Partnership Board Minutes 6 December 2005

Notes of the meeting held at St Matthias Church Centre - 6th December 2005

Board Members - Present at the meeting:

Ray Wilk, Independent Chair
Michael Cass, Co Chair

Board Members - (Service User Representatives):
Sheila Quinn, Leeds Women First
Andrew Walsh, Learning Disability Reference Group
Jon Rudette, Learning Disability Reference Group
Karina Jenkins, Learning Disability Reference Group
Jocelyn Richards, Rooots Group

Board Members - (Voluntary Sector Forum Representatives):
David Hansen, Home Farm Trust
Glenn Swindell, Keyring
Bill Walton, People in Action

Board Members - (Statutory):
Thea Stein, North East PCT (Chief Executive)
Nancy Hill, North West PCT
Sheila Dunham, Leeds Mental Health Trust
Dave Rosser, Head of Learning Disability Service
Janet Wright, Joint Commissioning Service
Khalid Arian, Joint Commissioning Service
Gordon Kerr, Connexions (Education)
Pete Vickers, Learning and Leisure
Councillor Peter Harrand, Leeds City Council
Maria Sinclair, Disability Service Team

Supporting the Board::
Les France

Guest Speakers:
Julie Newsome, Inclusive Symbolic Language Service
Julia Pygott, Pyramid of Arts
Fran Jeffries, Leeds Pathway (Mencap)
Tim Whalley, Leeds Advocacy

People who could not come to the meeting:
Mark Fennelly, St Anne’s Community Service
Scott Cunningham, Learning Disability Forum
Norman Roberts, North East PCT
Debbie Forward, Neighbourhood and Housing
Councillor Bale, Leeds City Council

People at the meeting were asked to sign an attendance sheet. Due to the large number of people now attending, only Board members and guest speakers would be listed in the minutes.

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Welcome

Ray Wilk welcomed everyone and explained what was going to happen at the meeting; After each agenda item had been discussed by the Board, members of the public would be invited to ask questions.

Bill Walton requested that the notes of the Board meeting specify who the Board members are.

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Updates

Inclusion North – Janet Wright (In the absence of Scott Cunningham)
Inclusion North was set up to act as a training and support organisation for Partnership Boards and as Leeds is a member, the Board needs to draw up a list of what it needs. This will be looked at during the extra-ordinary meeting on 14th December.

In November, 6 People from Leeds attended the John O’Brien event organised by Inclusion North.

Scott Cunningham (Leeds Voluntary Sector Learning Disabilities Forum) has a place on the Inclusion North Management Board and will present a report to the Partnership Board at a later date.

Development Fund – Ray Wilk

Ray explained the process used for allocating the Development Fund grants for 2005-2006. The 5 successful candidates then told the Board about their projects and how they were going to spend the money they had been awarded.

Inclusive Symbolic Language Service - Julie Newsome

The project aims to provide a wider range of communication services for people with learning disabilities. The service will be used for symbols testing, creating accessible leaflets and books for organisations and providing work experience for adults with learning disabilities. The grant will buy equipment and pay service users working on the project. It is hoped income generated by the project will pay service users wages in the future.

ROOOTS – Joycelin Richards and Andrew Walsh
The Rooots project was set up in 2003 to support adults with learning disabilities from black and ethnic minority communities. It earns money by selling training and consultancy. With the Development Fund grant the group aims to put on a conference, update their business plan and write a constitution (rules).

Pyramid of Arts – Julia Pygott
Last year Pyramid of Arts carried out research amongst adults with learning disabilities who have complex needs, to look at ways of improving their communication skills through arts based projects. The aim is to carry out the recommendations of the research by providing a four-part project.

Leeds Pathway (Mencap) – Fran Jeffries
Leeds Pathway will organise a series of training workshops for people with learning disabilities who wish to go to work. The workshops will be about CV preparation, interview practice, commitment and behaviour in the workplace. Parents and carers will also receive advice on benefits.

Keyring - Glenn Swindell

Keyring support people to be independent and gain their own tenancy. With the Development Fund grant they have bought a digital video camera and accessories to record the lives of people, from black ethnic minority communities who live independently and who have a learning disability. This information will be made into a film and used to encourage others to live independently and take control of their own lives. The film will be brought back to the Partnership Board.

Partnership Executive – Ray Wilk/Janet Wright
The Board were told what happened at the Partnership Executive meeting on 1st December, about the updates and the key points raised:-

• North East PCT hopes to sign the Section 31 Agreement on 6th December.
• Remaining PCTs have been asked to sign the Agreement by February 2006.
• The Partnership Executive were reminded of the importance of signing the Agreement, irrespective of the financial positions of the PCTs.
• The completion of the Joint Commissioning Service Strategy has been delayed and will hopefully be finished by Christmas.
• The Partnership Executive discussed the financial difficulties facing the PCTs and Local Authority, especially because of the expensive out of area placements.
• Discussions took place regarding the timetable, personal choice and the need for individual/family/advocate inclusion in advancing the Independent Living Project.
• Request was made to ensure that the Day Services Modernisation plan remained on track and not diverted because of “local opposition” and that education and employment featured strongly in the future.
• A review of the Therapy Services has been undertaken and a report will be available soon.
• The Partnership Board is embarking on a review of its role and its relationships with other organisations. This will lead to a more “independent” body which can exercise its scrutinising role as well as being more influential in the development of major programmes of change in the years ahead.
• Ray asked the Partnership Executive to make it clear at each meeting what decisions have been made and who is responsible for making things happen.

