Extraordinary Partnership Board Meeting 7 April 2005

Extraordinary Meeting

St Matthias Church Centre 7th April 2005

Welcome and Ice-breaker Introduction.
Ray welcomed everyone and arranged the seating so that every table had a representative from each section of the Partnership Board.

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People at the meeting:
Ray Wilk, Independent Chair, Michael Cass, Leeds People First, Janet Wright, Joint Commissioning Service, Ken Mccullough, Carer, Scott Cunningham, Learning Disability Forum, Nancy Hill, North West PCT, Sheila Quinn, Leeds Women First, Karina Jenkins, Learning Disability Reference Group, Bill Walton, People in Action, Dave Rosser, Head of Learning Disability Service Les France, Asking You, Aqila Choudhry, People in Action, Maureen Bielska, People Matters, Louise Wood, Joint Commissioning Service, Sue Lindsey, Asking You, Fiona Evans, Leeds People First, Steve Bardsley, Care Management Team, Louise Mills, Joint Commissioning Service, David Hansen, Home Farm Trust, Cathy Wintersgill, Connect in the North, Sheila Dunham, Leeds Mental Health Trust, Steve Harris, Joint Commissioning Service, Andy Rawnsley, PFI Project Manager, John Rudette, Learning Disability Reference Group, Glen Swindell, Keyring, Khalid Arian, Joint Commissioning Service,

People who could not come to the meeting.
Thea Stein, Chief Executive North East PCT, Councillor John Bale,

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Introduction and purpose of the meeting - Janet Wright Leeds has received an extra £300,000 for the Development Fund which brings the whole amount for this year to £602,000.

Last year Leeds received £288,000 and is currently working to calculate how much of this has been spent. There are a few outstanding invoices to sign off which will show if any money can be saved as slippage.

Cara Green, the Day Service Modernisation Project Officer will be leaving in May. Her post is funded by the Development Fund and was created for a period of 2 years. As she will be leaving before the end of the 2 years, savings will be made.

The PCTs have also been given approximately 2.5 million less this year as a result of a long stay hospital census.

The Partnership Board will be informed as soon as the final amount is known. If there is any money left, there may be an opportunity for people to bid for one off grants.

Janet told the Board the focus would be on funding three main projects:-

• Planning Team Proposal
• Employment of an Ethnicity Worker
• Leeds being part of the Northern Centre for Inclusion

Stephen Ladyman, the Parliamentary Minister has made it clear which areas should be treated as priorities for the Development Fund Money and will monitor progress to ensure that these areas receive the appropriate support.

Janet asked the Board to work in groups and look at each project in turn. They were asked to consider the positive things, negative things and finally try decide whether the project should be approved for funding. She pointed out there was a lot to discuss and it may be difficult to make a decision today. It would be possible to approve a project in principle then more information could be obtained and brought to the Board at a later date.

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Group Work Feedback - Planning Team Proposal

Good things about having a Planning Team:

• Dedicated team devoted to planning
• More time to plan and consult
• Proper attention to PCP
• Impartial planners
• More creativity

Bad things about having a Planning Team:

• How do we prioritize
• Need clarity of the roles and make up of the team
• Timescale
• Sustainability
• Team repeating work already done
• Size – must be large enough Team to make impact and have the right knowledge
• May get absorbed into ordinary work
• Conflict with statutory duties
• Team need to be accountable

After considering all the points raised, the Board voted. Two tables said yes and the third were not sure.

Action: Janet Wright will set up an advisory group to reflect the broad basis of the Partnership Board.

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Group Work Feedback Ethnicity Worker Proposal

Good things about having an Ethnicity Worker

• Further develop the good work already started
• Improve peoples confidence
• Long overdue
• Better representation and involvement for people from ethnic minority groups
• Development of opportunities

Issues for an Ethnicity Worker

• Recruitment into organisations
• One worker not enough – need several to reflect the range of ethnic communities
• Need monitoring and evaluating

Would need to have appropriate level of authority to ensure changes take place

After feeding back from the group work, all three tables agreed this project must be supported, pending further information to be brought to the Board.

Action: Aqila Choudry will form a sub group to develop the plan and present it to the Board.

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Group Work Feedback Northern Centre for Inclusion (NCIC)

Good things about Leeds being part of NCIC

• Networking
• Greater involvement in regional decision making
• Sharing of good practice
• More help with implementing Valuing People policies
• Employment of people in the region

Bad things about Leeds being part of NCIC

• Might lose good people in Leeds
• Cost £17,00 and what will we get for this money
• Regional competition for work
• Will the group have sufficient power to change things

After the group discussion, the overall opinion was that not enough information is available to make a decision. People were concerned what may happen if Leeds was left out of the group but were not sure what the benefits would be for Leeds if they were a member.

Action: Janet Wright and Scott Cunningham to bring more information to the Partnership Board meeting 23rd June 2005.

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Ray Wilk ended the meeting by summarising all the points that had been discussed and highlighted who was responsible for taking these actions forward.

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Return to: Partnership Board Minutes