Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from:

Stuart George (NHS Buckinghamshire)

Andrew Grant (AVDC) – substituted by Tracey Aldworth

Sue Imbriano (Buckinghamshire Children’s Trust) – substituted by Chris Munday

Patrick Martin (BALC) – substituted by Lesley Blue

Karen Satterford (WDC) – substituted by Charles Meakings

Chris Williams (BCC)

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 23 September 2009 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Jackie Fisk (Policy Officer, Local Area Agreement) gave members an update and said the following:

Minor amendments were currently being finalised to the Local Area Agreement (LAA).  2010/11 was the final year of the current LAA.  There were indications that the LAA was unlikely to continue in its present form after the final year. 

The Bucks Strategic Partnership Implementation Group (BSPIG) had agreed to review the Buckinghamshire Improvement plan for the CAA following a visit by Rob Hathaway from the Audit Commission.  Rob Hathaway had told BSPIG that the Audit Commission intended to look at progress in relation to delivery of the growth agenda, rural issues (including rural housing), extra care housing, choice base lettings, and climate change (including the waste partnership).

Jackie Fisk told members that the CAA Improvement Plan was available on the website and had been circulated with the BSPIG papers.  A member asked if the relative Voluntary and Community Organisation (VCO) would be involved in discussions with the Audit Commission.  Sarah Ashmead said that this was not yet in the improvement plan, but that the Audit Commission would want to talk to VCOs. 

BSPIG had also agreed new allocations from the LAA Pooled Fund.  The total fund was £1.5 million.  The new allocations were £136k to the Integrated Offender Management Program (which linked directly to the CAA Improvement Plan) and £10k to a tackling disadvantage pilot in Aylesbury Vale. 

Total commitments to date against the LAA Pooled Fund were £1.19 million, which left £310k unallocated for 2010/11.  This unallocated money would be discussed under agenda item 7. 

BSPIG had also agreed to develop a public sector workforce plan for Buckinghamshire. 

Some funding had been received from the Homes and Communities Agency.  Under the National Affordable Housing Program 2008/11 Buckinghamshire had received £49.7 million.  Funding had also been received under the Community Infrastructure Fund and the Land Stabilisation Program.  The Homes and Communities Agency was introducing a "single conversation" approach to working with local areas.  It was possible that the BSP Board might have a role to play in shaping the Local Investment Agreement between Buckinghamshire and the Homes and Communities Agency.

Each thematic partnership will update the Board on the proposed priorities for 2010-11 and the added value the support from BSP Board would bring.

·         Adult Commissioners Thematic Partnership – Rita Lally

·         Safer and Stronger Bucks Thematic Partnership – Susie Yapp

·         Healthy Communities Thematic Partnership – Tracey Ironmonger

·         Economy and Environment Thematic Partnership – Graham Grover and Alex Pratt OBE

·         Children’s Trust Thematic Partnership – Chris Munday

Adult Commissioners Thematic Partnership – Rita Lally

Rita Lally gave a PowerPoint presentation and said the following:

·         Rita Lally represented the Adult Commissioners Thematic Partnership.

·         Residents in Buckinghamshire were starting to live longer, and the bulk of spending in Social Care was for people aged 80-85 plus.  A fifth of social care clients were aged 90 plus. 

·         The government suggestion of free social care would not be possible with the current funding, and there were many self-funders in Buckinghamshire.  The priority agreed by the Adult Commissioners was "we will help people live in their homes for as long as possible and enable them to get health and other support where necessary through their communities.  For the avoidance of doubt this strategy will include a focus on ensuring that people are not delayed in hospital."

·         Keeping clients in their own homes was not necessarily a cheaper option.  Clients at the ‘heavy end’ were very vulnerable and had to be supported in their own homes with up to six visits or more a day. 

A member referred to the work being encouraged through communities and asked how the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) would be included in this.  The member said that the VCS gave a lot of grants through the Compact and that the Compact should be refreshed very regularly.  Rita Lally said that under ‘Building Community Capacity’ very good progress was being made with the VCS, with small amounts of money going a long way.

