Mr Alan G Campbell Chief Executive Aberdeenshire Council Woodhill House Westburn Road Aberdeen AB16 5GB. Dear Mr Campbell

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1 HM Inspectorate of Education Directorate 5, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA t f e hmi.qsa@hmie.gsi.gov.uk w Mr Alan G Campbell Chief Executive Aberdeenshire Council Woodhill House Westburn Road Aberdeen AB16 5GB Our ref: A/18/110/01/01/1/BF 6 March 2007 Dear Mr Campbell COMMUNITY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE BUCHAN AREA, ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL PUBLISHED 12 APRIL 2005 FOLLOW-UP INSPECTION BY HM INSPECTORS The report on community learning and development in the Buchan area, Aberdeenshire Council was published in April HM Inspectors visited the Council to evaluate progress made in responding to the main points for action in this report. Aberdeenshire Council had taken effective action to implement almost all of the recommendations of the report. The Council had made very good progress on one action point, good progress on six action points and fair progress on one action point. However, progress on one action point was unsatisfactory. HM Inspectors will continue to engage with the authority to support improvement in relation to this main point for action and will visit the authority again within six months to report on progress. I am sending a copy of this report to recipients of the original inspection report. Yours sincerely Annette Bruton HM Chief Inspector Directorate 5 Enc

2 HM Inspectorate of Education Follow-up to the inspection of community learning and development in the Buchan area, Aberdeenshire Council The inspection report on community learning and development (CLD) in the Buchan area, Aberdeenshire Council was published on 12 April HM Inspectors carried out a follow-up visit on 4 and 5 December 2006 to evaluate the progress made by the Lifelong Learning and Recreation Section (LLRS) of the Education and Recreation Department. The main points for action section of the inspection report contained nine recommendations. The recommendations only are produced in bold, italic type, followed by HM Inspectors assessment of progress. 1. Develop youth provision in Peterhead and improve the quality of accommodation for young people in the area. The service had taken positive steps to improve provision for young people in Peterhead. This included the development of the Barclay Park Pavilion as a community facility which was well used by various groups. Part-time youth workers worked effectively with small numbers of young people to develop their confidence and skills. They provided support and assistance which enabled young people to play an active role in the running of the facility. A worker had been appointed to work with young people in the Lifeshapers project to develop literacy skills. Young parents had been targeted through the Just 4 U programme which was resourced through Surestart funding. This had resulted in participants gaining accredited qualifications through the successful completion of college courses. The service had recognised a need to support migrant families and had established English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes within Peterhead Academy. The school recognised that this had a positive impact on young people s learning within school, and in building links with families. The area youth forum had continued to develop and staff had provided meaningful opportunities for young people to influence decision making. The service had consulted young people on the development of the local youth strategy, and proposed new developments including a skate park and a resource centre. Young people had then been supported by CLD staff in their campaign for a skate park. This had resulted in a substantial funding award from YouthLink Scotland. An effective local partnership had accessed Regeneration Outcome Agreement (ROA) funding for the development of the Kirk Street Resource Centre. However, there were still gaps in youth provision for young people living in Peterhead which needed to be addressed in partnership with other agencies. This included work with older young people. Although accommodation had been improved, there was still a lack of good quality youth facilities for young people in Peterhead. The Barclay Park Pavilion still required further refurbishment. CLD staff had, however, worked hard to develop opportunities for young people within the resources available. This was good progress overall. 2. Improve access to quality information and advice for young people. Staff had worked in partnership with Peterhead Academy to distribute Young Scot smartcards to all pupils. This had resulted in young people having improved access to a wide range of youth information and discounted services. Staff had participated in training courses to develop their knowledge and skills in providing information and guidance for young people. Joint training with youth workers and teaching staff was about to be delivered by the service. CLD had also worked in partnership with Peterhead Academy and health colleagues to deliver a self-care programme which involved training young people as facilitators. Staff provided effective advice and guidance to young parents in the Just 4 U group on future progression routes. Participants had also taken part in first aid and healthy

