To elect a Chairman for the ensuing year.

After being duly proposed and seconded it was

RESOLVED to elect Mr William Nunn as Chairman for the ensuing two years.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

After being duly proposed and seconded it was

RESOLVED to elect Mr David Ovenden as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing two years.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2009.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2009 were confirmed as a correct record.

In response to a question about the decision at Minute No 35/07 (Project Funding) the Partnership (LSP) Officer explained that the application forms were being re-designed and additional guidance notes added.  The forms would be sent out at the end of November and applicants would have eight weeks to submit their bids. The approved £46,100 funding had already been released.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Sandy Brand, Andrew Egerton-Smith, Katie Elliott, Michael Eveling, Brian Horner and Shirley Matthews.

To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any items of urgent business.

Paul Adcock and Geoff Garrett were present to give a brief update on Project Rainbow and to request funding.

The Board had previously received a presentation about the Surge which was currently operating from rented premises.  The owners of the building were considering their future plans and £10,000 was requested to enable professional consultants to be employed to prepare a funding bid which would enable the purchase of the building and secure the future of the project.

Trevor Holden said that this was just the sort of project that the Board should support as it provided tangible outcomes.

Neil Stott suggested that ‘Community Builders’ a major national funding source should be approached.  He was concerned that due process should be observed.  There had been a long discussion at the previous meeting about allocation of funding and although he supported this proposal in principle he thought it should go through the same application process as other projects and compete in the next bidding round in January.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer pointed out that the Board had unallocated funding, separate from the £54,000 remaining from the earlier funding bids, which would still be available.

It was suggested that there was a distinction between due process and bureaucracy.  There was a great deal of support for the project but also concern that to agree funding at this stage would set a precedent.

Geoff Garrett explained that they needed professional help, even to put a bid together.  Time was not on their side.

RESOLVED to release £10,000 funding subject to details to be agreed by officers.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.

Debbie Bartlett, Jonathan Clemo and Neil Stott declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 10 (Migration Impact Funding).

Minutes and report by Rob Walker.

Richard Wills gave a short presentation on the various Pride projects which were all aimed at encouraging a sense of pride in the district.  

He told Partners about the Welcome Home Parade for the Light Dragoons (to celebrate their return from Afghanistan) which would take place on 4 December 2009.  He asked them to spread the word so that the streets would be filled.  The parade would start at 11.00am from the Cadet Centre in Norwich Street, Dereham.

He then gave details of the grant scheme which was receiving about ten applications a month.  Almost all were approved apart from those which did not achieve the goals of the Pride project.  This scheme would only run for another 18 months but Richard hoped that communities would launch their own, sustainable projects, which would continue into the future.

The Chairman asked if the Board was happy with the direction Pride was taking and asked them to bring something to the next meeting to show progress against all the Pride targets.

Report by Sandy Brand and Mark Fretwell.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer explained that NHS Norfolk was currently reshaping the way they worked.

The Health & Wellbeing project had been affected by staff changes and feedback had suggested that it had not been local enough.  It was proposed to hold future meetings in each of the market towns.  There would be a presentation to the January meeting to outline plans.

Minutes and report by Lindy Warmer.

The Economic Development Officer presented her report.

The Economic Prosperity Strategy needed refreshing and this would be done in the first quarter of 2010.

She updated the Board on the three main project groups:

Young People

The Future Jobs Fund, which would be discussed at Agenda Item 8, would seek funding for about 15 jobs.

Rural Business Support

This gave business planning advice and had about 12 months left to run.

The BELA project was in its third phase and continued to do well.

Training and Skills

Take-up had not been good for the four credit crunch workshops to be held in November.

Work was continuing with the UEA on the Evolve Project – more information was available on the website.

The ESOL target had not been met, due to a lack of demand.  A virement of £1,000 was sought from the unspent ESOL budget, to finance future breakfast business meetings.  The first of these had been very well supported.

There was discussion about the breakfast meetings and whether they could provide focussed outcomes.  A Partner was surprised at the low ESOL take-up as they also offered this training and had high demand. 

Rob Walker suggested that if the officer group was struggling to achieve outcomes then efforts should be concentrated elsewhere.

The Chairman did not support the allocation of more money for breakfast meetings.  He suggested that the unspent budget should be passed to Keystone to support their ESOL training. 

As there were other providers of ESOL it was agreed that more information was needed before a decision was taken to allocate the money.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer said that there were sufficient funds for the next breakfast meeting which was scheduled for 10 December in Thetford.  At that meeting Lead Officers would be identified and he could report progress to the Board in January.  However, this was not supported.

RESOLVED that the Economic Project Group should be disbanded with immediate effect.

The Chairman thanked the group for their work.

