Coronavirus (COVID-19): Covid Recovery Strategy Programme Board minutes - 14 June 2023

Attendees and apologies

Co Chairs

• Shona Robison, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance
• Cllr Shona Morrison, President, COSLA

Attendees

• Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive, SCVO
• Sandy Begbie, Chief Executive, Scottish Financial Enterprise
• Louise Macdonald, Director General, Communities, SG
• Mary McAllan, PSR and Covid Recovery, SG
• Linda Bauld, Chief Social Policy Adviser, SG
• Paul Johnston, Chief Executive, Public Health Scotland
• Gregory Colgan, Chief Executive, Dundee City Council

 Apologies

• Cleland Sneddon, Chair, SOLACE Scotland
• Sally Loudon, Chief Executive, COSLA
• Cllr Steven Heddle, Vice President, COSLA

Items and actions

​​​​​​The board accepted the minutes from the previous meeting on 26 January 2023.

The board acknowledged the work being done by the Community Planning Improvement Board (CPIB) in supporting Covid Recovery across local communities. A discussion took place around the current challenges being experienced by public sector organisations including financial constraints, the need for more secure and better paid employment opportunities and the possibility of finding solutions that address both climate change and public health challenges. The board reflected on the importance of ensuring that the third sector is able to access appropriate resources while also ensuring that funding is being used properly. It was also noted that; there is an opportunity to review how community planning is managed, the additional steps that could be taken to make it more effective and how community planning can be supported to engage with new regional structures.

The board were updated on the practical steps being taken to test, identify and embed reformed ways of working through the Glasgow and Dundee pathfinders, best practice support and a focus on barrier reduction. It was noted that delivering change at scale is challenging and it is important to ensure an outcome-based approach to best serve communities is followed.  

The board discussed a paper proposing that the board should be concluded and new arrangements put in place to enable ongoing alignment of public service reform work. The board acknowledged that if this work is done correctly, there will be significant benefit to the delivery of public services. The board agreed with the recommendations made in the paper.

The board concluded by recognising that this work presents a huge opportunity to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland, in particular for those who need support the most.

• the Covid Recovery Strategy Programme Board will be concluded
• officials will develop a Lessons Learned report and review of current governance arrangements
• officials will develop a proposal outlining future forums that will be used to drive ongoing alignment of public service reform work across public services
• officials will arrange a session to present the combined outputs from the Covid Learning and Evaluation Group and Covid Recovery Programme Board