September 2024. More strategically there may be scope to research / improve the whole field of such potential community benefits, focussing on local needs. We will include this in our wider TSI strategic review. Third Sector Interface (TSI) Scotland, contracts, sector support and strategic action plan delivery TSI National Conference The TSI Scotland network held a two-day national conference in Edinburgh in May. ABTSI’s CEO Takki Sulaiman (pictured) led a session on Leading in Challenging Times. The conference was attended by over 120 staff from TSIs across Scotland, with positive feedback and a desire to see the event return in 2025 pending funding from the Scottish Government. Argyll and Bute TSI strategy development ABTSI will deliver a survey / focus groups identifying key local third sector and social enterprise issues in order to: • Map and identify the current concerns and needs of the local sector • Drive a training, events and networking calendar
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Page | 3 • Drive the TSI's new strategy, business plan and a sector-led campaign. The TSI is aware of significant venn-diagram type intersections around this plan and the Living Well and Climate Change work streams. The intention is to work with partners on a joint survey that we could all use in the hope of reducing consultation fatigue - and we will be in touch soon to that end. Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund Year 4 Grant Grant letters for 2024-2025 were signed in July 2024. Funding is broadly the same as in 23/24 with £280,979.23 available overall in Argyll and Bute. It is anticipated that the fund will be open to applications by the end of September 2024. Hustings General Election Hustings for Oban and Helensburgh organised by the TSI were held on 24th and 26th June respectively. They were both very well attended with the Oban hustings also being live streamed and still available at this link: General Election Hustings - Oban 24-6-24 (youtube.com) Taking Action on Rural Poverty workshop June 2024 The TSI is on the steering group for the Robertson Trust funded project (delivered by the Poverty Alliance) Taking Action on Rural Poverty. At a sector learning event in June 2024, the TSI CEO presented a session on how the TSI’s networks and community wealth building approaches can support anti-poverty work in Argyll and Bute. The event was well attended with over 40 groups represented. Wellbeing Development Manager Community Directory development The Wellbeing Development Manager role (hosted by the TSI and funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and the HSCP) continues to prove highly relevant to our work through supporting capacity building for third sector groups active in preventative healthcare - as well as developing information and support tools such as our community directory. A proposal to expand the community directory’s use as a tool for analysing sector services and capabilities has been agreed to – fundamentally a centralised platform to
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Page | 4 create a 'One Front Door' approach to accessing Health and Wellbeing information and support services in Argyll and Bute. Further info is not included here for reasons of brevity but please do let TSSA for Cowal and Bute, Janis, know if you would like more information. Community Assets for Living Well – workshop A workshop was held at the start of June 2024 and aimed to help define a clear vision for what contributes to a good life for people across Argyll and Bute. A video capturing the outputs of the session is available to view here. END OF ARGYLL AND BUTE TSI UPDATE (ABTSI) Third Sector Support Advisor for Cowal and Bute: Janis Marshall Reilly - janismarshallreilly@argylltsi.org.uk Facebook page for Cowal and Bute TSI news can be found by clicking here. Website: Argyll & Bute Third Sector Interface (argylltsi.org)