Minutes of CLDMS Quarterly Meeting
Stirling Highland Hotel
Monday 17th September 2012
In Attendance: Neil Gunn Dundee City Council (Chair)
Gail Woodcock Aberdeen City Council
Elspeth Pollock Argyll & Bute Council
Dot Grieve East Ayrshire Council
Pat McVey East Dunbartonshire Council
Eric Whitfield East Renfrewshire Council
Douglas Jeffrey Edinburgh City Council
Mark Meechan Falkirk Council
Steve McHardy Fife Council
Ken Gibson Glasgow Life
Hugh Scott Inverclyde Council
Karen Delaney Moray Council
John McKnight North Ayrshire Council
John Tierney North Lanarkshire Council
Jackie Halawi Perth and Kinross Council
Alistair Ewen Renfrewshire Council
Frank Thomson South Lanarkshire Council
Kathleen Colvan South Lanarkshire Council
Barbara Allan Stirling Council
Jim Sweeney Youthlink Scotland
Peter Taylor CLDMS
(from item 11)
Colin Ross Education Scotland
Alan Milson CLD Standards Council
Apologies:
Anne McConaghy Midlothian Council
Maria Gray Edinburgh City Council
Nancy Heubeck Shetland Islands Council
Graham Hewitson Angus Council
Jeannie Holles Argyll and Bute Council
Maggie Paterson Inverclyde Council
Ian Hepburn West Lothian Council
Pablo Mascarhenas Highlife Highland
Marj Hutton Scottish Borders Council
Lorna Campbell West Dunbartonshire Council
ITEM / MINUTE / ACTION1. / Minutes
The minutes of the previous quarterly meeting of 11 June 2012 were agreed.
2. / Matters Arising
2- 4.3 Assessor’s Awards. A report was tabled, and Eric Whitfield reported on progress. A toolkit would be produced.
2 - 4.4 Roles of intermediary and representative bodies. The EC would invite Learning Link Scotland and Scotland’s Learning Partnership to its next meeting for a discussion, and an informal meeting might be held at CLDMS conference of those representatives attending.
3-3 Partnership agreement with Education Scotland: the agreement for 2012/13 had been agreed. Copies available on request.
3-4 Report on options for the structure of CLDMS: work was still in progress / PT
3. / EC Report
1. CLDMS projects: The EC had met that morning and approved in principle a range of possible extended projects that CLDMS might undertake or propose to partners. Actions decided are listed in an appendix to this minute. The meeting noted these. Members were encouraged to put forward ideas on resources for evaluation and quality improvement that could be included or linked to on the website.
2. 2012 Conference. The proposed programme was noted. Members were urged to prepare key questions for the panel on ‘prevention and early intervention’. It was agreed that there should be an informal early evening members’ session on 18 October at which Assistant Assessors could give feedback on the proposals for pilot Learning Community inspections and discussion could follow.
3. Constitutional amendment: The section of the constitution headed ‘Finance’, currently read in part:
b. The Treasurer shall keep complete records of the income and expenditure of the organisation and shall prepare a statement of the accounts as soon as may be after that year, which shall be audited by the Auditors and submitted to the organisation
f. The accounts of the organisation shall be audited annually by an external auditor appointed at the Annual General Meeting
The EC proposed, and it was unanimously agreed, that this should be amended to read:
b. The Treasurer shall keep complete records of the income and expenditure of the organisation and shall prepare a statement of the accounts as soon as may be after that year, which shall be examined by the Independent Examiner and submitted to the organisation
f. The accounts of the organisation shall be subject to external scrutiny annually in line with the relevant requirements of legislation by an Independent Examiner appointed at the Annual General Meeting / PT, All Sub-groups
4. / Treasurer’s Report
Eric tabled a report and a statement of 2011/12 income and expenditure. The EC would consider how widely such statements should be circulated. It was noted that some of the current surplus would be devoted to additional projects. Eric was thanked for the prolonged efforts that had been required to obtain bank recognition of a change of signatories.
6. / Representation on Outside Bodies
Pro forma responses had been circulated or were tabled from :
Marjorie Hutton – Adult Literacies in Scotland 2020 Strategic Implementation Group. The poor response to the request for returns to Education Scotland on implementation of ALIS 2020 was noted.
Karen Delaney – Youth Work and Schools Partnership. The future role of the group was under consideration. It was agreed in principle that CLDMS should support the idea of a single group dealing with all aspects of CLD involvement in CFE.
A request had been received from Generations Working Together for a CLDMS representative on a short-life working group on Intergenerational Practice within the Curriculum for Excellence. It was agreed to circulate the request to the Adult Learning Subgroup members. / PT/ AL Sub-group
7. / Subgroups
1. Adult Learning The minute of a 23 August meeting was noted. The subgroup should continue to review whether further representations should be made on ESOL funding.
It was noted that Marj Hutton had indicated a future intention to stand down as Chair as a result of changes to her job remit. It was agreed to ask EC members to consider whether one of them might take over the role.
2. Community Capacity Building The minute of meetings of 22 June, 6 August and 31 August were noted. The draft response to the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill consultation had been circulated.
3. Quality Improvement. The minutes of meetings of 27 June and 14 August were noted.
Neil reported on discussions with Education Scotland about the forthcoming pilot Learning Community inspections. It had agreed that there should be initial training for CLD leads as well as Assistant Assessors. CLDMS would be involved in a workshop to redraft illustrations of indicators in view of proposed changes of emphasis; and in reviewing progress after 3 pilots and at the completion of 6. It was agreed that this involvement should be led by the QI Subgroup, with invitations to others to get involved. Neil would write to Pete Hamilton confirming our understandings and asking about arrangements for circulation of the revised Guidance.
