GYP Steering Group Minutes 09/04/09
Great Yarmouth People
Steering Group
Minutes of the meeting 9th April 2009
Jargon Buster
BWCF Borough Wide Churches Forum
CC Community Connections
GYVSP Great Yarmouth Voluntary Sector Partnership
CG Community Grants
CDW Community Development Worker
DCLG Department for Community and Local Government
GYST Great Yarmouth Support Team
CP Community Partnership
GO-East Government Office – East of England
GYBC Great Yarmouth Borough Council
GYIA Great Yarmouth International Association
GYLC Great Yarmouth Learning Community
GYLSP Great Yarmouth Local Strategic Partnership
GYP Great Yarmouth People
GYPSG Great Yarmouth People Steering Group
LAA Local Area Agreement
LSP Local Strategic Partnership
NCC Norfolk County Council
NM Neighbourhood Management
NRF Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
SCS Sustainable Communities Strategy
SSCF Safer and Stronger Community Fund
WNF Working Neighbourhoods Fund
NM Neighbourhood Management
NRF Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
SSCF Safer and Stronger Communities Fund
VSP Voluntary Sector Partnership
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1. Welcomes and Introductions:
Mike Hewitt welcomed us all to the meeting, we introduced ourselves around the table. For the benefit of new people at the meeting, Peter pointed out where the fire exits and toilets were.
2. Attendance:
Mike Hewitt (North Yarmouth Rep) Trish Aydin (CC) David Hutchison (CDW) Alan Ellison (Mag Rep) Brian McDonnell (OPN) Lindsey Seward (Disability Forum) Jo Chaplin (Volunteer Rep) Margaret Ward (Waterside) Mark Llewellyn (CDW) Peter Paine (Port Chaplain) Michael Collins (CDW Team Leader) Tracey Souter (CC Admin) Tim Leonard (LSP Officer) John Harvey (Shaw Trust) Mark Craven (Shaw Trust) Mark Capone (Shaw Trust) Elizabeth Youngman (Shaw Trust)
Apologies:
John Drinkill (CC Finance) Penny Carpenter (Norfolk Constabulary) Diana Baxter (GFS Platform) Rosa Hogarth ( Chinese Association) Lisa Crook (Tenants Participation Officer) Rachel Houghton (CDW) Stephanie Vincent (Parents Panel) Judith Edmonds (BWCF) Ken Bloodworth (Community Rep) Russell Brown (Community Rep)
3. Minutes of Last Meeting – 12th March 2009:
Minutes were checked and verified. No amendments needed.
4. Matters arising:
Last Months Reports:
No questions were raised regarding the reports from last month.
Margaret asked when Peoples Panels will be starting?
Michael informs Margaret that he will be talking to the old partnerships to move Peoples Panels forward. There is no definite date for the start of the new panels.
5. Elections:
Mike Hewitt was nominated by Peter Paine to sit as Chair for GYP.
This will be Mikes 2nd year as GYP Chair.
Peter Paine was nominated by Mike Hewitt to sit as Vice Chair for GYP.
No other nominations. Therefore, Mike will continue as Chair with the support of Peter as Vice Chair.
6. Shaw Trust Presentation:
John Harvey comes to the meeting today to inform the group of the work that Shaw Trust carries out.
John is an advisor for Shaw Trust working on the “Progress to Work” project.
The Shaw Trust organisation work with Drug and Alcohol misusers, ex- offenders and homeless people by breaking down the barriers into work.
A service user has to be unemployed and on working age benefits or 16/17 years old and in receipt of JSA under the hardship criteria or incapacity benefit and In receipt of professional support from an agency such as NORCAS or TADS and Served a custodial Sentence in the last year or registered homeless.
Shaw Trust works closely with the client by offering support that is tailored to the individual, by help with CV’s, Application forms, interviews, accessing funding for training or work, offering advice and guidance or arranging work experience.
