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ANNEX D
COMMUNITY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY LEARNING AND
DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS
Community Planning
1. Community Planning involves public
agencies working together with the community to plan and
deliver better services. It was given a statutory basis by
the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, which placed a
duty to participate on local authorities (which have the
role of initiating and facilitating the process),
NHS Boards, the Enterprise Networks, the
Police and Fire Services and the
SPTA. Community Planning Partnerships (
CPPs) are encouraged to involve a wide
range of other organisations in the partnership, and many
have representatives from the further education sector. The
Act also requires
CPPs to engage with the community on an
ongoing basis.
2. Community Planning is seen as the key
over-arching partnership framework helping to co-ordinate
other initiatives and partnerships and where necessary
acting to rationalise and simplify a cluttered landscape.
CPPs have been established in all 32
local authority areas, and have prepared Community Plans,
which set out the strategy for the area. The structure of
CPPs varies between areas. Many have
thematic groups covering the key priorities identified by
the Partnership, which often include lifelong learning and
enterprise. Community Planning guidance allows for
CPPs to use or adapt existing
partnership structures where possible to tackle new issues
or initiatives.
3. Under the umbrella of the
CPP, each area has a Community Learning
and Development Partnership and a Community Guidance
Partnership.
Community Learning and Development
4. In 2000 the Scottish Executive asked
local authorities to lead on the development of Community
Learning Partnerships across Scotland. In this way,
community and voluntary organisations, local authorities,
police and health boards, further and higher education
institutions and enterprise and careers agencies began to
work together to achieve positive change in communities,
through the provision of learning and social development
opportunities.
5. With the publication of
Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger
Communities in January 2004, the Scottish
Executive asked that (building on the work of the Community
Learning Partnerships) Community Planning Partnerships take
the responsibility for ensuring that a co-ordinated
approach is taken to community learning and development in
their area, through the formation of Community Learning and
Development Partnerships (in which schools and colleges
should again be key players). Each partnership has in place
a Community Learning and Development Strategy.
6. These Partnerships and Strategies
should be integrated within Community Planning structures
locally. As there are different approaches to Community
Planning across Scotland, it is for Community Planning
Partnerships locally to decide how best to integrate
them.
7. Community Learning and Development
complements the National Priorities in Education. It aims
to build self-confidence and self-esteem; develop core
skills such as communication and working with others;
promote inclusion and equality; and encourage active
citizenship. Community Learning and Development makes an
important contribution towards promoting lifelong learning,
social inclusion and active citizenship.
8. There are three national priorities for
Community Learning and Development. These are:
- achievement through learning for adults:
raising standards of achievement in learning for
adults through community-based lifelong learning
opportunities incorporating the core skills of
literacy, numeracy, communications, working with
others, problem-solving and information
communications technology;
- achievement through learning for young people:
engaging with young people to facilitate their
personal, social and educational development and enable
them to gain a voice, influence and a place in society;
and
- achievement through building community capacity:
building community capacity and influence by enabling
people to develop the confidence, understanding and
skills required to influence decision making and
service delivery.
Structure of Community Learning and Development
Planning
9. Local authorities have a key role in
facilitating the development of Community Learning and
Development Strategies. The strategies:
- are based on rigorous analysis of need and
resource;
- demonstrate engagement with key agencies, the
voluntary sector and the community;
- are fully consistent with the community plan and
dovetail with, but not duplicate other relevant
plans;
- concentrate resources to meet key priorities while
maintaining a concern for the wider purposes of
community learning;
- contain targets for improvement with timescales
linked to improvement plans being developed by the
education authority; and
- set out arrangements for monitoring and
evaluation.
10. The Strategies should set out a
framework for planning at operational level, through
Community Learning and Development Action Plans. These
Action Plans are again partnership documents that set out
what the priorities are within a particular local community
or community of interest, and what the partners will do to
help address these.
11. At operational level the partnerships
involve those immediately responsible for delivering the
Action Plan. These groups should include those who are able
to make a positive contribution to taking practical work
forward. Schools and colleges may well be involved in these
groups and should identify appropriate staff to play this
role. Partnership working and decision making is expected
to lead to better use of resources available locally and
thereby to more effective provision, addressing key
priorities based on rigorous analysis of needs and
resources.
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