·         Delivering the Plan – next steps / taking it forward

·         Next steps for Safer Plymouth Partnership Development

Members welcomed John Ward who had been facilitating discussions on how to take the partnership forward based on the systems leadership concept.  John had been invited to work with the group as a result of his involvement in developing the Health and Wellbeing Board, which was now well established.

Discussion took place on the systems leadership approach which accepted that sometimes things could not be fixed and instead focussed on change and making change where change could be effective.  An example used in this regard, and `one of the major challenges for the city, was alcohol and dealing with the effects of alcohol which was the focus of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Relationships were an important element of any partnership, with some being more complex than others.  It was therefore necessary to take some time to look at each of them in order to gain a better understanding of the relationships and explore issues such as communication, sharing resources and how challenges were met.  It was suggested that it would be useful to know each partner’s core purpose and how this linked in with the others so that the group could start to build relations and work towards achieving a common goal.

Whilst members welcomed the idea of a fresh approach, concern was expressed at the level of understanding of the systems leadership approach.  The targeted campaign on tackling alcohol by the Health and Wellbeing Board was in its infancy and would take time to work through, however, members were interested in hearing about how the approach was being adopted and what people thought about how it was working.  Other examples discussed included –

• the ‘Get Up’ Movement in Australia;
• Bloomberg, New York (of which Plymouth was to become a similar pilot);
• the Obama election campaign;
• NHS change day.

In addition, the Board heard of a Plymouth City Council multi-leadership programme where PCC, Health and Fire services had linked up to look at whether resources or finances could be given/shared in order to deliver customer outcomes.  This approach was welcomed across the piece as it was recognised that small joint actions could ultimately achieve big results. 

It was also acknowledged that having an issue of focus to learn through would be helpful.  Therefore, as incidents of hate crime were increasing in the city, it was suggested that this could be the Board’s driver for change in a similar vein as alcohol was being to the Health and Wellbeing Board. 

The Chair endorsed this proposal and added in hidden harm as both issues jointly formed the Partnership’s fifth top priority.  Hidden harm had also been identified as an area that the Fairness Commission had struggled to get underneath.  John Ward and Sarah Hopkins offered to work up a proposal to bring back to the Partnership and it was suggested that it would be useful for the group to have an away-day dedicated to the systems leadership model and how the Board can move forward focussing on hate and hidden crime.

Agreed that an away-day on Systems Leadership is arranged for members, with particular consideration being given to tackling hate and hidden crime.

(Discussion on this item took place in conjunction with agenda items 8 and 10a).