Shaw Trust works closely with other agencies and organisations to be able to offer the right level of support that is required.
Trish asks if there is a referral system. Does a client have to be referred by an agency or organisation?
John informs Trish that an agency such as NORCAS will refer clients if the Work of Shaw Trust will be beneficial to that individual.
Mike asks how long Shaw Trust has been operational for.
John informs the group that Shaw Trust have been operational for 3 years. This is Nationwide, not just local.
Tim feedbacks that the information that John has brought to the attention of the group is very informative and would like to know the breakdown of how many clients are on JSA and incapacity benefit.
John informs Tim and the Group that each advisor has over 40 clients with many more on waiting lists. John doesn’t know the ratio of clients on InCap or JSA as all of the clients are in receipt of one form of Benefit. If more money was available, then more advisors could be employed and more clients could be helped. Out of the 120 clients
that are currently being helped, John would estimate that only 16 or 17 live in the Borough of Great Yarmouth.
Trish asks if a client in receipt of Incapacity Benefit is referred to Shaw Trust and misuses alcohol or drugs and has Mental Health issues, how does Shaw Trust help them.
John informs the group that usually clients with mental health issues are referred to other organisations. It is only recently that Shaw Trust began working with clients in receipt of Incapacity Benefit.
Mark Capron also joins us today from Shaw Trust and would like to inform you of a new project for women. “Inspiring Women’s Enterprise” is a new project which aims to help and support women who are not currently in employment to start a new business. Shaw Trust will offer tailored 1-2-1 advice, opportunities to gain new skills and build confidence to return to work. The training, provided by NWES, includes such workshops on Marketing, finance, budgeting and promoting yourself and your business.
Mark Craven (Shaw Trust) comes to the meeting today to talk about the ILM (Intermediate Labour Market) Project. This is a very small project, funded by the European Social Fund, aimed at people who have been unemployed for at least one year and have a level of disability. This project will introduce the client into a work environment for up to 30 hours a week. Shaw Trust will pay the individual for up to six months in this role in either a charity shop or similar environment to build confidence and skills to apply for other jobs. There must be a willingness to work before Mark will sign them up for the ILM project.
Mark informs the group that Shaw Trust work primarily with the Client, if Shaw Trust cannot help the client, they will signpost to another organisation that can.
Tim tells Mark and John that some people are not motivated in Great Yarmouth, how do Shaw Trust aim to reach these individuals and spread the word of the help that is available.
John says that by the use of promotional leaflets, word of mouth, work fairs, meetings and by good partnership working between organisations, Shaw Trust hope to reach as many people as possible. That is why Shaw Trust representatives are attending GYP today, to make more people aware of the work which Shaw Trust does. By building connections with Social Workers, community organisations and agencies in Great Yarmouth, better partnership working can be achieved.
Alan asks how clients are referred to the ILM project.
Mark informs Alan that self referrals are made to the ILM project where-as organisation referrals must be made to Johns Progress to Work project.
Michael would like to invite John to The Network meetings which are held on the 3rd Friday of each month. Tracey will send the Network information to John.
Trish would like the Shaw Trust Reps to be aware of a Directory that is being composed by the LSP.
Tim informs the group that over 70 service providers are included on the Mapping exercise for Great Yarmouth.
Mike would like to take this opportunity to thank John, Mark, Mark and Elizabeth for attending the meeting today.
7. Working Neighbourhood Funds
Tim reports that there was a WNF info day held on the 6th of March. It was decided that the “Gateway” approach would reach the targets to get people more employable. This will look at skills, confidence building and barrier removal of getting back into work. There are 4 sections to the gateway approach; Labour Supply (Working with the individual) Labour demand (Employers) Small grants (£200,000 of small grant money available to voluntary and community groups) and Infrastructure (Government investing more money to get people into work)
Tim informs the group that over the next couple of months, the commissioning of WNF will commence.
