NORTHAMPTONSHIRE VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR COUNTYWIDE FORUM MINUTES OF THE THIRTEENTH MEETING, HELD AT 2 PM ON 03 DECEMBER 2013 AT THE OFFICES OF NORTHAMPTON AND DISTRICT CAB Present Name John Nightingale (Chairman) Debbie Egan Anne Bamfield Mark Lees Derry Miller Elaine O Leary Shashikant Dholakia Jane Carr Rosemary Hadaway Dawn Cummins Penny Crockett (Minutes) Apologies Name Fizz Heseltine Dawn Wright Nikki Farrar-Hayton Sally Muldowney Barbara Langton Anne Toms Role Northampton representative Corby representative Daventry representative East Northants representative Northampton representative South Northants representative Wellingborough representative Northampton Volunteering Centre LION (Local Infrastructure Organisations Northamptonshire) representative Countywide Forum Development Worker Countywide Forum Admin Support Worker Role Daventry representative East Northants representative Kettering representative Kettering representative South Northants representative Wellingborough representative 1. Welcome, introductions and apologies John Nightingale welcomed all to the meeting. Apologies are listed above. 2. Declarations of interest As representative of an infrastructure organisation, Rosemary Hadaway declared an interest in item 5. 3. Minutes of the meeting of 10 September 2013 The minutes were confirmed as a true and accurate record. 4. Matters arising i. Prevention contracts: a letter had been sent to NCC (Northamptonshire County Council) expressing concern over prevention 1
contracts and a copy had been emailed to the Steering Group. ii. NCC infrastructure consultation: no further comments on the consultation had been received from Steering Group members. 5. Update on countywide voluntary and community sector (VCS) infrastructure Jane Carr, Northampton Volunteering Centre i. Health and Wellbeing Board: representatives of the VCS had continued to challenge NCC over the absence of VCS representation on the Health and Wellbeing Board. At a recent meeting, Cllr Robin Brown acknowledged that a decision needed to be made on this matter. There was concern about the lack of formal feedback mechanisms from local Health and Wellbeing Forums and the HWB: John Nightingale had raised this with Dr David Smart. Jane Carr and John Nightingale would raise all of these points at their next HWB pre-meeting with Cllr Brown. Jane had requested VCS representation on the Healthier Northamptonshire programme board, which would be responsible for implementing the strategic decisions made by the HWB. ii. NCC tenders: NVC had held a series of events to introduce potential main bidders to subcontractors ahead of the release of significant NCC contracts. Bids that involved local providers would be weighted in the tendering process so this could benefit small charities carrying out intensive work with their clients. However, it was important to persist with the message that these essential services could be lost if small charities continued to be discouraged by burdensome contract conditions and monitoring requirements. The adult prevention services contract had been delayed so there was likely to be roll-over of funding to cover the gap. iii. Health providers: Nene NHS Clinical Commissioning Group would be releasing details of the Children and Young People mental health contract in a few weeks. Jane advised the group to make close links with the main health providers in the county: Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals, Olympus Care, East Midlands Ambulance Service and Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Jane and colleagues had been explaining to providers that they would need to improve their investment in VCS services if they wished to access them. iv. Police and Crime Commissioner: Adam Simmonds was keen to develop links with the VCS and expand opportunities for volunteering, but it would take time for these plans to take effect. He was looking at issuing grants via Northamptonshire Community Foundation. v. Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP): Jane had met with senior officers at NEP to discuss the need to invest in the VCS to build its capacity. The 6 million Local Impact Fund, set up by the University of Northampton, NCC and Northampton Borough Council along with match funding, will issue loans and possibly small grants: NEP may make further investment in this in the future. 2
vi. Local Transformation Fund: this fund appeared to be transferring funds from districts into countywide public health. Jane would find out some more about this and circulate the information to members. vii. Libraries: Jane reported on the response to the letter from the Steering Group outlining concerns about funds diverted to libraries to develop volunteering. Jane had discussed these concerns further with NCC colleagues and as a result the library serviced proposed to develop an accord with the sector to define their roles. Penny Crockett would invite Sue Grace and Grace Kempster from NCC to the next meeting of the Steering Group to discuss this further. Dawn Cummins would prepare a briefing for the Steering Group. J Carr to circulate info on fund P Crockett to invite Sue Grace and G Kempster to prepare briefing 6. Personalised budgets: feedback from Steering Group members and local forums Anecdotal evidence suggested there had been problems implementing personal budgets. Many people eligible for them declined to take them up. There is funding available for brokerage services to help holders of personal budgets and personal health budgets to obtain the support they need. Dawn Cummins suggested working on this in parallel with Healthwatch, so she would invite the Chief Executive, Rosie Newbigging, to the next meeting. to invite Rosie Newbigging 7. Report on representation training workshops The training day in October for countywide forum members and LIOs was very successful so Dawn proposed to arrange similar training for district forum representatives. One useful point for the Steering Group to bear in mind was the influence of scrutiny committees. 