Questions and points raised after the updates:

• A Board member expressed concern at the length of time it has taken to deliver the Section 31 to the PCTs.

Response: The importance of this major agreement between the key statutory organisations should not be underestimated. Unfortunately “legal teams” spent more time agreeing on the details than was originally envisaged. All the PCTs have now agreed a timescale for their discussion to take place.

• A Board member asked if the minutes and terms of reference of the Partnership Executive would be available on Through the Maze

Response: Dave Rosser agreed to pursue this.

• A member of the public asked whether therapists would lose their jobs as a result of the Therapy Review.

Response: Dave Rosser offered to discuss this in more detail later but added more therapists are needed rather than less.

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Independent Living Project – Dave Rosser

Leeds has received conditional approval for the capital money to move forward with the ideas.

At the moment there are difficulties in finding enough suitable sites. The sites have to be agreed by May 2006. Lots of work is being done with the local authority planning department to make sure we meet this timescale.

Andy Rawnsley has been appointed as Project Director and 2 more members of staff are being recruited to lead the changes on behalf of Learning Disabilities and Mental Health.

Malcolm May, who helped us when people moved out of Meanwood Park Hospital, has been asked to visit people who live close to the proposed sites and to talk to service users about the plans.

In January there will be 2 meetings to look at options for providing support to people living in the new accommodation.

Questions and points raised after the update:

• As some service users do not have relatives to ask questions, will they get individual advocacy?

Response: The project is already talking to the Advocacy Services. Janet Wright also pointed out that the Planning Team would support people in developing their own individual plan.

• As the January meetings (Options Appraisals) will be very significant, who will be invited?

Response: Andy Rawnsley will be contacting the various groups. Ray Wilk added that he and Michael Cass have been invited to join the Strategic group and will make the Boards interests known.

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Chair and Co-Chair Update – Michael Cass

Michael told the Board he and Ray Wilk had been invited to attend the Independent Living Project and Learning Disability Reference Group meetings as the Partnership Board Chair and Co-Chair. Michael has also offered to help Co-Chairs from other districts that have been experiencing difficulties. Leeds is regarded as a successful Partnership Board, especially since the creation of the Partnership Executive.

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Presentations

Connexions – Gordon Kerr
Gordon joined the Partnership Board in September as the Education Representative. He works for Connexions, an organisation that offer careers advice and other support for disabled people aged 13-24, through Personal Advisers. The Connexions service starts in schools in year 9. The Personal Advisers work in a range of settings including schools, colleges, one-stop shops, community centres and on an out-reach basis. They produce information leaflets and organise events such as the Leeds Buzz Event (where various organisations attended to give advice, advertised jobs and colleges courses). Connexions also offer advice on claiming Benefits.

Advocacy Plan for Leeds – Tim Whaley

In December 2004 Advocacy Network-Leeds, Leeds Advocacy and the Learning Disability Forum held a meeting to talk about advocacy in Leeds, the good things, the bad things and what they wanted in the future. An Advocacy Task Group was set up to make the local Advocacy plan happen.

Advocacy Network-Leeds looked at what was discussed at the meeting, combined this with ideas from the carers group and made a list of priorities for the Advocacy Task Group to work on, which are:-

• Maintain and expand advocacy provision
• Advocacy for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities
• Advocacy for children
• More advocacy for people with high support needs
• Advocacy for carers and parents
• Clearer information and standards

In order to achieve this, they need to look for more stable funding, continue to recruit more advocates and make sure that everyone knows how to find an advocate.

The Advocacy standards were launched in July 2005 and endorsed (supported) by the major stakeholders.

What do we want from the Partnership Board?

• -For the Board to know about the plan and acknowledge it.
• Support the Task Group in making the plan a success
• For the Board to take an interest and help in the new developments
• Financial commitment where needed.

Tim finished by saying he would like to come back to the Board in a year to report on what progress has been made.

Learning Disability Reference Group – Les France/Michael Cass
A report from the Learning Disability Reference Group meeting held 10th November was issued and will also be discussed at the next Executive Board meeting. Les showed a video they had produced about what happens at the meetings, the style and how many people attend.

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The next Partnership Board meeting will be held at St Matthias Church Centre, St Matthias Street, Leeds LS4 2DZ. This is on Tuesday 21st March 2006 from 10.00 am till 2.00 pm

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Return to: Leeds Learning Disability Partnership Board