Trish hopes that vital services in the Borough have not been lost due to the delay in the funds being administered. The community needs constant support and valuable time is being lost because the process has been delayed.
8. Finance:
Please pass expense claim forms to John as soon as possible.
9. Reports:
9.1 Community:
Mark Llewellyn reports of a Clean up day on 13th May at Tar Works Road. The day will begin at 10am and there will be a BBQ for the volunteers.
Jo Chaplin hopes that this clean up day will be different to previous attempts. Barnards Way was cleaned up on a similar Clean Up session but has now returned to its previous state.
Trish suggests using as much media as possible to try and keep the area in the public eye. This will hopefully deter anti social behaviour, vandalism and fly tipping.
Mark informs the group that the allotment users are keen to get the area cleaned up and will keep watch over any behaviour in the area and report it where possible. The boat has been removed and has made a vast improvement in the area.
Michael informs the group of the Great Yarmouth Sports Day challenge which is coming up on the 16th of May on Gorleston Recreation Ground from 11am. Information is available from Oliver Cruickshank or Toby Cullingham at Community Connections.
Michael informs the group that a new committee is being formed to organise Community Events in Great Yarmouth. The 24th of April has been identified as a first meeting date. Anybody who is interested in being part of the Events Planning Committee please express your interest with Michael who can give you more details.
David Hutchison reports of new benches, flowers and a village sign that has been erected in Runham Vauxhall.
David reports of the KICKZ project running throughout the summer months which will include local employers and agencies who will be able to offer the youth some alternative information into their chosen path to employment. These employers will be offering apprenticeship advice and other routes into work.
A community Action Day is being held on Suffolk Road at Claydon Pavilion Community Centre on the 27th of May. There will be lots of activities on the day and the local residents will be focusing on cleaning up the area. There will be workshops available on the day for dance, graffiti art and costume design.
David reports of a local playground needing repair, which has been reported to the council on several occasions, yet work has not been carried out to repair the fault. David reported a hole in the floor of a local play area (Claydon Common) and this is a long running issue. David has reported the fault many times to the council.
Tim has offered to take the issue to the correct person at the council. He will escalate the problem so that an answer or decision on outcome is reached.
David is frustrated with the council as residents report issues such as faulty play equipment which is a health and safety issue, but follow ups are never made.
The council should publish schedules of works that are to be carried out. This would enable residents to see what work is due to take place and when. If an issue isn’t going to be resolved by the council, then it should be publicly known with clear reasons as to why the issue is not to be resolved.
Residents are continually chasing up the council for work that is to be carried out but phone calls and letters usually end up with no answers. There needs to be a clear path for reporting issues. So that residents and community workers know that they will receive a response in a certain time scale, a schedule of work is published so the public can see clearly when the work is due to take place and a follow up with the person who made the complaint or report is made to finalise the issue.
Mark reports that on 29th of April there is to be a “Fair Trade” meeting held at Christchurch. This will be the signing of the declaration for Great Yarmouth to be the first Fair Trade Borough in Norfolk. Please attend if possible to show your support.
9.2 Voluntary:
Brian informs the group that the VSP conference is being held on the 28th of April 2009. The conference is entitled “Stronger Communities” and will be held at the Marina Centre from 10 am until 2 pm.
9.3 Faith:
Please see attached report from Judith Edmonds
9.4 Social Forum:
Please see report from Mike Hewitt
9.5 Environmental Forum:
No recent meeting held
9.6 Economic Forum:
No recent meeting held
9.7 Learning Forum:
No recent meeting held
9.8 Disability Forum:
Meeting scheduled for next week
9.9 LSP Board:
Please see report from Mike Hewitt
At the last GYP meeting Brian said the GYP should wait to see the outcomes from the Change Management meeting were to be. The change management meeting did take place but there was not enough time for GYP’s future to be discussed. Brian reports he has insisted that another meeting is held to discuss where GYP fit in to the restructuring of the LSP. This next meeting will discuss GYP and 2nd Homes Council Tax. Last year 2HCT funded the environmental rangers. 2HCT is to fund the rangers this year too. A report has been issued from the Environmental Rangers.