To receive a report from Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer was working on 15 bids to County which would generate £97,500 and give young people skills and self-esteem.

A partnership between Breckland Council, Peddars Way Housing Association and Serco would deliver environmental jobs with the potential to link up with the Surge in terms of community benefit.

A decision on the bids, from the Department of Work & Pensions, was expected early in the New Year.

To receive a report from Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer presented his report.

An Internal Audit report had recommended that all partners of the LSP should agree and sign up to a Data Quality Protocol.  This would demonstrate that partners were willing to share performance data and maintain good data quality arrangements.  The TEN performance management system would be used to update data and to ensure a high standard of entry.

It was explained that this system would ensure that the Partnership did not act on misguided data; it would ensure confidentiality and that data was accurate and timely.

The contents of the report were noted and it was

RESOLVED to agree and adopt the Data Quality Protocol and for all partners to adhere to the guidelines set out.

To receive a report from Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

This report was tabled at the meeting.

Debbie Bartlett, Jonathan Clemo and Neil Stott declared a personal interest in this item.

In response to a successful funding bid a meeting had been held to discuss the proposals for a One Stop Shop and Mobile Bus Service.  At that meeting it had been suggested that this was not the best form of delivery.

Partners had had an opportunity to view the sort of vehicle to be used for the Mobile Bus Service in the car park.  This vehicle was available to lease from Poultec.

In the report, costings had been supplied to show the options available and the views of the partners, including their arguments against the use of a bus, had also been presented.

The recommendation was to use The Limes as the One Stop Shop and the Mobile Bus linked to village halls and mobile libraries.

Rob Walker commented that less money had been received than had been bid for, and it had not been paid out until half way through the year - although delivery was expected by the end of year one.  Timescales were tight and he therefore supported the use of The Limes, as it was already there and could be used more quickly and relatively cheaply.  He also favoured the bus as it offered flexibility and adaptability.

The costings for the bus were discussed in some detail.  The £28,000 represented the cost of leasing a fully equipped bus.  The only additional charge would be for a CITRIX licence which would provide secure access to the server and ensure that no confidential information was downloaded to the bus.  It was also noted that Poultec had a funding bid in which, if successful, could reduce costs further.

Jonathon Clemo had evaluated a number of such projects and said that the vehicles were often not sustainable and had problems accessing rural areas.  They often ended up parking in pub or village hall car parks and in such cases it would be better to have the facilities inside the buildings, where refreshments would also be available.  The LSP needed to help communities to be more resilient.  The project was about mitigating the impact of migrant workers and he could not think of a better way to do so than by providing a meeting place.

Neil Stott could see the arguments for both sides.  Keystone had bought a bus and found it unsustainable.  However, to focus services in the right places – which might include workplaces such as factories, the bus might be best.  To provide a blanket service the use of both village halls and the bus was an option.

Some Partners were concerned that they already offered ‘one stop shops’ and could not see the relevance of the proposal.  It was pointed out that this project would link closely with those already available and was about providing access to services in places like factories and on housing estates.

Debbie Bartlett noted that Great Yarmouth were running a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

To receive a report from Mark Fretwell, Partnership (LSP) Officer.

The Partnership (LSP) Officer presented the report and reminded Partners that £25,000 funding had been received from the Norfolk County Strategic Partnership.  Breckland Council had also agreed to allocate £10,000.

The funding was to be split between the Youth Council (£10,000) and the five market towns (£5,000 each).

A further £5,000 was sought to cover transport costs, catering, hiring venues and equipment, filming of the decision events, publicity materials and training the panel members.

Rob Walker felt that a substantial amount had already been committed by the Council and as separate funding existed for the Youth Council to cover travel expenses this extra allocation was not warranted.  

RESOLVED:

(1)   to invite the Youth Council participants to attend a Board meeting in 2010 to make a presentation on their findings as part of their review of delivering Participatory Budgeting;

(2)   not to allocate up to £5,000 additional funding to the PB process;

(3)   that Breckland Partnership (area partnerships and third sector organisations) members to offer to get involved in the planning and the delivery of the PB process with the panels, but without a vote on decision day.

To receive an update on Partnership finances by Mark Fretwell.

£84,479.91 remained in the budget - £10,000 of which had been allocated today to Project Rainbow. 

The Partnership (LSP) Officer confirmed that the budget figure did take account of his salary for the next year.

To note that the next meeting of the LSP Board will be held on 14 January 2010 at 2.00 pm in the Anglia Room, Committee Suite, Elizabeth House, Breckland Council.

It was noted that the next meeting of the LSP Board would be held on Thursday 14 January 2010, at 2.00pm in the Norfolk Room, Conference Suite, Elizabeth House, Dereham.