The desirability of engaging Community Planning managers in the revised inspection process was discussed, including a possible invitation to first day briefing sessions.
4. Youth Work. The minute of a 29 June meeting was noted and Frank Thomson reported from a 9 September meeting:
· Consultations were taking place with the Scottish Youth Parliament, and the group was recommending that all authorities should contribute to the cost of staging its meetings according to a common scale.
· Discussions would also be held with Young Scot on the service they provide
· A working group was being established to take forward a survey of the local authority youth work sector.
· The main narrative of a Youth Work Strategy refresh had been drafted, and actions now had to be agreed. Completion would be in 2013.
· The need for a workshop specifically for managers at the Youth Work Week conference had been noted.
· The potential role of youth workers at large events such as T in the Park had been raised. / EC
QI Sub-group
NG
9. / YouthLink Scotland report
Jim Sweeney reported:
· There was a vacancy on the YL Policy Forum for a CLDMS representative. It was agreed that the Youth Work subgroup should make a nomination.
· The Youthlink responses to the Children and Young Persons Bill and the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill were available for others to use if required.
· A revised CFE good practice toolkit had been produced by the youth work and schools group
· Alex Linkston, Chair of Youth Link, would be writing to Chief Executives emphasising the importance of youth work. A draft would be copied to CLD managers.
· The YouthLink Business Plan was due for review and stakeholders would be consulted
The potential for an ‘adult’ version of the summary poster on the youth work contribution to CFE was discussed. It was agreed to consult the AL and CCB Subgroups about this. / YW Sub-group
AL & CCB Sub-groups
10. / Comments on Scottish Government Consultations
Members had received draft CLDMS response to the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill and the Children and Young Persons Bill. Any further comments were required that week.
11. / Standards Council Report
Alan Milson reported on:
· The roll out of i-Develop, and the very positive response. Concerns about local authority policies barring access to resources such as YouTube were recognised, and attempts were being made to address these.
· Registration. The principles of the new system had been agreed and it would be launched by March 2013
· Quality Mark – would now be known as Standards Mark. It would be awarded to the provider of CPD, not individual courses. Participation in pilots would be invited.
11. / Education Scotland CLD Team Report
Colin Ross reported on the implementation of the Strategic Guidance:
· Reorganisation of the team had an effect on progress with the Implementation Framework, but it was expected that this would be shared during October, hopefully by the date of the CLDMS conference.
· Responsibility for CLD policy issues had been transferred from the Scottish Government lifelong learning team to Education Scotland
· They had met the Minister along with Michelle Colquhoun to pursue the idea initially raised by CLDMS of her writing to colleagues emphasising the relevance of the Strategic guidance to their remits.
· Plans for a Reference Group had still to be finalised.
It was noted that CLDMS EC representatives would be meeting Alan Armstrong and Maureen Gore shortly to discuss CLDMS and its role.
Members present were asked about progress on developing local strategies in response to the Strategic Guidance. Reports and other materials could be shared, perhaps on the website.
Colin reported on the Upskilling programme.
· Many proposals were already in and reviewing them would commence that week
· Agreements would be built on the existing Delivery Plan format
· Two year plans were good in principle, but ES could not guarantee funding for them
· ES is advocating regional partnership arrangements, but had felt it necessary to continue to offer local authorities the opportunity to respond individually.
It was agreed to urge that the processes involved in agreeing programmes should be proportionate to the modest amount of resources involved.
Questions were asked about progress with the 16+ learning agenda. Policy responsibility for this still lay with the Scottish Government team. There was still a firm Ministerial commitment to legislation on CLD, and assurances were being sought that this would be in place by the 2013 summer recess. / Educ-ation Scot-land
CLDMS mem-bers
Educ-ation Scot-land
Scottish Government
EC Recommendations on possible extended projects
From QI Sub
Fuller mapping of evidence/evaluation/QI resources, with reviews and critiques of usefulness (This might involve an enhanced resource on the website, and a possible half day event to review existing resources)
Reviewing ‘Let’s Prove It’, looking at any changes required by the Strategic Guidance.
Joint capacity building on self-evaluation with ADES
The Subgroup was asked to cost proposals for all of these and report back to the EC; Education Scotland should be consulted on and involved in the first two proposals especially
From CCB Sub
Event or events for local authority CCB practitioners
Developing peer reviewed case studies of the impact of CCB work, using a common format based upon the proposed national standards
The Subgroup was asked to cost proposals for all of these and report back to the EC
From EC/ AL Sub
Collection of evidence or publication on the contribution of CLD to change in the early years
The AL Subgroup was asked to take the lead in costing proposals in collaboration with all other groups, and report back to the EC
General
Publication of evidence on prevention and early intervention, adding to conference case studies
In principle this should be taken forward, with extra work requirements identified if necessary
Updated survey of CLD budgets, structures and priorities (link to YouthLink survey of local authority youth work?)
It was agreed that the timing was right for this, and that Peter should proceed with it as a priority, subject to agreeing any additional work requirements involved. Pat McVey to be consulted
Updated survey of CLD partnership arrangements
It was agreed that more than a simple survey was required, but a dialogue with members on different arrangements and their implications. It was felt that this should be a priority for Education Scotland in preparing to implement the strategic guidance. Eric, Gail and Peter would propose a project to Education Scotland.
Survey of SOA indicators related to CLD (building on survey of AL indicators proposed by Subgroup)
It was agreed that it was currently too early for a full scale survey of SOA indicators, since the deadline for the new agreements was not yet imminent, but that such a survey might be desirable in the spring. In the meantime, Peter would issue an email enquiry to members (no additional resource implications) asking where they are in the process and what issues they wish to share. Those authorities where a new SOA has already been completed might also be asked to give an early indication of where and how a CLD contribution will be recognised in this.