Argyll and Bute TSI Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 20 August 2024
Back to Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group — 20 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 Report: Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group Paper: Third Sector Interface (TSI) Date: 20 August 2024 Prepared by: Caryl Mclean GOVERNMENT, TSI LANDSCAPE AND POLICY ACTIVITY Charities and funders have been urged to take part in a new Scottish Parliament inquiry aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the public funding process. Holyrood’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee has launched a consultation on third sector funding and wants to understand what can be done to make the process more efficient, so available funding can be used more effectively. The committee’s findings will be shared with the Scottish Government in advance of its next budget. Third sector organisations and their funders had until the 16th August to respond to the survey. With a change of government nationally 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 1. Community Wealth Building (CWB) progress Following April’s Community Planning Partnership (CPP) meeting the CEO presented the report’s findings to the four Area Community Planning Groups (ACPG). Subsequently two further groups have been started arising directly from community action to implement parts of the TSI funded report. The first is a group dedicated to identifying ways of making community renewable projects more accessible to local communities in Argyll and Bute. The second is a local group in Helensburgh and Lomond interested in adopting CWB methods. Finally, the CPP’s CWB 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.
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Page | 2 2. Community Benefits Part of the CWB report outputs 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 approach the structure of a potential fund and a public event is planned for September 2024. More strategically there may well be scope to research the whole field of community benefits to analyse how it is spent and identify room for improvement, improve transparency and focus on local needs. TSI SCOTLAND, SECTOR SUPPORT AND STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN 1. TSI National Conference and Scottish Government returns The TSI Scotland network held a two-day national conference in Edinburgh in May which was attended by over 120 staff across the two days with speakers from a wide range of organisations including ACOSVO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Social Enterprise Scotland, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and SCVO. ABTSI’s CEO led a session on leading in Challenging Times and feedback for the whole conference agenda was well received and it is intended to run the event again pending further funding from the Scottish Government. 2. ABTSI strategy development preparations Further to the Board’s decision in April 2024, the CEO has been working on a plan to deliver a survey and focus groups identifying key local third and social enterprise issues in general for three reasons: • Map and identify the concerns and needs of the sector. • Use the findings to drive an overarching training, events and networking calendar. • Use the findings to drive the TSI's new strategy, business plan and a sector led campaign. This process would take place from August-October with analysis taking place in November-December. 3. Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund – Year four grant and preparations Grant letters for year four (2024-2025) of the Communities Mental and Wellbeing Fund were received and signed in July 2024. As with 2023-2024 funding is broadly the same with £280,979.23 for the fund itself. Work is underway on preparing the schedule including consulting with the sector about the local fund guidance plan. It is anticipated that the fund will be open by the end of September 2024.
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Page | 3 4. 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. 5. Argyll and Bute Climate Action Network (ABCAN) The TSI supported Argyll and Bute Climate Action Network (ABCAN) continues and year two of the seed funding programme will be disbursed in September 2024 using the TSO platform. Funding is at a much lower level this year at £10,000. ABCAN seed grants of up to £500 for community Climate Projects opened on 29 July 2024 and closed on 18 August 2024. 6. Employee and Volunteer Assistance Programme The TSI has partnered with Spectrum Life to bring a comprehensive Employee and Volunteer Assistance Programme free of charge to our members. This means members of the TSI can invite their staff and volunteers to make use of the service for free. Areas of support for individuals include: • Family Mediation • Financial Assistance • Legal Guidance • Life Coaching • Consumer Advice • Mental Wellbeing • Career Counselling • Bereavement counselling • Mental Health and Wellbeing • Nutrition • Physical Fitness • And lots more… TSI member organisations can sign up via the TSI website – Employee/Volunteer Assistance Programme. Furthermore, we ask partner organisations to promote the service, as appropriate. 7. Work of the Wellbeing Development Manager The Wellbeing Development Manager, hosted by the TSI and funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and the HSCP, has continued to work at pace.
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Page | 4 This proposal outlines the plan to enhance the Third Sector Interface database (community directory) and leverage it as a centralised platform to create a 'One Front Door' approach to accessing Health and Wellbeing information and support services in Argyll and Bute. This initiative aims to streamline service access, improve user experience, and foster better collaboration among service providers. Objectives 1. Centralise Health and Wellbeing Information: Integrate all relevant health and wellbeing services into the enhanced TSI database, ensuring comprehensive and up-to-date information is available. 2. Improve Accessibility and Usability: Design a user-friendly interface that allows individuals to easily find and access services. 3. Enhance Collaboration and Coordination: Foster better coordination among service providers to ensure seamless service delivery and avoid duplication of efforts. 4. Access to data: Utilising one platform for the capturing and sharing of data, to be used to inform current and future service design and delivery, as well as conducted gap analysis, and measuring impact.