9.10 LSP Exec:
February and March update on the report, (See attached)
9.11 Partnership for Health:
Now looking at future operation, looking the terns of reference to become a delivery group for “Health and Independent Living”
9.12 Runham Vauxhall and Bureside Fair Shares:
9.13 Library Update:
See report issued from Mike Hewitt
9.14 K.I.N
North Yarmouth is to hold its next KIN meeting on the 30th of April.
Alan did not attend the Magdalen KIN meeting, no report.
10. Any Other Business:
Tim reports of the Migration Impact Fund which is £3 million available to the East of England.
Local service providers would benefit from this fund because of extra services that are being provided to cope with extra people in the area.
The Migration Impact Fund is for Providers of Public Services such as the police, PCT etc for them to be able to deliver a service to the ever increasing migrant population.
Application forms have been sent out and Claire Bailey (Norfolk Cohesion officer) has applied for some of the fund.
Oriel High School now accepts students which are children of migrant workers, this money could benefit Oriel High to provide support in language or cultural needs for the new students.
Trish suggests that ESOL (English Speakers of other Languages) could benefit from the fund. Tim requests that all suggestions are emailed to him for consideration.
Trish requests that all members read the Community Cohesion Strategy that was sent with the minutes. The deadline for feedback is tomorrow and ALL feedback is to go direct to Val Cadmore on the contact details within the document.
End of Meeting: 12.30 pm
Next Meeting Thursday 14th May 2009
GREAT YARMOUTH PEOPLE
meeting held on 12th March 2009
REPORT FROM THE FAITH COMMUNITY
BWCF had its latest Planning Group meeting on 13th November and discussed two main issues:
1. support on Mothering Sunday of bereaved families visiting the Crematorium. The plans for this are nearing completion and the scheme will be in operation from March 2009 hopefully involving the majority of churches within the Borough
2. the active support of the Street Pastors initiative. The Street Pastors scheme has been operating in Norwich for a short while with much acclaim and people are being trained in Great Yarmouth to take to the streets and support those in difficulties, those affected by binge drinking, etc, especially late at night and the early hours of the morning. The scheme here needs much more support to successfully operate and BWCF is looking to be part of the solution
BWCF held its latest Open Forum on 24th February, 2009 at St Paul’s Church with themes of the two issues above to be discussed with the wider membership and aimed at recruiting support:
the discussion on the Street Pastors initiatives was extremely lively and positive and, after explanation of the role and training of the Pastors and a Q & A session, there was much support for the initiative and that of Supt Jim Smerdon’s Street Guardians and how it was envisioned they would work in cooperation with each other;
the idea of operating a support scheme at the Crematorium on Mothering Sunday received much support and encouragement and will be implemented this year. Rev Jeanette Crafer at Martham so liked the idea that she will be operating the scheme in her parish too;
Rev Canon Michael Woods, Team Rector at St Nicholas Church told us of his plans for retirement after 17 years in Great Yarmouth
Network Yarmouth achieved a massive 40,882 hits in February!!
Judith Edmonds
Borough Wide Churches Forum
GREAT YARMOUTH PEOPLE
meeting held on 9th April 2009
REPORT FROM THE FAITH COMMUNITY
The Mothers’ Day initiative reported in the last Faith Report was a great success and Peter Paine’s words from Network Yarmouth say it all:
On a bright but cold day there were over 500 people who had come to place flowers on the graves or in the garden of Remembrance for their mother’s or loved one.
“This day has been in the planning for 18 months and it is really good to see the fruits of our labours,” said Rev Peter Paine. People had the chance to have a hot drink, a chat to team members who were on hand to offer words of comfort, and also a short time of Prayer every hour.
