Coronavirus (COVID-19): Covid Recovery Strategy Programme Board - programme approach

Examples of work to be developed through the programme

Example – existing practice – community planning partnerships

Before the pandemic there was already evidence that community planning was improving in light of statutory duties introduced by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, but it was widely acknowledged that further improvement was needed. During the Pandemic, however, community planning has responded strongly, with communities, third sector bodies and public services coming together with pace and conviction to support communities in need. 

There are examples of community planning partners responding nimbly and placing more trust in front-line staff and communities to go ahead and get things done. Community planning has facilitated sharing of intelligence – including to identify people at potential risk and co-ordinate activity in ways that minimise gaps and duplication in service delivery. CPPs with strong pre-existing local presence have been particularly effective in securing trust of local communities. These collective efforts have in turn strengthened relationships and communication among partners, including between public services, the third sector and businesses. 

Community planning provides a space in which public services, other partners and communities themselves can pursue Covid Recovery and other national priorities, in ways that reflect local needs and circumstances and flex around the distinctive needs of different communities. Community planning can provide a golden thread that connects local with regional and national ambitions and is ideally placed to help refocus priorities, involve and empower communities and strengthen local relationships. It will be important to consider where really effective community planning is in place, and how that practice can inform other areas of work.

Example – considering approaches – learning from the Covid response

Public services, third sector, private sector, volunteers and communities have come together to support people in need throughout the pandemic. Locality-based service delivery models have placed trust in front-line staff and communities to act as needed. Local partnership planning has improved sharing of intelligence. This collective effort has strengthened relationships and communication among partners, including between public services, third sector and businesses.

 “Since last March, we’ve seen public bodies disobeying organisational boundaries and delivering ‘Christie’ at scale and pace. It’s been truly impressive and shows what can be done. We all owe them an immense debt of gratitude.” (Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, September 2021).

This joint energy and commitment is vital as energies shift to recovery, renewal and making a positive difference for vulnerable people and communities. We will work with the national collaboration board to identify where the Covid response has been particularly effective in breaking down barriers, and will analyse what has led to that success – from support for homeless people in Edinburgh to community support hubs in Ayrshire. This will inform our understanding of what can truly be achieved where service provision is integrated and focussed on local needs.

Example – implementing and testing – focus communities

We will, based on clear criteria, identify Focus Communities to take forward and test approaches to person centred services, bringing together local partners to quickly address community needs. In four initial locations, we will rapidly test ways of doing this to understand impact at the community level, and what mix of empowerment and support community partners need from central and local government. We will identify where government can aid local work, and importantly where government intervention adds bureaucracy or impedes local collaboration. We will use this to drive forward rapid change and improvement in the Focus Communities, but also to test and understand how we practically support community empowerment, developing the public sector reform agenda. We will use clear evaluation methods to measure the impact of these approaches.

Example – embedding approaches – local Covid recovery plans

The strategy commits us jointly to the development of local Covid recovery plans. As we test and implement approaches to service delivery, we will work with partners build a framework for the development of these plans, where possible working within existing community planning arrangements. We will ask local authorities, their public, third and business sector partners and communities to consider how well placed community planning and other local arrangements in their areas are likely to be to address the inequalities and outcomes identified in the strategy. We will then ensure that support can be provided to integrate the approaches identified through our work into local recovery planning, recognising that CPPs may already be addressing these ambitions in existing plans.

Example – delivery assurance in the expansion of early learning and childcare

The programme of expansion of funded Early Learning and Childcare for 600 hours to 1,140 hours was jointly agreed by Scottish and Local Government in 2018, and became a statutory entitlement for all three and four year olds and some two year olds in August 2021. A jointly agreed blueprint for delivery established key principles of how this would be done.

While the expansion of ELC was underpinned by Legislation, and supported by a national funding agreement and jointly agreed policy framework, delivery of the was led by local authorities. This meant that there were 32 different local delivery programmes, overseen by a programme board, jointly chaired by the Minister for Children and Young People, and the COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People. There was a commitment to working together to jointly ensure that any risks to delivery were identified and addressed.

At the beginning of the programme, local authorities projected how the programme would be delivered and phased, and funding was allocated accordingly. Throughout the programme, three times a year, data was collected from every authority on key delivery indicators, and these formed the basis of discussion, support and challenge with a multi-disciplinary delivery team. This process highlighted risk and issues to the board, resolved policy, funding, and implementation issues, brought in external support where it was required, and shared best practice across areas.

The expansion of funded ELC was delayed slightly by the pandemic, which closed nurseries and construction sites, but all eligible children now benefit from 1,140 hours of funded childcare.