The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland

A central element of the CPIB’s recent work as set out in the CPIB Strategic Plan has been to demonstrate the commitment of community planning partnerships to incorporate Covid recovery ambitions into their work, as well as positive examples of practice. The CPIB has focussed on three main areas in 2022 and 2023, which are: climate change; financial security for low income households; and wellbeing of children and young people. The CPIB reviewed its strategic focus in 2023 and agreed these themes remain pertinent, given their importance to local partnerships and their broad alignment with the outcome priorities within the Verity House Agreement and wider public service reform agenda.

Through engagement with community planning partners and partnerships, deep dive workshops, and CPIB short-life working groups, we have continued to build a wide and varied evidence-based understanding of the important work community planning partnerships are carrying out to improve outcomes through good practice, and of the barriers limiting progress. Full details of the learning emerging from this work are available in the Board Papers.

Across the next 12 months, the CPIB will consider the vision, strategy and set of actions needed nationally, to provide further support to CPPs as they take local action to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and improve wellbeing. As a starting point, and building on work to date, the CPIB identified a series of local and national actions to unblock barriers limiting progress and help community planning fulfil its potential.

The CPIB Action Plan outlines how we will deliver our priorities for the period ahead. This plan represents the commitment of CPIB members to work together to deliver practical action to drive forward real change at a local level. A summary of our eight priorities is set out below:

1. to support implementation of new and existing local models relating to Third Sector funding;
2. o work with Scotland Excel to bring greater co-ordination in procurement in relation to Climate Action;
3. to support co-ordination and streamlining of Climate funding at a local level;
4. to encourage greater focus of City Deal money on Climate Change;
5. to promote good practice & learning on local progress in data sharing in relation to poverty, including Child Poverty;
6. to develop national principles on data sharing and risk levels;
7. to encourage partners to recognise, resource and sustain the places (inc. third sector) where nurturing relationships happen to improve wellbeing outcomes for children and young people; and
8. to encourage CPPs to put in place mechanisms for collective prioritisation and decision-making in relation to allocating funding in relation to wellbeing for children and young people.

In addition to the local actions to be taken forward by the CPIB, there are a number of national actions which are essential to the progress of this work. The CPIB is seeking support from the Deputy First Minister, the COSLA President and the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth to come up with a plan for how we can continue to work together to take this forward.

The priority areas for national action are:

1. to address the fragmentation of the climate funding landscape by consolidating and aligning national budgets and funding streams;
2. to secure sustainable funding for the third sector, recognising their instrumental role in the development and delivery of early intervention offers and relationship-based alternatives to statutory service delivery, including in key areas such as whole family wellbeing approaches;
3. to give greater emphasis to the provision of flexible and multi-year funding to enable available resources to be better used in ways that reflect priorities for communities; and
4. to reduce reporting requirements, including in relation to Child Poverty Action Reports.