One person heard it on the radio that morning and thought what a good idea, and came along to lay flowers on her Mother's grave and stayed for the service. “What a really good idea and thank you for doing it” said Jeanette. Others benefited from the peace and quiet of the chapel and found comfort there.
“We (the church) have learnt a lot today, and this is a case of the church moving out into the community, we will be back again next year” said Rev Paine.
We would like to record our thanks to Linda Bigg the Manager of Bereavement Services and a member of her staff for giving up their Sunday to be with us, and for her help in the planning of this day
Network Yarmouth achieved an ever-growing 46,277 hits in March!!
Judith Edmonds
Borough Wide Churches Forum
Gt. Yarmouth LSP Board Meeting Report
Report to GYP 9th April of board meeting held 6th April 2009
Performance against economic targets & Impact of the recession.
Great Yarmouth has not been hit as hard as other areas, but unemployment was already above average for the region. The recession will make it harder to achieve the targets. A small number of positives were given, House completed figures, Outer harbour, Wind farms projects. Efforts were being made to get those just out of work back working asap. Concern was also raised that in a few months the next school/college year group will be in the job market. Crime was also mentioned, but as yet no increase in any crime figures have been identified.
LSP Change Management
Robert Reed reported to the Board from the panel which had been looking into the LSP Change Management and of progress made - Of the Six new groups only the Stronger Communities Partnership had no lead partner/s.
The lead partner is responsible in making sure the correct groups/agencies are invited as necessary. It was noted that no new resources are available, its about making better use of the present resources.
It was agreed that the next Executive at the end of April would meet as normal, after which it will be in the new format. The next Board Meeting in July would be under the new format.
Robert also reported that the panel would be having another meeting after Easter.
GYP/CP Reports
Peter reported on the LSP/GYP event at the Marina Centre.
LSP 1st East Rep.
It was reported that Brian McDonnell was selected to be the representative.
Working Neighbourhood Fund
Tim reported on the latest figures. Various meeting are taking place in taking WNF forward. Also that a small fund of £200,000 was to be made available for small grants. Three groups have come forward to administer this fund.
Second Homes Council Tax
We agreed to invest £50,000 to the Environmental Ranger Team.
To Agree in principle to continue support for the Rural Transport Project.
The decision will only be made after further discussions with County Planning & Transportation team.
Fora Activities - The Board received a report from each of the Forums.
Migrant Transitional Fund - Tim informed Board of £3M for The Eastern Region. Full details to follow.
Mike Hewitt GYP - Community Member
REPORT FORM-LSP FORUM TO GYP
LSP Executive 27th February 2009:
Although I was not able to attend this meeting this is an overview as I understand from minutes.
Learning and Skills Road Map:
Overview of topics discussed.
- Norfolk Skills Road Map presented by Howard Foale from Learning Skills Council. This
covered Government proposals for the development of a Skills Road Map that includes the
Creation of Employment and Skills Board to strengthen employers’ voice at a local level.
The LSC working with other strategic partners on the road map which look at the volume
of skills required in the area to meet Local Area Agreement targets.
- Road map consultation will be launched 21st April, followed by a skills e-newsletter. Some
Beacon employers would also become involved.
Impact of the Credit Crunch:
- Received the latest unemployment figures for January 2009, also details of redundancies and vacancies noted by job centre plus. Other reports on this topic were as follows;
- The number of 16-18 year olds joining unemployment register has risen since leaving
further education.
- Housing figures had 377 units completed and 92 affordable housing units created.
Number of homeless was the lowest in last 10 years, although there had been a small rise
in repossessions.
- 25% increase in numbers of Council Tax rebates and benefit applicants
- No reported impact on voluntary sector.
- The government plan to give £1m more help for frontline services for capacity building.
- PCT still recruiting and will launch an apprenticeship scheme shortly. Also intend to upskill the workforce and undertake succession planning.