8. Officer s report Dawn Cummins had arranged to link Steering Group members to representatives on various countywide boards in order to promote feedback of information. Jane Carr confirmed that NEP had agreed to have a VCS representative on its board, specifying that the ideal candidate should have a good understanding of the business sector. Dawn would arrange a selection process and confirm details with NEP before the vacancy was announced. to confirm NEP board appointment 9. Update on Clinical Commissioning Groups Concern was expressed that Nene CCG had cut its funding to VCS organisations without discussion. The requirements of the Any Qualified Provider process were burdensome and many small organisations would find this off-putting. Dawn Cummins would ask the Steering Group for their thoughts on these matters before following it up. to follow up 3
10. Voluntary and Community Sector Representatives i. Linking Steering Group members to VCS reps: see item 8. ii. VCS representation on Health and Wellbeing Board: see item 5i. 11. Reports from local networks and forums Northampton: there were 40 attendees at the last meeting, where items under discussion included how the VCS could help NBC, NCC, health providers and the police to achieve their outcomes. East Northants: the last meeting focused particularly on health-related issues. It was well-attended with some new faces. Daventry: a meeting would take place the following day where Anne Bamfield would update the forum on countywide issues. Meetings were well-attended by small groups, statutory bodies and housing associations, but less so by larger VCS groups. Wellingborough: 30 people attended the last meeting including some new faces. Presentations were given by The Hope Project, Northants Fire and Rescue and NHFT. The Wellingborough Partnership, led by the Borough Council of Wellingborough, had become active again recently. Corby: the last meeting was poorly-attended but it was hoped that the 12 Dec meeting would have better attendance. Krys Farrell had been unable to attend the last three meetings of the CWF Steering Group so arrangements would be made to elect a new representative for Corby. John Nightingale would contact Krys. J Nightingale to contact K Farrell South Northants: 25 people attended the last meeting, at which the Police and Crime Commissioner gave a presentation. There was some concern that the office for faith-based and community initiatives would duplicate the efforts of infrastructure organisations, so Jane Carr had raised this with the Commissioner. SNVB had kept the forum up-to-date with their work to support the rural areas of the district through Village Networks. A pilot for Street Watch would be carried out in Irthlingborough, where trained volunteers would keep watch on their neighbourhood and inform the police of any concerns. Kettering: the last meeting received a presentation from Michael Scott from NVCO on Investing in Volunteers and Kate Williams from Groundwork. The meeting also included updates from Kettering Borough Council, the Countywide Forum and members who shared concerns and good practice. 4
12. Task and Finish Groups UNAPPROVED i. Communication: no recent meetings. ii. Events: the group proposed to hold a conference called From Strategy to Reality in spring 2014 at Kettering Conference Centre focusing on how the VCS can work with key statutory services and share in service delivery. This would be an opportunity for county leaders, including Adam Simmonds (Police and Crime Commissioner) and Richard Alsop (Nene CCG), to share their plans and to respond to questions about how they intended to work with the VCS. A nominal delegate fee would be charged and free transport from across the county would be provided if possible. Some reservations were expressed about the need for the conference and whether sufficient delegate places could be sold to make it a success. This put the onus on the group to invite key people and promote the conference amongst local forums. NVC would organise the conference and Dawn Cummins would confirm further details in due course. to confirm details of conference 13. Sustainability and funding for the Countywide Forum The last scheduled meeting would take place on 04 March 2014. Dawn Cummins tabled a financial report setting out proposals for using the remaining budget on the countywide conference, district representation training and video conferencing facilities. Jane Carr committed staff time to the Countywide Forum until the infrastructure contracts ended in June, but backfill payments would end after March. The infrastructure cabinet paper had been approved and the total funding for VCS infrastructure in the county would be cut significantly. 14. Any other business Derry Miller reported that daycare providers had all experienced delays in payments from NCC and other bodies too. These contracts were the sole source of income for some organisations. John Nightingale would send a letter to Cllr Heather Smith to raise concerns about this. Rosemary Hadaway reported that Age UK, NVCA and the Flourish Partnership were successful with their Wrapped-up campaign bid to support vulnerable people during cold weather. Marketing material was being distributed via the network of Local Infrastructure Organisations. J Nightingale to write to H Smith about payment delays 15. Date of next meeting Tuesday 04 March 2014 at 2 pm in the Training Room at Northampton and District CAB. 5