3 2 eating programmes which had resulted in improved parenting skills. The Central Buchan Resource Centre continued to provide information drop-in sessions for young people. The service ensured that this provision was accessible to young people living in rural areas through Dial-a-Bus providing transport. Drop-in information sessions were also provided for secondary pupils at lunchtime. The proposed Kirk Street development would provide an information point for young people and advice on careers, housing and other relevant topics. The service and partner agencies should continue to develop a strategy for young people to access information, advice and guidance on relevant issues through improved access to internet, up-to-date poster and leaflet displays in appropriate locations, and issue-based programmes. 3. Develop a clear role for CLD in building community capacity and in the implementation of community planning at local level. The community learning manager had played a key role as chair of the Lifelong Learning Strategy Group and as a member of the Community Planning Executive group. This had assisted in the development of a clearer role for the service in the implementation of community planning. In addition, a seminar for all key partners involved in community planning had been held which focused on capacity building and the role and responsibilities of partner agencies including the CLD service. This had been followed up with the production of a capacity building handbook for staff and an accompanying training seminar. The service had also carried out briefing sessions on the standards for community engagement with a range of partners. Staff had played an effective role in carrying out community consultations which resulted in the views of local people being taken into account in the development of local community plans. The CLD service had made an effective contribution to the ROA sub-group of the community plan. This included contributing to the partnership responsible for the Kirk Street development. However, there was still confusion among partner agencies and some staff about the links between CLD, community planning, the ROA and the local Community Development Groups (CDGs). There remained overlaps and some duplication among partnerships and a lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities. The authority and partner agencies needed to address this and continue to improve joint planning and working. 4. Review and improve facilities for the delivery of CLD. The service had reviewed and improved some of its facilities. Staff were making improved use of available buildings through partnership working, including local libraries and the family centre. This had resulted in improved quality and quantity of available venues for the delivery of CLD activities. Peterhead Community Centre had been upgraded and provided a good resource for the delivery of some aspects of CLD. However, the centre was not well used for work with young people. The Barclay Park Pavilion had been improved and was well used by a variety of groups and agencies including Peterhead Academy and social work services. However, the building provided limited accommodation and required further refurbishment including the upgrading of toilet facilities. The Kirk Street development, when operational, would provide a useful resource for local people in Peterhead. This was good progress overall. 5. Ensure that resources are sufficient to deliver CLD priorities outlined in CLD plans and strategies. The service had successfully attracted funding from a variety of sources including Surestart, ROA, community safety and Determined to Succeed. As a result, additional posts had been created including

4 3 a youth literacy worker and Surestart funded posts to work with families. Additional funding had enabled staff to develop a number of new initiatives including Just 4 U targeting young parents, and the development of the Kirk Street Resource Centre. The service had carried out a Best Value review and were about to implement recommendations to further improve the allocation and use of available resources. Overall, the service had taken positive steps to work more effectively with other services and partner agencies to share and make best use of resources. 6. Develop a clear strategy for the delivery of child protection training for all CLD staff who have access to children and young people. The authority did not have a clear strategy in place for child protection training for staff who had access to children and young people. However, CLD staff had taken some positive steps to build the confidence and competence among staff and volunteers in dealing with child protection issues. Staff received training, including a child protection input as part of staff induction, and could access guidance and support through the line management structure. However, some staff remained unclear about how they would deal with a child protection issue. The service had given insufficient attention to ensuring that all staff and volunteers who were working with children and young people had participated in awareness training. Staff were sometimes unable to access training as council courses were oversubscribed. There was not a planned approach to training in place which included continuing to build the capacity of staff through different levels of training. Staff were not provided with refresher training courses to update them on guidelines and procedures. This required to be addressed as a matter of urgency. This was unsatisfactory progress. 7. Review resource allocation to ensure that priority needs in the Buchan area are met. The service had produced papers for elected members with recommendations to allocate budgets for work with young people which would be based on meeting the priority needs of local communities. The Peterhead CDG had provided funding support for the improvements to Peterhead Community Centre and for literacy work. Additional Surestart and literacy funding had been allocated to address priority needs. The ROA funding had been allocated to address the needs of the Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) datazone in Peterhead. However, there was still a need to ensure that the priority needs of communities were being met through a more equitable distribution of available funding and resources across Aberdeenshire. This was fair progress. 8. Further develop and implement the community learning and development strategy through the production of local action plans and ensure that local people are actively involved in planning. CLD staff had played a key role in consulting local people about the needs of local communities. Young people who were involved in the area youth forum had been very effectively engaged in the implementation of community planning at local level. Local people were also consulted regarding the development of the ROA and were represented on the Peterhead operational group. The youth forum had been given responsibility to assess applications for local youth action funding and made well-informed decisions about the allocation of grants. Staff had successfully engaged with migrant workers during an international day which celebrated cultural diversity and sought their views on local community developments. The service had taken steps to clarify the role of CDGs and to develop their function as a mechanism for local people to influence the implementation of the lifelong learning

5 4 strategy and community planning. However, this was in the early stages of development and there was still confusion regarding their links to other structures. The service planned to further develop the role of community representatives in the development and implementation of community planning at local level. 9. Continue to support CLD staff in the development of quality assurance. The service had continued to fund a seconded member of staff as CLD quality assurance officer (QAO). This had resulted in effective training and support for staff in using self-evaluation to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of their practice. A system of peer review had been established which had resulted in staff becoming familiar with the use of quality indicators and building self-evaluation into their practice. Self-evaluation and findings from reviews were used to produce standards and quality reports and development plans. The QAO had also worked with staff on development planning to ensure that staff were clear about outcomes. Good quality training materials relating to CLD national developments had been produced by the QAO, including tools for evaluating the use of the standards for community engagement and their impact. The service was in the early stages of developing an effective system for recording and using management information to assess outcomes and plan for improvement. Consideration needed to be given to the future role of the QAO and how this linked to the overall strategic framework for quality assurance in the authority. This was very good progress. Aberdeenshire Council had taken effective action to implement almost all of the recommendations of the report. The Council had made very good progress on one action point, good progress on six action points and fair progress on one action point. However, progress on one action point was unsatisfactory. HM Inspectors will continue to engage with the authority to support improvement in relation to this main point for action and will visit the authority again within six months to report on progress.