Working Neighbourhood Fund:
- LSP Officer (Tim Leonard) reported on Working Neighbourhood Funds, Social Cohesion Funds,
and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund/Working Neighbourhood Fund slippage and spends report for
period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. Transitional funding extended April to June 2009 subject
to continued delivery of outputs and Outcomes.
- The Chairperson (Jane Ratcliffe) reported that it is proposed to use £1m of Area Based Grant to fund Borough Council Services which promoted enterprise and cohesion or tackled worklessness
As it has been found that some £1, 5-£2m of council’s mainstream funding was currently spent
on these services. It was felt that using Area Based Grant to fund these services would fit in with
the criteria for using Working Neighbourhood Fund to help towards achieving the Local Area Agreement and Sustainable Community Strategy.
Out There Festival:
- A video of festival was shown put together by young volunteers. Approx 30.000 people attended
With 600 local people reported to have been involved. To be used as baseline to ascertain how many went on to do more volunteering. 95% of audience surveyed rated festival as “excellent”
and local businesses reported that festival had a positive impact. A Portuguese business has seen a more cross- section of clientele. From feedback will be bringing festival back to 18-20 Sept 2009.
2nd Home Council Tax:
- LSP officer gave agreed criteria for spending and the initiatives supported in 2008/09 and the
likely funding available 2009/2010 as well as proposed investment which are the Environmental
Rangers and to Continue to support the work of the Rural Transport Project. There are also likely
to be some under-Spend 2008-09. Agreed to fund Environmental Rangers.
- Whilst it was acknowledged that the Rural Transport Project benefited the elderly, disables and vulnerable people in the community there were request for further clarification regarding future sustainability. Discussions are taking place with Norfolk County Council on the issues of
Subsidies. Also further information was asked for to address how this links to Sustainable
Community Strategy and Community Cohesion,
LSP Change Management:
- Notes from this group meeting held on 23rd January were received that suggested the following delivery partnerships and the resources needed to facilitate and proposed membership for LSP Board. Proposed;
- Stronger Communities
- Safe Communities
- Health and Independent Living
- Environment and Climate Change
- Economy and Enterprise
- Children and Young People (Existing Eastern Partnership
Concerns were noted from Learning and Skills partnership regarding splitting this agenda over three
Partnership which could lead to groups not working on this issue together stretching the resource of providers to attend three partnerships. Suggestion that there needs to be provided information on remits, role and membership of each delivery partnership, as well as allocated resources.
Enterprise GY:
- Richard Percy, the Programme Manager leave on 11th March.
AOB:
Teenage pregnancies show overall figure high, rise in Great Yarmouth was relatively small. It was
suggested that a joint LSP/GYP event be held on this issue.
Public consultation exercise on amendments to the Core Strategy document to be found on Council’s
Website, Libraries, Town Hall and Maltings House, Community Liaison and Information Points (CLIPs)
but they are now closed
There was no report from GYP/Community at this meeting.
LSP Executive
Impact of the Recession:
No real indication of impact.
Report from GYP/Community
- I raised the matter of Change Management group and no Community Representation.
It appeared that having a someone on the group who was a member of GYP was considered as
Representation of the third sector which included the community. I made comments regarding
This assumption as GYP was not informed that this was the case.
- Raised concerns that Change Management have made suggestions of who will be invited on
LSP Board from GYP while other partners are able to decide who will represent their
Organisations. I have sent a letter to Barry Coleman, Chairman of the Board to address this.
- Informed meeting of CLIP closure and the response so far received from members of the
Community who are not happy about the closure and those who see this as another service
Being taken away and the concerns now about access to information. People with enquiries to Community Connections are being informed to see their local councilors or contact the Town Hall
for access to information on services, etc.
2nd Homes Council Tax:
- Report regarding continuation of Rural Transport Project discussed. Proposed interim funding
Pending meetings with Norfolk County Council and to look at what if any of this project to
Continue.
Trish Aydin
Officer to GYP
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