NATIONAL FORUM ON AGEING IMPLEMENTATION GROUP
TUESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2008
ST ANDREWS HOUSE, EDINBURGH
Attendees:
Shona Robison MSP - Minister for Public Health (Chair)
David Manion - Age Concern Scotland
Mike McCormick - Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
Alan Baird - Association of Directors of Social Work
Cllr Ronnie McColl - CoSLA
Sylvia Murray - (Observer) CoSLA
Brid Cullen - CSV - RSVP
Agnes McGroarty - West of Scotland Seniors Forum
Amy Kinnaird - Opportunities in Retirement, Ayr
Scott Reid-Skinner - Scottish Enterprise
Elinor McKenzie - Scottish Pensioners Forum
Rohini Sharma Joshi - Trust/Hanover/Bield Housing Associations
Alan Spinks UNITE - The National Federation of Royal Mail and BT Pensioners, incorporating British Steel and Rolls Royce and Bentley Pensioners
Apologies:
Elizabeth Duncan - Help the Aged in Scotland
Secretariat:
John Storey - Head of the Older People and Age Team
Mabel McDowall - Older People and Age Team
Brian Nisbet - Older People and Age Team (Minutes)
Neil Rennick - Head of Older Peoples Unit
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Shona Robison (Minister for Public Health) welcomed members to the first meeting of the National Forum on Ageing Implementation Group, and said she was glad of the opportunity to chair the meeting. The Minister asked for brief introductions round the table, and then ran through the agenda circulated prior to the meeting.
2. REMIT, MEMBERSHIP AND PRACTICAL ISSUES
The Minister made it clear that the Cabinet Secretary (Ms Sturgeon) and the Scottish Government endorses All Our Futures as evidence base for the future, and supports its overall conclusions. She advised that it fits well with the single Scottish Government purpose and the 5 strategic objectives.
The Minister invited members to comment on the remit suggested for the Group in paper 1.
David Manion was generally content with the remit; he suggested mainstreaming the agenda and getting buy-in across Scottish Government to All Our Futures. He commented that the strategy should be about everyone and not just older people. He also suggested that it would be useful to revisit the commitments made within All Our Futures given changes in priorities and delivery mechanisms since the new administration came into office.
The Minister agreed that the landscape in which All Our Futures would be delivered had changed since the new Scottish Government came into office and suggested that a cross referencing exercise be undertaken by officials to see which commitments within All Our Futures were still relevant and if the document overall needed to be updated. This would be considered by the Group at a later date
Members agreed that mainstreaming should be included in the remit for the group, and that the commitments within All Our Futures should be revisited and revised as necessary.
The Minister spoke about potential membership of the Implementation Group, and explained that it is intended to be a broad range of stakeholders
The Minister advised that the Group has to be manageable and felt that meetings would be large and unwieldy if all interests were to attend all meetings. She suggested that meetings should be themed: this would allow members representing particular sectors - e.g. housing, health, police, community planning etc - to attend as required.
Several members felt that given the intergenerational flavour that runs through All Our Futures it would be beneficial if a youth organisation was involved. Representation from Health Boards was also considered to be key to the work of the group as was education in terms of lifelong learning and skills development. It was felt that education would need to be considered in more detail as the work plan of the group developed.
It was agreed that membership would be increased to include a young person, possibly from the Youth Parliament or Young Scot; and Health Boards; and that education representation would be considered later.
Action Point - Older People and Age Team to consider representation from the agreed bodies
The Minister asked the group to consider the practical issues outlined in paper 1:2008. Members considered these and were content with the proposed arrangements.
The Minister asked the Group to consider the suggested workplan, and the key priority areas to focus on for the next three meetings.
David Manion suggested that intergenerational work should play a key role in the Group's thinking in the coming year, with perhaps an update being presented by Angela Fish who works on intergenerational issues in Wales. He also suggested that health should be given attention with a specific focus on the implications of the Equality Discrimination Law Review and the impact that this will have in relation to Age Equality legislation in the UK and access to services.
The Minister said that this would be a good start for the next meeting. Items for discussion would include:
- An update on All Our Futures, outlining where we are now and what has changed.
- Update on the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice
- Update/presentation from Wales on intergenerational work there
- Also to begin to focus on the health sector - Health Improvement
Mike McCormick suggested that the Group could adopt a thematic approach to meetings; this was supported by Ronnie McColl who felt this approach would allow other representatives of CoSLA's thematic working groups to come to meetings focussing on particular subject matters.
The Minister also supported this approach and advised that other Scottish Government Ministers could be asked to attend meetings as necessary.
Other suggestions put forward for the work plan included
- volunteering
- the needs of older people in rural areas (social isolation etc)
- childcare issues for over 50's, and
- the importance of self help - the Minister noted there was huge potential for helping people to help themselves and that Arthritis Care, for example, has done a lot of good work in this area. .
Action point - members were asked to consider the suggested topics for the workplan and let John Storey have a note of any further thoughts on the matter.
Members agreed that the National Forum should adopt the flexible and responsive model outlined in Paper 1:2008, and also noted the section of the paper about the Older Peoples Consultative Forum and the Older People's Assembly/ Congress.
3. ALL OUR FUTURES: PLANNING FOR A SCOTLAND WITH AND AGEING POPULATION - IMPLEMENTATION ( PAPER 2:2008)
The Minister asked members to note the content of this paper and indicated that the first progress report on All Our Futures would be submitted to the Scottish Parliament later in the autumn.
4. NATIONAL FORUM ON AGEING FUTURES GROUP (PAPER 3:2008)
The Minister asked members to note the content of the paper and that funding for the group would be subject to a grant application being submitted to the Scottish Government.
5. ALL OUR FUTURES: PLANNING FOR A SCOTLAND WITH AND AGEING POPULATION - INDICATORS OF SUCCESS (PAPER 4:2008)
Annexes A and B within Paper 4:2008 set out the indicators it was suggested should be used to measure the success of All our Futures. When Indicators become available these will be brought to the attention of members to show if progress was being made. It was made clear that these indicators would be presented at a national level; and that they should be seen as outcomes and not targets, to fit in with the Single Outcome Agreement approach being adopted with local authorities. There was a suggestion that new business start ups for people over 50 should be included.
Action Point - John Storey to speak with Scott Reid Skinner about the inclusion of an indicator on new business start ups for people over 50.
6. POLICING FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Mike McCormick talked through the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland document Policing for Older People. He highlighted the three themes of the strategy - communication, engagement and addressing the needs of older people.
Mike noted that the average age of recruits to police forces is 23 or 24, so one issue is how they relate to older people. He sought the Groups views on the areas the police should be concentrate on for older people. Ronnie McColl mentioned anti-social behaviour, and asked how he as an elected member could engage with the police. Mike advised that the police consult with local community groups on issues of concern, and partners could also get involved in the formal Single Outcome Agreement process. Agnes McGroarty said communication is really important, and that people need to know who to contact.
7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Amy Kinnaird passed round copies of the Retirement in Age (Ayr) newsletter for information and Rohini Sharma Joshi copies of Equality in Action.
8. DATE AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR NEXT MEETING
It was agreed that the Older People and Age team would provide members with a date for a next meeting in 2009 in due course.
Older People and Age Team
October 2008