A member referred to district involvement in housing issues and said that District Councils had a commissioning role.  Rita Lally said that there was a Housing Officers Group, a Housing Members Group and Supporting People.  More working together was needed regarding existing resources.  There would be real merit in looking at putting pooled budgets together. 

A member said that Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) could assist.  Rita Lally said that she agreed with this and that processes needed to be as slick as possible.  A member said that they were concerned to hear that there was already a backlog for adaptations and that people were being delayed in hospital.  The member also referred to the reduction in respite beds in Buckingham hospital.  Rita Lally said that the issues of adaptations was a collective issue and that work needed to be done together with the District Councils to make reduced resources to go as far as possible. 

A member asked if the forthcoming Community Health Strategy would include these issues and Rita Lally said to the best of her knowledge that it would.  A member suggested that this grant should be included in the Local Investment Plan. 

Safer and Stronger Bucks Thematic Partnership – Paul Tinnion

Paul Tinnion gave a PowerPoint presentation and told members that crime was continually being reduced in Buckinghamshire and that this needed to be communicated to the public.  The two priorities agreed by the Safer and Stronger Bucks Partnership Board were NI 16 (Reducing serious acquisitive crime) and NI 21 (Improving public  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Three Strategic Partnerships have held local delivery workshops facilitated by the IDeA aimed at developing a strategic approach to local delivery. Eamon Lally, Improvement Manager from the IDeA, will support this agenda item and will update the Board on the key findings and proposed way forward. Once priorities are agreed, project leaders will scope these out and bring them back to the next Board meeting together with those identified by the District LSPs.

The Chairman welcomed Eamon Lally (IDEA) to the meeting. 

Eamon Lally said that an event had been held on 11 November 2009 which had looked at customer service, working together and resident-led development. 

There had been a broad consensus of the principles that the BSP Board should work towards. It had also been agreed that a degree of flexibility should be ensured, that the process should be efficient, and that initiatives should be kept simple and focused on the customer. 

Work would depend on a heightened trust between partners.  There had been a real desire to move quickly to the pilot projects, and a long list of pilots had been suggested. 

On 21 January 2010 the BSPIG had chosen two pilots to take forward.  These were a single common assessment and the integration of welfare benefit systems.  It was also necessary to look at pilots at a district level.  Ideas for these included delivery of services to rural communities and developing stronger communities. 

Page 26 of the papers listed the principle summary.  This had been broadly accepted by all members.

A member said that they were pleased that the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) had been included in the workshops. The member said that they were concerned about narrowing to only two projects at this point in the process, and suggested that narrowing take place only after more scoping work had been carried out.  The member suggested a good neighbour scheme. 

Eamon Lally said that it was up to the Partnership to take this forward and that some work could be prepared for the March meeting of the BSPIG. 

Another member said that there should be a focus on providing support to vulnerable people.

A member asked if there was an ability to deliver all the work discussed.  Eamon Lally said how services were delivered needed to change, to make a small pool of money go further. 

A big change would be needed but the idea was to start small, with a number of pilots. 

A member asked if there was confusion between strategy and delivery.  Eamon Lally said that the work was about the level of endorsement that the BSP Board could bring, to change how services were delivered. 

A member noted that two large agendas had not yet been discussed.  These were Pathfinder and Total Place.

This is the last year of funding for the current LAA. £455,608 remains to be allocated to projects for 2010-2011. The spend allocated to existing projects is currently being evaluated to determine whether all allocated funds will be accounted for within the timeframe and to identify potential underspends.

This item was deferred until the next meeting further to the outcome of agenda item 6.

At the last meeting members reviewed ways of working for the Board. In the light of those discussions, the BSP Board Partnership Agreement has been drafted.

This item was also deferred to the next meeting. Sarah Ashmead (Corporate Manager, Policy, Performance and Communications) said that members might want to change the membership of the board once priorities had been agreed.

4 May 2010, 2:30pm, Uplands Conference Centre, Four Ashes Road, Cryers Hill, High Wycombe, HP15 6LB

4 May 2010, 2:30pm – 4:30pm, Hedsor House, Hedsor Park, Taplow, SL6 0HX (please note change of venue)