Minutes of meeting of the Compact Project Group on 11th April 2003 at The CREATE Centre
Present
Derek Dodd - BCC
Bill McKitterick - BCC
Wendy Watson - BCC
Ayannah Griffiths - BDA
Rupert Daniels - BDA
Jenny Turner - The Care Forum
Lyssa Randolph - The Care Forum
Barbara Coleman - Bristol North PCT
Ben Barker - Voscur
Wendy Stephenson - Voscur
Apologies
Jean Erskine - Voscur
Jo Grant - West of England Connexions
Ariaf Hussain - Black SW Network
Dawn Woods - GO-SW
Agenda
An agenda was agreed as follows:
Welcome and Introductions
Report on the consultation on the draft compact
Feedback from consultation on the draft Compact
Next steps
Date of next meeting
It was agreed that Bill McKitterick should chair the meeting.
1. The consultation on the draft
Derek outlined the consultation process on the draft Compact. It had been widely circulated and discussed in February and March. Within the City Council, Cabinet and Chief Officers Group, the Sustainable Development and Social Justice Executive, the Contact Officers Group, External Funding Officers Group, the Women's Forum as well as a number of staff teams, had discussed it. Additionally information on the compact has been disseminated to all staff via the corporate email bulletin and other newsletters and was posted on the Regeneration Division's section of the Council's website. The Bristol Partnership considered the draft at its Programme Group. Further meetings and discussions were held with the Government Office-SW, LSC and the Primary Care Trusts.Voscur held fora on the compact in each of its 4 districts, at its Board and staff team. Information was sent out to members in its newsletter. The document was also posted onto its website. BDA held a joint meeting between its Board and BREC and held a workshop at an open meeting. The Care Forum addressed it at its Children and Young People's and Health and Social Care Fora and circulated it in its newsletter.
2. Feedback from consultation
It was felt that the consultation had been largely successful and had produced a good return in terms of quality and quantity of comments received. Derek circulated copies of all the written submissions received and highlighted a number of issues including:
- Considerable interest in rationalising funding procedures (with possibility of buy-in by GO-SW);ยท The Greater Bristol Foundation had offered to be involved in the proposed funding working group;
- The section on consultation should be considered along with the Council's Consultation Strategy;
- The importance of implementation guidance or codes of practice (eg working with equalities communities or consultation) to enable the compact to be translated to action;
- Support for the inclusion for all equalities groupings and innovative sections on the landlord/tenant relationship and dispute resolution;
- A number of other disadvantaged groups had been identified for instance travellers, people with mental health issues and people with drug and alcohol dependencies;
- The cost of participation of local people was acknowledged as a key issue but difficult to resolve at present.
The feedback was discussed. Several further points were made including the make-up of the funding working group, the inclusion of contracting in the proposals, the importance of fair and full funding to voluntary and community groups (including insurance and core costs). Bill agreed to contact Shawn Fitzpatrick regarding his response from Supporting People. The need for a section on accountability was agreed. Rupert and Jenny to produce a first draft by 18/4. Following discussion it was agreed to leave the comments on the costs of participation as they stand and to add a further comment about the importance of support and training for this participation, and this would include the training for statutory workers with appropriate skills.
In the section on volunteering it was agreed to refer to "volunteering and unpaid community work".In the section on dispute resolution, it was agreed to strengthen the references to "develop a willingness" and "develop a clear view". The need for a mediation fund was debated.
It was agreed that a single document with same typeface and style was necessary and it was felt that someone should be given the task of drafting the compact into a coherent final version. Bill to contact Simon Caplan, Head of Corporate Communications on this. It was further agreed to add a list of the partners and a bit about how the compact will be reviewed into the introduction.
3. Next Steps
Derek to circulate the responses to the consultation by email.Drafting the final version was divided between those present, as follows:
- Introduction - Derek Dodd
- Funding - Derek Dodd
- Consultation - Voscur with Steve Hilton
- Volunteering - Ayannah Griffiths
- Dispute resolution - Jenny Turner with Mediation Bristol
- Equalities - Bill McKitterick to approach Helen Ball
It was agreed to send versions of this to Derek Dodd a week before the next meeting for circulation (to DD by 18 May). Bring relevant references (eg reports, laws) to the next meeting. The need for a launch event was endorsed and it was agreed to identify key personnel at the next meeting.
The make-up of the funding working group was discussed and it was proposed to consist of Derek Dodd, The Care Forum, BDA, Voscur, Wendy Weston, Primary Care Trusts, Police, Karen Fielding and Greater Bristol Foundation. Derek to set up first meeting in June.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Compact Project Group is 23rd May 2003 10am -12 noon in the Pontinwells Room at the CREATE Centre.